Answered: Where Does Word Save AutoRecover Files

Where do I find AutoRecover files in Word?

“Help! I was working on my term-final paper. Suddenly, my computer was just stuck. There was nothing I can do but restart it, leaving my paper unsaved. I know Microsoft Word helps users keep unsaved files, but the problem is where do I find them?”

Where does Word save AutoRecover files?

Microsoft Office comes with a feature called AutoRecover. You can recover unsaved Word files because it can automatically save your documents at a specified time interval. You might be wondering, though, where does Word save AutoRecover files. To locate the unsaved Word files, follow the steps listed below.

Open your Word, and click File > Options > Save > AutoRecover file location. Here you’ll see where Word keeps your Word files. In my case, my Word files are saved in  C:\Users\Tracy\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Word.

How to recover unsaved Word files [2 options]

After learning where does Word save AutoRecover files on Windows, let’s take a look at how to recover unsaved Word document on Windows 10, 11.

Option 1. Recover unsaved Word documents with AutoRecover

Step 1. Start Word > File on the top-left corner > Open > Recover Unsaved Documents.

Step 2. Choose your wanted file > click Open. Don’t forget to save it.

Option 2. Recover unsaved Word documents from a backup copy

If you have enabled the backup feature in Word, it is possible for you to recover Word files from backup files. And your lost Word files will be saved as a .wbk extension.

Step 1. Check if you have turned on the backup feature: go to File > Options > Advanced > Save > Always create a backup copy. If you have ticked it, continue to the next step. If not, you are not able to recover unsaved Word files using this method.

Step 2. Open File Explorer to search for .wbk. Then you can see your lost Word files here. Double click on it to save it on your PC.

Bonus tip: Recover deleted Word files via data recovery tool

if you unintentionally deleted your Word file permanently, it is advised that you use MyRecover, a free and capable photo recovery program for various versions of Windows.

• Recover deleted and missing files from HDDs, SSDs, USB drives, SD cards, and other storage devices that are functioning normally, corrupted, or formatted.
• Recover deleted files while preserving their original quality, name, format, and path.
• Within three simple steps, you can easily recover 200+ types of data, such as Word documents and other office files, images, videos, and so on.
• Data recovery from NTFS/FAT32/exFAT/ReFS drives is supported in Windows 11/10/8/7/Server.

Download, install and launch MyRecover on your computer.  

Step 1. Run the software > hover the mouse over the drive, and click Scan.

Step 2. During the process, you could preview or directly select files to recover. You can also search for the files you want using the Search box.

Step 3. Go and select the Word files you need > click Recover x files.

Closing words

This post primarily uncovers the answer to the question “Where does Word save AutoRecover files?”. Besides, it offers you 2 options to recover unsaved Word document on Windows 10, 11. If you have deleted your Word files permanently by mistake, you can use MyRecover to get them back.