Recovering an Unsaved Document in Microsoft Word

Issue/Question

Customer machine rebooted or they closed Word without saving their work

Environment

  • Microsoft Office 365
  • Microsoft Office 2016
  • Microsoft Office 2013
  • Microsoft Office 2010

Cause

Document closed without saving or computer crash/reboot

Resolution

  1. Open Microsoft Word
  2. Click Open on the left toolbar
  3. Make sure 'Recent' is highlighted
  4. Scroll to bottom of window
  5. Click Recover Unsaved Documents
  6. Select document from list to open (if document is not in this list chances are it is gone)
  7. Save the opened document
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