Perform Unsaved/Deleted Excel File Recovery on Windows 10 in 4 Ways

Can I recover an Excel File I didn't save?

Microsoft Excel, a spreadsheet program available in the Microsoft Office package, is one of the most common tools for processing data information. It would be a big tragedy if you spend hours working on some data and graphs in an Excel file, but you accidentally close the file without saving it. Besides, unforeseen program/power failures and system crashes may occur frequently and unexpectedly, making it too late to save the Excel file.

Fortunately, Microsoft Excel has an AutoRecover feature for automatic recovery of unsaved Excel files in the event of data loss. Next, let's see the detailed information about AutoRecover and other effective methods for unsaved and lost Excel files recovery.

Where are unsaved excel document recovery locations?

AutoRecover is an Office built-in feature that lets you restore to the last autosaved version of a file. Normally, Excel saves unsaved files to this path: C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Office\UnsavedFiles. But it should be noted that AutoRecover is not available unless you have saved the file at least once. If you never saved the file before Excel stopped working unexpectedly, the file cannot be recovered.

To avoid similar scenarios resulting in file loss, you can use the AutoSave feature to periodically save newly created Excel data automatically. In this way, even if you forget to save the file manually, you won't lose your data completely. Steps to enable the AutoSave feature:

Step 1. Click the File tab, and then Options.

Step 2. Go to Save in the Excel Options dialog box and check the box labeled Save AutoRecover information every x minutes. By default, the value is 10 minutes, but you can determine a lower or higher value as needed.

Step 3. Tick the option - Keep the last autosaved version if I close without saving, and click OK.

How to enable unsaved excel file recovery on Windows 10?

In this tutorial, we will explain some different ways to recover unsaved Excel files in Windows 10 and walk you through the recovery.

Way 1. Recover unsaved Excel files from AutoRecover

First, let me now turn your attention to finding unsaved Excel files on Windows 10 using AutoRecover in Excel. You can also apply this feature to recover PowerPoint files with ease.

Step 1. Start the Excel program on your PC and tap on File.

Step 2. On the Info tab, click on the Manage Workbook button, and then hit Recover Unsaved Workbooks.

Step 3. Then, your unsaved Excel files will be listed in the next window. Select the right one and click Open.

Step 4. After that, tap the Save As position to recover it.

Way 2. Retrieve unsaved Excel files via Recover Unsaved Workbooks

Sometimes, MS Excel saves temporary files as backups. Thus, you can try to find the temporarily saved files and restore them.

Step 1. Open Excel, head to File > Open > Recent in turn.

Step 2. Press the Recover Unsaved Workbooks button in the lower-left corner.

Step 3. Navigate to the unsaved Excel file, and then, open it and save it.

How to recover deleted/lost Excel files on Windows 10

Although AutoRecover and other Excel built-in features can help with file recovery, they don't always work properly. Do not get frustrated or panic if the methods above don't help you with how to recover an unsaved Excel file on Windows 10. The following 2 solutions can work you out.

Way 1. Recover deleted/lost Excel files with data recovery software

With professional data recovery software like MyRecover, you can easily retrieve lost Excel files on your computer. The recovery tool can get back all lost/formatted/deleted files within three steps with a very high recovery rate. Apart from Excel files, it also supports other file types like TXT, DOC, PPT, CSV, etc.

This data recovery wizard supports Excel file recovery from USB flash drives, SD cards, HDD, and SSD, and can fully satisfy your data recovery needs. With it, you can also recover data from internal hard drives with ease.

Now, click the button below to download and install this software, and then follow our demo tutorial to learn how to recover lost Excel files in Windows 10!

Step 1. Run MyRecover and select the location where used to save the lost Excel files. Hover the mouse over the drive saved deleted files before, and click Scan to scan.

Step 2. Wait for the software to check all deleted files and other lost files. You can preview and recover files during the scanning process.

Step 3. Click on Recover x files and choose a path to store the recovered files.

Way 2. Restore lost Excel files from backup files

If you were lucky enough to make a copy of these unsaved Excel files before they get lost, restoring the backup file is an easy way to do unsaved excel file recovery on Windows 10. You may use the Windows built-in data recovery components, Backup and Restore and File History, or cloud storage devices to create a backup for files.

Here, we illustrate the detailed steps with the example of restoring a backup from File History.

Step 1. Run the Control Panel app > Click System and Security > Tap File History.

Step 2. Make sure your File History is on and click on Restore personal files.

Step 3. Select files and click the Recycle icon to start the recovery.

Wrapping up

If the Excel built-in features do not assist the unsaved excel file recovery on Windows 10 and there is no available backup file, using data recovery software like MyRecover to retrieve lost files is a go-to choice. You can also use it to recover deleted Word files without a hitch.