Deleted a Word document without saving? What we can do

It has happened to us many times: we have written something in a Word document and we have returned to it after a while and it is not there. We lose all the work we have done for hours and it disappears, there is no way to recover it and we have to retype it again. No, it’s not necessary. We can recover a lost Word file by following a series of quick steps with which we can locate it.

We may be writing and an unexpected error occurs that causes the software to close, the laptop to shut down or the document to close (accidentally or unintentionally) and lose the written. In this tutorial we review how to recover a lost file involuntarily. That is, if you have eliminated it and regretted it, these tricks will not work.

There are all kinds of tricks for Word and there are methods and steps you can follow to recover a lost Word file. There are several levels and forms that will depend on the operating system you have or the version of the program you have installed. You can do it from the system itself or from the version of the program you use.

From Windows 10 or in Windows 7

If you have Windows 10 or Windows 7, there are several methods you can follow to recover a lost file from the system.

Search the original document

Select “Start” in your program, type the name of the document you are looking for in the start search box and it may appear.

Select “Start”
Go to the “Start search” box
Enter the name of the document you are looking for
Choose if .doc or .docx
Press the Enter button
A list of files will appear.
If the file you are looking for is double click
It will open automatically in Word

If it does not appear this way, follow the next step that we explain.

Search backup files

If you had the software backup option enabled, you may be able to find a document file you are looking for, with the WBK extension. You can search for the backup copy of the file in the folder where the missing file was last saved by searching for files with a .WBK extension. If it does not appear, you can search for them manually.

Go to Start
Type * WBK in the Start Search box
Press the Enter key
The file list will appear
If it’s the one you’re looking for, double click to open it

If this is not the file you are looking for, try the following method.

Self Recovery Files

In Word there are a series of self- recovery files with the extension .ASD. When you start the program, it automatically searches for this type of documents and displays them in the task pane when we open it. You can have it search automatically.

Right-click on the list of tasks on your PC
Choose Task Manager
Go to “Processes”
Select Microsoft Word
Choose the option to finish task or end process
Exit all tasks or instances that appear
Closes the dialog box
Start

By doing this, Word may find the self-recovery file and automatically appear on the left side of the screen as “document name [recovered]”. To open it, simply double-click the file and go to File> Save As> Save in .docx format. So you can store it.

If this does not work, you can manually search the self-recovery files.

Select Start in Windows 10 or Windows 7
Type .ASD in the “Start search” box
Press the Enter button
The list of found files will appear
Double click on the one you are looking for to open it.

Search temporary files

Temporary file names that are saved in the editing software do so with the extension .tmp and you can search for it if the previous methods have not worked.

Go to Start
Type .tmp in the Start Search box
Press the enter button
In the toolbar, choose “Show only”
Check the “Other” option
The files of last dates and times will appear

If you find yours, we will explain later how to recover damaged files.

Search ~ files

If none of the above steps have served you, you can search for temporary files that start with ~ before the name . Let’s see if it appears.

Go to Start
Type ~ in the Start Search box
Select the option “See more results”

From Word 2019, 2016 and 2013

If you have some of the most current versions, you can do the search from the program itself instead of doing it from the system.

Backups

Word usually makes backup copies and they are saved with a .WBK file extension. If you have the option enabled, you can easily recover the file. If not, you can activate it so that it does not happen again and you can use the method in the future.

Activate the backup by following these steps:

Select File
Go to Options
Choose Advanced
Go to the end, to the Save section
Check the box “Always create backup”

Search for possible backups

Go to the Archive
Select the option to open
Choose “Browse”
Choose “all files” in the list of file types
Select the backup file you want
Click on “open”

Self recovery

Beyond the security formats, there are recovery files that are automatically saved with the .ASD extension and are displayed when you start it. But if you have not found it directly at startup, you can search for it from the program.

Go to File
Select the option to open
Click on “browse”
Choose “all files” in the list of file types
Find the document you need
Select the .ASD file you want
Click on the option to open

For Word 2010

If you have an old version of the program, there are also some steps you can take to recover lost files.

Backup

Like the previous paragraphs, there are files that are automatically backed up if you have set it up like this. If it is not configured:

Go to file
Options
save
Always create backup

If you have it activated, you can search for it by following a few quick steps:

Archive
Open
“All files” in the file type list
Select the backup file you want
Click open

Self recovery

The self- recovery files are, as we have already explained, those that end with an .ASD extension and are saved automatically. They usually appear when you open the program but if not, you can manually search for them.