File Corruption & Recovery

How to Recover Word and Excel Files After a Computer Crash

Maira Mehtab Sep 22, 2026 874 views

Question details

The user needs to locate and recover locally stored Word and Excel documents that are missing following a sudden computer crash.

Product: Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel
Device & OS: not provided
Scenario: A computer crash occurred while working on or storing Word and Excel documents, resulting in lost work.
Observed behavior: Locally stored files are missing, unsaved, or cannot be found after the computer restarts.

Before you start

Ensure your computer has fully restarted and stabilized. Avoid saving new files to the same drive where your lost documents were stored to prevent overwriting the recoverable data.

Solution 1Recommended

Check Local AutoRecover and UnsavedFiles Folders

Use Microsoft Office's built-in AutoRecover and UnsavedFiles directories to locate documents that were temporarily saved before the crash.

Microsoft Office includes built-in safety nets that automatically save temporary copies of your files at regular intervals or when you close a file without saving.

Access the Unsaved Files folder

Open Microsoft Word or Excel, click on the 'File' tab, select 'Open', and click on 'Recover Unsaved Documents' (or Workbooks) at the bottom of the Recent files list.

Restore the unsaved file

A File Explorer window will open showing the UnsavedFiles folder. Locate your missing document, select it, and click 'Open'. Immediately use 'Save As' to save it to a secure location.

Locate the AutoRecover path

If the file is not there, go to File > Options > Save. Find the 'AutoRecover file location' path, copy it, and paste it into the address bar of a Windows File Explorer window.

Open the AutoRecover file

Look for a folder with your document's name or files ending in .asd (Word) or .xlsb (Excel). Double-click to open them and recover your latest changes.

AutoRecover Interval: AutoRecover relies on the save interval set in your Office settings. By default, it saves every 10 minutes. Any changes made between the last AutoRecover save and the crash may still be lost.

Solution 2

Restore from OneDrive or SharePoint Recycle Bins

If your locally stored files were synced to the cloud, you can restore previous versions or deleted files from OneDrive or SharePoint.

Solution 3

Contact Microsoft 365 Admin or Support

For work or school accounts, IT administrators can access server-level backups and extended recovery tools.

Free Microsoft Office alternative

Prevent Data Loss with WPS Office's Smart Backup

Tired of losing files to unexpected computer crashes? Switch to WPS Office, a free, lightweight, and highly compatible Office alternative. It offers a built-in Auto-Backup Center that continuously safeguards your documents, spreadsheets, and presentations without consuming heavy system resources.

1. Download and install: Visit the official WPS website to download and install WPS Office for free on your computer.
2. Enable Smart Backup: Open WPS Office, go to Settings, and enable the Backup Center to automatically secure your files at customizable intervals.
3. Work securely: Open your existing Word and Excel files in WPS Office seamlessly and never worry about losing unsaved work to sudden system crashes.

Fully compatible with Microsoft Office formats (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx).Built-in Smart Backup Center ensures your work is automatically saved and easy to recover.Lightweight installation prevents system overloads and unexpected computer freezes.Free to use with a familiar, user-friendly interface.

microsoft office alternative - wps office

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is the default AutoRecover file location in Windows?

By default, Microsoft Office saves AutoRecover files in 'C:\Users\[YourUsername]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Word\' or '\Excel\'. You can paste this path into your File Explorer address bar to check for recovered .asd or .xlsb files.

Why didn't AutoRecover save my file during the computer crash?

AutoRecover only triggers if the document was open longer than the AutoRecover save interval (the default is 10 minutes) and if changes were made since the last save. If the crash happened before the timer interval passed, the latest data might not have been recorded.

Can I recover a file if I never saved it before the crash?

Yes, you can check the UnsavedFiles folder. Open Word or Excel, go to File > Info > Manage Document, and select 'Recover Unsaved Documents' to browse for newly created files that were interrupted before you could manually save them.

Do third-party data recovery tools work for unsaved Word or Excel files?

Third-party data recovery tools are designed to recover deleted or permanently lost files from a hard drive. They generally cannot recover unsaved temporary data from a crash unless the temporary .tmp or .asd file was successfully written and preserved on the disk before the failure.

Document & File Issues