How to Recover Deleted Word Documents for Free?

Microsoft Word is one of the most revered word processors used by billions of students and professionals globally for different purposes. However, the easier they are to create, edit, share, and manage, the more likely they are to issues such as accidental deletion, corruption, etc. A simple Google search gives numerous queries on how to recover unsaved Word documents.

Accidental deletion or loss of access to Word documents can be infuriating if the deleted files had sensitive or confidential data such as banking details, business plans, or personal records.

Refer to the following query:

“I’ve been working on a large document; it had over 1200 pages. So when I checked again today, about 500 or more pages were gone. I can’t find them anymore. I can’t even go back because I activated “automatic saving,” so if there had been a version with all of the pages, it’s gone now.”

-Reddit User

Whether a file is deleted accidentally or lost for any other reason, you need not panic as it’s no rocket science to recover lost Word documents. 

But before we learn how to recover unsaved Word document for free, let’s look at the major reasons why we lose a Word document in the first place.

How Do You Lose A Word Document?

There can be various situations wherein you may lose Microsoft Word documents from your Windows computer. In this blog, we’ve covered some common scenarios that may lead to Word file loss:

1. No backup copy: Restoring Word files becomes a challenge if you do not have an offline or cloud backup of the files. To recover a deleted Word document, you must maintain a backup copy of it either on your local disk or on-the-cloud.
2. Unsaved Word file: At times, a Microsoft Word Docx file crashes while you are working on it. As a result, you may lose important data, and all your efforts can go in vain. In this blog, you will learn how to find and recover lost Word documents on your computer and save them to your preferred location.
3. Word file corruption: Word files may get corrupted at times due to a system crash, BSOD, unintended shutdown, malware, etc. In such cases, it is possible to recover accidentally deleted Word files with the methods explained in this blog.
4. Accidental drive or partition formatting: MS Word files can be lost if you format the partition carrying the files without copying them to a safe location.

How to Recover Deleted Word Document?

Document recovery in Word is not as complex as brain surgery. You can recover deleted Word documents no matter how and when you deleted or lost them. You can relate to the most likely cause of your file loss and directly jump to the relevant method explained below to find and restore deleted Word documents for free.

1. Restore from Recycle Bin

Applicability: If you wonder how to recover a deleted Word file from Windows trash bin, this method will come in handy. This method helps recover Word files and other documents deleted using the Del key on Windows 11, 10, 8, and older versions of the Windows operating system.

If you have deleted a Word Document by pressing the Delete key, you can restore it from the Recycle Bin. By default, deleted files go to the Recycle Bin if they are not configured to automatically-bypass the Recycle Bin.

The files deleted with the Del key stay in the Recycle Bin for 30 days, after which they are deleted permanently from the Recycle Bin). There may be times when you want to recover a Word doc from the Recycle Bin. The process of doc recovery for Word files from the Recycle Bin is pretty straightforward.

Follow the steps given below to recover deleted Word documents from Recycle Bin:

• Double-click the Recycle Bin icon on the Desktop
• Find the deleted Word file in the Recycle Bin.
• Right click on the files you want to recover and click Restore on the context menu.

This method explains how to recover a Word document from the Recycle Bin. The recovered files get saved to the location from where you deleted them.

Note: You cannot restore Word files or documents deleted using the Shift + Del key from the Recycle Bin since they bypass the Recycle Bin and get deleted permanently. To recover permanently deleted Word files, you will need a backup of those files or an efficient Free Word File Recovery Software.

2. Use the “Recover Unsaved Document” Feature of Word

Applicability: This method will help you understand how to recover unsaved Word documents after a system or application crash.

An open Word document may suddenly close due to a system or application crash, or a file may need a forced closure if it freezes. In such cases, you may lose valuable information stored on the document and fail to find or restore the same later on. This method will help you understand the unsaved Word doc recovery process without using any file retrieval tool.

In general, MS Word searches for AutoRecover files every time it starts and shows results in the ‘Document Recovery’ pane. If the ‘Document Recovery’ pane doesn’t open, you may find it with the ‘Recover Unsaved Word Document’ feature.

Here’s how to find auto-recovered Word documents and restore them:

• Open a new Word Document and go to: File > Info.
• Navigate to Manage documents and Select Recover Unsaved Documents.

• Click Recover Unsaved Documents to retrieve Word documents not saved on your system.
• Select the Word files you want to restore from the list of Unsaved Word Documents and click Open.

• The unsaved Word document recovery will open a temporary Word file with a warning message – “RECOVERED UNSAVED FILE – This is a recovered file temporarily stored on your computer.”
• Once you find an unsaved Word doc, right-click and choose ‘Save As’ from the context menu to retrieve unsaved Word documents on your system.

3. Use the AutoRecover Feature to Recover Unsaved Word Document

“AutoRecover” is another feature used for recovering a Word file. AutoRecover creates an automatic backup of an active Word document in set intervals while you work on it. The AutoRecover feature works in the background to save a temporary copy (in the .asd file format) of your live Word document without explicitly saving it.

When you open crashed or corrupt Word documents, the application automatically prompts you to recover an auto-saved file (in the .asd format) and save it on your computer as a temporary file.

In case you don’t get a system prompt recovering unsaved Word documents, follow these steps to search for the AutoRecovery temporary files (.asd) and save them on your system for unsaved Word document recovery:

• Open Microsoft Word Document and navigate to: File > Options.

• Click Options > Save.
• Under Save documents, navigate to the AutoRecover file location to find unsaved Word docs.
• Select and copy the file location path mentioned in the AutoRecover file location.

• Open File Explorer by pressing the Win + E keys.
• Paste the AutoRecover file location path in the Menu Bar and hit Enter.

• The unsaved Word files will show up with the .asd extension.
• Right-click on the unsaved Word file you want to retrieve and click Copy.

• Now, open a Word document and go to: File > Open > Recover Unsaved Word Document.

• Follow the steps discussed above to recover unsaved Word documents from temporary (tmp files).

4. How to Recover Deleted Word File from Backup (Windows & OneDrive)

Applicability: This method will help you understand how to recover a Word document from Windows or OneDrive Backup. If you have a backup copy of your Word file on Microsoft OneDrive or Windows, you can retrieve it no matter if you lost the file due to permanent file deletion, corruption, or drive formatting.

a. Use Windows Backup to Restore a Word Document

Using Backup & Restore, a Windows built-in utility, you can create a daily, weekly, or monthly backup.

Here’s How to Recover Permanently Deleted Word documents for free?

• Connect an external storage media to the Windows PC.
• Type Control Panel in Windows Search Box and press Enter.
• Locate Backup and Restore (Windows 7), click ‘Restore my files’ and follow the wizard to restore lost files.

• If ‘Restore my files’ isn’t visible, click ‘Select another backup to restore files from’ and follow the restore wizard.

Therefore, you must always create a backup copy Word document that you can use in case the original file gets misplaced, lost, or damaged.

b. Use the Windows File History Feature for Word Document Recovery

File History is another Windows built-in backup utility that may help you recover deleted, corrupt, or lost files.

Here’s How to Retrieve Unsaved Word Documents:

• Open Control Panel and click File History.
• Next, locate the backup and open it.
• Now, choose the files and folders you want to retrieve and click ‘Restore’ or ‘Restore to’.

• Finally, you can retrieve Word document and save the recovered Word document to your desired location.

c. Previous Versions

The method will help you understand how to recover Word document from previous versions of your existing file. This utility helps restore different versions of the file you deleted or lost.

You can choose the file version you want to retrieve with the following steps:

• Go to the location and then the folder from which you want to recover lost Word document.
• Right-click on the folder and click ‘Restore previous versions.’

• A list will appear with different versions; you can choose the version you want to retrieve.

• Click Restore or “drag & drop” the file at your desired location on your system.

D. Word Document Recovery with OneDrive

This method explains how to recover Word document from Microsoft OneDrive. Suppose you have Microsoft 365 or OneDrive Standalone subscription. In that case, you can turn ON the PC folder backup option to automatically sync up the Desktop, Documents, and Pictures folders on your Windows system to your OneDrive cloud storage. These synced files are available and accessible via any supported device.

If you’ve deleted a Word document or lost a file due to corruption or formatting, you can restore it from OneDrive, using the following options:

Scenario 1: Recovering a Word File Deleted from OneDrive Recycle bin

Note: This option is available to users who have only a OneDrive subscription and do not use Microsoft 365.

• Open the OneDrive website and sign in to your account.
• Select Recycle bin in the navigation pane.
• Select the file you need to recover and click Restore to recover Word document in the Doc or Docx file formats.

Scenario 2: Retrieve an older version of a file stored on OneDrive

Note: This option for Microsoft Office Word doc recovery applies to OneDrive users who don’t have Microsoft 365 subscription.

Follow the steps given below to restore a Word document to an earlier version:

• Sign in to your OneDrive account.
• Select the file you need to retrieve.
• Right-click the file and select the Version history.
• Click Restore to recover the file.

Scenario 3: Restore the entire OneDrive

Note: This option to recover an unsaved Word Docx is only available to Microsoft 365 subscribers.

This option to recover an unsaved Word Docx is only available to Microsoft 365 subscribers.
Using this option, you can restore the entire OneDrive to a previous version. This option to recover documents on Word helps restore multiple deleted, corrupted, or damaged files at once.

Here’s how to recover a deleted Word document from OneDrive:

• Go to the OneDrive website and log in to your account.
• Click the Settings icon on the top of the page.
• Navigate to Settings > Options > Restore your OneDrive {if using a personal account} and if you’re using a work account, navigate to Settings > Restore your OneDrive.

• On the Restore your OneDrive page, select a date/timeline from the drop-down list. The drop-down menu displays the timeline of all your backups on OneDrive.

• Review the activity feed and chart to decide the actions you want to execute.
• After reviewing the details carefully, select Restore to restore OneDrive to an older state.

5. How to Recover Unsaved Word Documents with Windows File Recovery Tool

Applicability: This method explains how to recover lost Word document if you’ve lost it permanently and have run out of backup.

Microsoft’s Windows File Recovery tool is a free command-line tool that can recover multiple file types. It comes with three modes of operation, including Default, Segment, and Signature.

The software works primarily with NTFS-based hard drives, for which you can choose Default or Segment mode. However, it also works with other file systems such as FAT, exFAT, and ReFS-based hard drives, for which you’d need to choose the Signature mode of operation.

Limitations with Windows File Recovery tool

• It is a command-line tool that requires you to run several commands and syntaxes for document recovery in Word, making it a little complicated for non-technical users.
• It supports only Windows 10 version 2004 and above. Unfortunately, there is no support available for previous Windows versions.
• Furthermore, the recovery results can be corrupted or incomplete.

How to Recover Word Document Using Word Document Recovery Software

Applicability: This method recovers the files deleted using the shift + delete command or emptied from Windows Recycle Bin, and there is no Backup available. The software also gets back the files lost due to malware infection, corruption, or drive formatting.

Here’s how to Recover a Deleted Word Document using Stellar Data Recovery Software:

• Download, install and run Stellar Data Recovery for Windows on your system.
• On the Home screen, select Office Documents and click “Next.

• Select the location or drive from where you want to recover a Word file and click Scan.

• Preview the recoverable files under your preferred file tab and click Recover to save them.

• Next, click Browse and then click the Start-Saving to save the recoverable files. The recovered Word document gets saved to your preferred destination on the system.

Why Choose Stellar Word File Recovery Software?

Stellar flaunts an advanced data retrieval algorithms analyze the content of your storage devices, including USB Flash Drive, Pen Drive, External HDD, SD & Micro-SD cards, and more.

It ensures 100% data retrieval regardless of the reason that caused data loss. Stellar data recovery program flaunts an intuitive and user-friendly document recovery task pane that helps recover an unsaved Word data file.

On initiating a Scan to recover data, its Deep Scan engine searches for even the tiniest bits and pieces of your lost data. After the scanning process is complete, the Stellar Data Recovery Wizard merges the recovered bits and pieces to save the Word document in its original form. Millions of customers trust Stellar Data Recovery Software to retrieve files lost due to accidental deletion, virus attack, corruption, and other prevalent data loss scenarios.

It saves you from the monotonous, time-consuming task of manually finding and recovering deleted or unsaved files in Word. In addition, its trial version allows you to recover documents on Word for free at up to 1 GB.

So, if you’re wondering how to recover a deleted Word document for free, count on Stellar File Recovery Software to recover deleted or unsaved Word documents. Stellar’s deleted or unsaved Word document retrieval software is compatible with Windows 10, 8, and older versions.

How to Avoid Word Document from Being Deleted or Lost?

It can be infuriating to lose your Word document when you have invested so much time preparing it. Though there are numerous methods available to help you recover unsaved or lost Word data files, it makes sense to follow some good file-keeping practices that can avoid data loss in the first place.

Here are some handy tips and tricks to prevent the loss of Word docs:

A. Maintain diversified backup

Create multiple backups of your Word docs and store them at different locations to avoid data loss. Stellar recommends you keep saving your doc at regular intervals and create backups on multiple devices.

To prevent permanent loss of sensitive data, you can create MS Word doc backup on external hard drives, flash drives, SD cards, on-the-cloud, etc. It ensures recovery of the deleted Word Doc or Docx files easily and quickly, whenever required.

B. Enable AutoRecover Files

MS Word’s built-in AutoRecover Feature comes handy for document recovery of a Word file lost due to technical glitches such as application errors, user errors, Microsoft Word crashed errors, etc.

You must make sure that you have turned the AutoRecover feature ON to protect your Microsoft Word docs in these scenarios.

C. Avoid overloading your hard drives

Avoid storing your lost data on the same hard drive as your operating system/application directory.

In general, malware intrusions or Microsoft Word crashes impact your OS drive first, meaning all your data stored on the OS drive may get deleted. Therefore, you must ensure your Word documents are stored on a separate drive to prevent data loss.

D. Beware of user errors

Consider using advanced options such as tracked changes and versioning features in MS Word to avoid user errors and protect your files. Sometimes you can lose data while deleting or editing certain portions of your Word doc.

These advanced features track changes made to your document and helps you roll back to a particular version of your Word doc if required, without losing data.

Conclusion

Microsoft Word is the most widely used word processing application. So, you might face a situation where you delete a Word file and want it back later.

In this blog we shared different methods to recover Word documents lost under various situations, such as accidental deletion, a closed document without saving, corruption, malware attack, system crash, etc. This blog will help you learn how to recover deleted Word document using several different methods.

You can opt for any solution discussed in this blog to recover unsaved or lost Word document Word file. Do not forget to share your views in the comments section below.

FAQ About Deleted or Unsaved Word Document Recovery

1. Is it possible to recover unsaved Word file?

You can recover an unsaved Word doc using any method discussed in this post. Whether your system gets shut down unexpectedly while working on the Word file or the Word program suddenly crashes due to any reason, you can use the information given in this blog to understand how to recover lost Word data files. For detailed information on lost Word file recovery, follow the methods explained in our blog on How to Recover Unsaved Word Document:

• Use the ‘Search’ Option
• Search for Word Backup Files
• Check the Recycle Bin
• Use AutoRecover Feature
• Use the ‘Recover Unsaved Documents’ Feature
• Use an Efficient Data Recovery Tool to Restore Missing File

2. Where do the permanently deleted Word files go?

Whenever a file gets removed from a location in the Windows system, it doesn’t get lost forever. Only the file pointers that specify the beginning and the ending points of the file’s existence get deleted. 

As a result, the deleted files become inaccessible to the users despite the data still available on the computer. So, it is possible to recover a deleted Word document until other data overwrites the file.

3. Can a Data Recovery Software recover a Word document from a formatted USB Drive?

Yes. With reliable data recovery software such as Stellar Data Recovery for Windows, you can recover a Word document from a formatted or corrupted HDD, SSD, USB drives, and even SD cards.

The software efficiently restores all data types, such as documents, emails, folders, PDFs, photos, videos, etc. You can read our complete guide on recovering Word documents from a formatted USB drive for detailed information on the process.

4. Is there any free version of Stellar Data Recovery Software?

Yes, the Stellar Data Recovery Software Free Edition is available to download and use. It supports data recovery from all internal and external storage drives in case of formatting, corruption, malware attack, BitLocker encrypted drives, etc. You can recover up to 1 GB of data with the free version.