10 Ways to Find a Lost Word Document (.doc)

Accidentally delete your work? Or save it somewhere and you can't find it? Or the power went out? Before you start frantically emailing your professor, follow these steps:

1. Send out a search party.
   In Windows, click Start, Search, All files and folders.
   Type what you remember of the name or simply *.doc to get all your Word documents.
   Select My Computer under Look in, and then under More advanced options, make sure Search hidden files and folders is checked.
   Then hit Search.


2. Still no luck? Check your Recycle Bin.
   Open it up and look through whatever files you've got. Did you find it? If so, right-click and choose Restore. Then if you're not sure where it actually restored to, perform a search for it.


3. Or you can pray for AutoRecover.
   Sometimes if Word crashes or closes unexpectedly, it'll still save what you had. Re-open Word. If a Document Recovery task pane comes up, double-click your document to open it and immediately Save As.


4. Search for AutoRecover files, yourself.
   In Word, go to Tools, then Options.
   Under the File Locations tab, double-click AutoRecover files and make a note of that path location.
   Click Cancel and Close.
   Open up that folder in My Computer or Windows Explorer and search for any .asd files. (Or another way to do this would be to run a search similar to step one but with *.asd instead of *.doc)


5. If you have Word set to automatically back-up your documents, there's still a chance here. Check the original folder for any .wbk file.
   In Word, click File, then Open.
   Navigate to the folder you think the file used to be located in and make sure All Files *.* is selected.
   Is there any .wbk file there? Select it and see if it's what you're looking for.


6. Still no dice? Send out a *.wbk search party.
   This step is the same as the first search party step, but now search for *.wbk files. You might find a few. Open them up, one by one.


7. Or search your temporary files.
   Again, this is like step one. But search for *.TMP files this time. You'll come up with a lot, so change the When was it modified? to the last week or so.


8. Or search even more of your temporary files.
   Some temporary files like to be unique. Search for those with ~*.* this time.


9. Open up C:\Documents and Settings\*USERNAME*\Local Settings\Temp
   This is a hidden folder, so you'll probably have to use Windows Explorer. Hit Start, then All Programs.
   Go to Accessories, then Windows Explorer. Navigate to that folder, where *USERNAME* is whatever your computer calls you. Do you see your document in that folder?

If none of those steps work, there are also programs that will help you recover deleted files. So this is the 10th and final option.

What's important to understand here is that if you delete something, it doesn't actually get deleted. Rather, it sits in a pile waiting to be overwritten. So the best way to recover a deleted file would be to try to find it right away --before it's overwritten.

If you'd like to use a program, I'd recommend: Restoration, Undelete +, or Recuva. All are free. [There's also a newcomer to the scene for Windows, UndeleteMyFiles. Thanks Lifehacker! ~Kelly, 6/25/08]

I hope this helps. And remember: Jesus saves, but Buddha does incremental back-ups.

So, to turn on the automatic back-up feature in Word, check out Tools, Options, and the Save tab.

Comments

[Mr T]

Also go straight to recent files, usually there is a recently saved copy lingering there

[Alex]

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[Monica]

Im soooooo grateful for this. I was having a panic attack.

[Sjeord]

Thanks you VERY much!!!
i found my file back,
i worked a long time on it.
and my computer 'd get a error.

[del_piero]

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[Ben]

Thank you. Wtf that was a close one.

[Hannah]

Whoever wrote this, deserves some kind of prize :D
I found my homework assignment that took me 5 hours to finish, then lost it.
Though, I spent most of my day trying to re-do this assignement, I though I SAVED IT, IT HAS TO BE SOME WHERE, and TADA!
thank you thank you thank you

-Hannah

[Twin XL]

Wow! Where was this article at the beginning of the semester when I lost my paper! Oh well, guess I'll save it for later.

[del_piero]

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[Michael]

Whay do all the allegedly free utilities end up asking for money before you can use them. Recuva said to be free ware let me down the garden path till I wanted to actually recuva then would go not further till I paid money

[Si]

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. This site has probably just saved me getting the sack. I had no idea saving into a zip file would send the file into a temporary folder. Without your steps to find my document, I'd be having to start it all over again.

[Frantic]

Thank you so much. You are a life saver and brilliant!!!!

[kidd]

Thank you so much!

It was in my Username folder as a .doc.

Love Ya!!!

[Jqline]

Anyone hack grade mark?? HELP pls

[Surendharan]

Also look into C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Application Data\Microsoft\Word... here a backup of you last saved / recovered document is kept for somedays (until temporary files are deleted) with the same name and no extension. It opens with MS word and would contain all what you need... Hope this helps!

[Clare Sutherland]

Hey -this might be worth stressing: ALWAYS try all avenues! I tried accessing recent documents on my own (nothing there) and then I went into Word > open document > look for recent document and it found the temp file DESPITE me not being able to access it in other ways.

I don't know if my thing was set to back up or not (I had saved it, just from an email; and not as save as: idiot) but the file was a .doc file, and it wasn't found via searching the whole computer.

So sometimes miracles happen and it's always worth trying the Word> recent document route!

[Luke]

You absolutely saved my meaningless little life. Thank you.

[Nonbyk]

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! A thousand times over!!! After Word 2007 simply deleted the doc I was working on with a nonchalant "Word has encountered a problem, click OK" type of dialogue box (the one that makes you click OK until kingdom come without success), I found the doc with Step 9. Words cannot express how relieved I am.

[N]

After pulling my hair out, found this site. TY SO MUCH. very helpful.

[Just a guy pulling his hair out...]

I got all the way to step 6 before you saved my life... THANK YOU!!! a Hundred times over!!!
And a lil Buddha belly rub is in order!!!

[Sanah]

WHOEVER HAS WRITTEN THIS POST I AM SO GRATEFUL TO YOU! YOU JUST SAVED ME FROM A HUGE TROUBLE! LIKE SERIOUSLY! GOD BLESS YOU!

[thankful]

first i'm thankful to God b/c i found my document. it's 4:12 am .. and i have to give in my essay at 9:30 .. another thing to note .. i have never ever, as far as i blv .. wrote a post on a blog. and secondly, i'm then thankful to the person who gave these tips. !!!!!

thank you soo much !!!

[James]

I love you. Honestly I would kiss however wrote this article if I met them. My computer froze when i was a paragraph away from ending my term paper. Then when i restarted and opened word I had lost 8 pages of work. But you guys could help when almost no one else google search provided could. Marry me?

[gabrielle]

Whew... thank God!

And thank you, Rosario! 'Thought I'd have to re-write 2,000 words of my novel... but there they were in my .asd file in the Word roaming folder.

[Just an Asterisk]

Great post! It's fun to see a list of things I end up doing when writing my work. I hope you'll take the time to visit my blog, http://justanasterisk.com, as I think your readers would appreciate the overlap.

Thanks for sharing.
~ab