How to Find the Word AutoRecovery Location in Windows?

How to find the Word AutoRecovery location in Windows? This post guides you to find Where does Word save AutoRecover files and recover lost Word documents.

By @Penny Last Updated December 11, 2024

Where do I find AutoRecover files in Word?

   
   
   
       

I was working before Word crashed earlier. Although I’ve activated the AutoRecover feature, I cannot find my AutoRecover Word files. Where does Word save AutoRecover files? Thanks.

Undeniably, Microsoft Word is one of the most popular text processors because billions of people use it to create Word documents. However, some of you might fail to find the Word AutoRecovery location after Word crashes.

How to find the Word AutoRecovery location? Please continue reading to learn where does Word save AutoRecover files in Windows?

Where is the Word AutoRecovery location?

Activating AutoRecover is the premise for you to find the Word AutoRecovery location. With AutoRecover, the Word program can automatically save your editing documents at a default (every 10 minutes) or specified time intervals.

The easiest way to locate the AutoRecover Word in Windows

Please enable the AutoRecover feature:

Open the Word program, then click “File” > “Options.” Under the Save tab, tick “Save AutoRecover information every x minutes” > “Keep the last autosaved version if I close without saving” and the “OK” button.

This feature is also a good hedge against data loss.

Go to the following paths to see the AutoRecover files.

Path 1: C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Micorsoft\Word\

Path 2: C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Office\UnsavedFiles

Please replace UserName with your username.

If you tend to recover unsaved Word documents, you can refer to the following steps.

Step 1. In the AutoRecover file location (path 1), you can see several unsaved Word documents. Select and copy the one you want to restore.

Step 2. Open your Word program, then click “File” > “Open” > “Recover Unsaved Documents.”

Step 3. Paste the copied. asd file in File name column and click the “Open” button. Please remember to save it.

Bonus tips: How to recover lost Word documents?

Without enabling AutoRecover, you’ll not locate the AutoRecover Word files. So how to recover lost Word documents in Windows?

This best Word document recovery software, MyRecover can exempt you from the above conditions. Moreover, you can determine the content of the recovered Word files according to their original saved path, file names, and format.

There’re other highlights of this powerful and user-friendly data recovery software.

 Besides HDD, you can use it to recover the deleted/lost files from portable devices such as USB, SD cards, etc.  
 Recover Word, Excel, PPT, Photos, Videos, Audio, Emails, Compressed files, and other 200+ types of data.  
 Perform Quick Scan and Deep Scan automatically to find all the deleted and other lost files on your computers.
 During scanning, you can search your targeted Word files by typing their filenames in the search bar.   
 Support NTFS, FAT32, exFAT, and ReFS file systems in Windows 11, 10, 8, 7, and Windows Server.

Are you concerned about the Word AutoRecovery location? With the help of this tool, you can set the destination saved path as you like. So don’t hesitate to download it now!

Download SoftwareWin 11/10/8/7/Server
Secure Download

Step 1. After running the software, hover the mouse over the drive, and click Scan.

Step 2. During the sanning process, search or wait to see all the deleted files and other missing files of your selected disk/partition.

Step 3. Go to the Deleted files folder, and click “Recover x files” after choosing your desired Word documents. Remember to specify a new location to store these recovered Word files.

If you need them, please go to the Other missing files folder to find your needed Word files.

Wrapping up

Where does Word save AutoRecover files in Windows? After turning on AutoRecover, you can go to the above destination paths to check the AutoRecover Word files.

Without activating the AutoRecover feature, there will be no sign of the AutoRecover Word documents in the above Word AutoRecovery locations.

If you want to recover the deleted/lost Word documents more efficiently, you can seek help from Word document recovery software like MyRecover.

In the final analysis, backups are the best data loss prevention measure. Why not follow these practical tricks to prevent data loss in the future?

Open your MS Office like Microsoft Word, then click File > Options > Advanced > Save. Then tick Always create a backup copy > OK.
 Use Windows features such as Backup and Restore or File History to back up files and folders. 
 Use Windows features like System Restore to back up the partition/system.
 Adopt the free backup software like AOMEI Backupper to make a “File Backup,” “Partition Backup,” “Disk Backup,” or “System Backup.”