Jan 08, 2012 Question: Q: While typing a doc in Word, the spinning wheel appeared and froze the Word document. I had another Word doc open at the time. I tried to force quit, but it didn't work. I would like to save it before losing my work, but the spinning wheel blocks me.

Summary

If you happen to encounter computer suddenly restarts or shuts down before clicking save on a Word, Excel or PowerPoint file, take it easy. There are three ways you can try to recover unsaved Word document after the computer restarts/shutting down or when you forgot to save Word document. What's more, if you have lost the saved Word document, you can use EaseUS data recovery software to recover the deleted document with ease.

My computer shut down and I lost my Word document, how to recover unsaved Word document 2007 after shutting down? There are three useful solutions you can try to retrieve when you forgot to save word document.

How to recover an unsaved word document when computer shuts down?

In fact, none of the data recovery software on the market can recover unsaved Word documents. Typically, the third-party software only helps when you at least have an original file located on your computer's hard disk or a connected USB drive. You can use these data recovery tools to restore lost saved Word document, which is later missing due to accidental deletion, disk formatting, virus attack, partition loss, etc.

But if you want to recover a document that didn't save by computer crash or shutting down, the answer is NO, even the EaseUS data recovery software on this page, which is very famous in the field of data recovery. Then, how to recover when you forgot to save Word document after computer restarts? Follow the three effective solutions below.

Check the video tutorial at first, then read the comprehensive text guide for step-by-step details.

How to Recover an Unsaved Word Document After Computer Restarts

Microsoft Office offers users the AutoRecover to restore the on-editing Word document automatically. You can enable this function by going to 'File' > 'Options' > 'Save' > checking 'Save AutoRecover'. You can change the time of the AutoSave interval. As long as this feature starts to work, you can recover the unsaved Word document after a computer restart, crash, or shutting down with the following methods. If your Word version is below version 2010, see another post on how to recover unsaved Word document 2007/2003.

Method 1. Recover from Recent Documents (Word 2010/2013/2016/2019)

• Open Word application and click the 'Open' > 'File' tab.
• Click 'Recent'.
• Scroll to the bottom of your Recent Documents and then click 'Recover Unsaved Documents'.
• The saved drafts will open in a new window. Click 'Save As' to restore the disappeared unsaved Word document after a computer problem.

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Method 2. Recover from Manage Document

• Run Word > open a new file or an existing file.
• Click the 'File' tab > 'Info' > click 'Manage Document'.
• Click 'Recover Unsaved Documents'.
• You will see the list of your unsaved files. Select the file and click 'Open' > 'Save As' to store the Word file.

Method 3. Recover from Temporary Files

• You can find the temp files in this path: C:UsersUser_NameAppDataLocalMicrosoftOfficeUnsavedFiles.
• Choose the one you need to recover and open with Word application to save again.

If you have deleted the Unsaved Files folder and lost all the temporary files, you can use EaseUS Data Recovery to restore the deleted tempory files.

How to Recover Deleted or Lost Word Document on Windows 10/8/7

As explained before, a data recovery tool can't help you get back the unsaved Word document, but it provides you with an effective and easy way to recover deleted files. And EaseUS file data recovery software, a renowned document recovery program, enables you to restore lost DOC/DOCX, XLS/XLSX, PPT/PPTX, PDF, CWK, HTML/HTM, INDD, and EPS with a few clicks.

Supporting 200+ file types, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is good at recovering (permanently) deleted files from hard drive, SSD, USB flash drive, pen drive, external hard drive, and so on. Now, download this data recovery software and use it to restore any lost files as you need with the detailed guides below.

Step 1. Choose the Word file location.

Do you know where you lost Word files? Choose the hard disk drive or a specific folder and click the San button. If it's on a USB flash drive or SD card, take one more step to connect it to your computer.

Step 2. Scan all lost data.

The software will start immediately scanning all lost data on the selected drive, and you'll see more and more data showing up in the scan results. After the scan, use the quickest way to the wanted Word documents by choosing 'Documents' from the drop-down list in 'Filter'.

Step 3. Select Word files and recover.

You're allowed to preview a Word file if you have Microsoft Word application installed on your computer. Finally, select the desired documents and click 'Recover'.

People also ask

1. How do I recover an unsaved Word document 2007 after shutting down?

If your computer shut down and you lost your Word document, you can recover unsaved Word document 2007 in three ways, either recover from recent documents, manage document, or from temporary files.

2. Can I recover a word doc that I didn't save?

If you forgot to save Word document or your computer restarted and lost Word document, you can use the AutoRecover feature to recover unsaved Word document. Open Word, click the File tab > click Info > click Manage Document > click Recover Unsaved Documents. Then, find the unsaved Word document, click Open > Save As.

3. How do I recover an unsaved Word document in 2019?

Same as all previous versions of Word, Word 2019 also has the AutoRecover feature to help users recover unsaved Word document when computer shuts down. You can enable this function by going to File > Options > Save > checking Save AutoRecover. Once this function works, it can save your on-editing Word document at regular intervals. So you can recover unsaved Word document that didn't save.

One of the most depressing moment is when you click on the Save button to save a Word document you are working on, an error pops up and says: Microsoft Word is not responding. The error also happens when you try to open a Word document.

If you can't save or open a Word file because Microsoft Word is not responding on Windows or Mac, here are how to fix it and save the document.

Microsoft Word Not Responding When Opening or Saving a Document(Windows)

1. Repair Microsoft Word

If MS Word is not responding on your Windows 10/8/7 PC when you try to save or open a document, you can start to fix the problem by repairing the Microsoft Word application.

Access the Repair Tool

On Windows 10, right-click the Start button and click Apps and Features. Select Microsoft Word from the Apps list and select Modify.

On Windows 8, 7, click the Start button and select Control Panel. Open Programs > Uninstall a program. Right-click on Microsoft Word and select Change.

Run the Repair Tool for Microsoft Word

If your Microsoft Office is installed by click-to-run, you will see the window 'How would you like to repair your Office Programs'. click Online Repair > Repair.

If your Microsoft Office is MSI-based installed, you'll see the 'Change your installation' window, click Repair > Continue.

Follow the on-screen instructions to finish the repair. Then try to open or save the Word document and see if Word is responding now.

2. Disconnect Network Drive

If you are using a network drive to save the Word files, Microsoft Word doesn't respond if the network drive is not existing or offline. You may disconnect the network drive from your computer to fix the unresponsive Microsoft Word.

Step 1 Go to My Computer.

Step 2 Right-click on it and select Disconnect Network Drive.

Step 3 Click the letter of the drive that the Word files are saved to and click OK to disconnect the drive.

Now all contents on the network drive can be accessed via Windows Explorer.

3. Disable Add-ins in Microsoft Word

When your Microsoft Word is not responding, Add-ins for Word may be the culprit. Disable all the add-ins for Word.

Step 1 In Microsoft Word, click File > Word Options > Add-ins.

Step 2 Under Manage: Com-in Add, click Go to open all add-ins.

Step 3 Disable all add-ins and click OK.

4. Save Document When Microsoft Word Not Responding

If Microsoft Word is not responding and you have to close Microsoft Word without saving the Word document, you can try to recover the unsaved Word document in the following 2 ways.

Search for Word Backup Files

By default, Microsoft Word turns on 'Always create backup copy' option so that it will create a backup copy of the working Word file automatically. Here is how to access the backup copy in different versions of Word.

• For Word 2016: Click 'File > Open > Browse'.

• For Word 2013: 'File > Open > Computer > Browse'

• For Word 2010: Click 'File > Open'.

• For Word 2007: Click 'Microsoft Office Button > Open'.

Then navigate to the folder where you last saved the Word file.

In the Files of type list (All Word documents), click 'All Files'. Find and click the backup file and then open it.

If you couldn't find a backup of the unsaved Word file, use a Data Recovery to get it back.

Use FonePaw Data Recovery to Restore Lost Files

FonePaw Data Recovery can quickly and deeply scan your computer to retrieve deleted Word documents as well as images, videos, audios, and more from hard drives (including Recycle Bin) on Windows 10/8/7/XP. See how easy it is to find back lost documents:

Step 1 Launch FonePaw Data Recovery.

Step 2 Select the Document file type and hard disk drive to go into the scanning process. It will be better if you remember which drive the Word documents are saved to. If not, choose all hard disk drives.

Step 3Click Scan. Quick Scan will be carried out automatically.

Step 4 Check the scanned results by Type List and Path List. Just check all the Word document file found. You are always allowed to preview the files.

If you find the result unsatisfying, try Deep Scan which may take some time.

Fix Microsoft Word Not Responding on Mac

If Microsoft Word doesn't respond on Mac, you may force quit the application and fix the problem with the following methods.

1. Clear the Auto Recovery folder

My Microsoft Word Froze And I Didn't Save

Step 1 Open the Go menu and click Home.

Step 2 Go to Documents > Microsoft User Data then you will find the Office Autorecovery folder.

Step 3 Open the folder, there are the autorecovery files of Microsoft application. You can copy or move the files to somewhere else to save them. Then delete all the files in the folder.

Now launch Microsoft Word and see if it is responding now.

2. Remove Word Preferences Files

Step 1 Click Go > Go to the folder, then type ~/Library to open the Library folder.

Microsoft Word Frozen On Mac And I Didn't Save Video

Step 2 Open the Preferences folder and select the Word preference file, which is named as com.microsoft.Word.plist. Move the file to somewhere else like the desktop.

Now launch Microsoft Word and see if it is responding.

If the problem still exists, do the follows:

• Restore the file named com.microsoft.Word.plist to the original folder, then exit all Microsoft Office programs.

• Then, Click the Word icon > Preferences > Personal Settings > File Locations > User templates.

• You will find a file named Normal. Move it to the desktop.

Now launch Microsoft Word and test the program.

3. Save Word Document on Mac

The worst case is that Word is not responding so that the document can't be saved, you can try to retrieve unsaved Word document with FonePaw Data Recovery for Mac.

FonePaw Data Recovery for Mac can scan out all the existing and deleted Word document on your Mac and save Word documents as soon as possible. Read How to Recover Unsaved Word Documents on Mac.

Microsoft Word Frozen On Mac And I Didn't Save Song

All the above are the ways to fix and save document files when Microsoft Word is not responding on Mac or Windows.

Microsoft Word Froze And I Didn't Save

Microsoft Word Frozen On Mac And I Didn't Save One

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