How to return the previous version of a word document. Restoring files replaced when copying

Computer power outages, critical errors that occur in the system, unintentional closing - all this leads to the fact that an unsaved Word document (doc or docx) may be lost. But almost any data can be recovered; the main requirement is to know the methods and be able to use a PC. The methods presented below are sorted by difficulty: from the simplest to the most complex. It is recommended to apply the options in order of priority.

Option 1: Automatically recover a Word document

The Word text editor has a built-in feature automatic recovery document. If there is a failure in the system that results in forced reboot Windows, then the program itself will offer to return the lost information. It looks like this:

Comment. The Word text editor provides an automatic recovery option only when you first start the program. When you reopen the utility, nothing will be offered. Don't miss this chance.

If the user did not save the Word document before closing, then you can try to force open it again. There is important detail: This method will not work if the user created a new Word document, typed the text and saved it. Algorithm:

1. Create and open a blank sheet;
2. In the upper left corner, go to the “File” section and click open;
3. A window pops up in which you need to select “Open and restore”:

The most controversial method, since the effectiveness leaves much to be desired. In most cases, nothing happens to a clean file.

Option 2: Source file

Despite the lack of saving, it could remain in the system source file Word (doc or docx). To find it, we use the following algorithm, consisting of two steps:

A list of files whose names match the entered keyword will appear. If the document is found, open it and view the contents.

Comment. This method is the simplest, but not ideal. The chance that the original document will remain on the computer after a critical error is extremely small.

Option 3: Autosave folder

Word (especially the latest versions) is quite smart. So, if the user did not change standard parameters, That Every 10 minutes the document is automatically saved in a specially designated folder, which is called reserve. The folder is hidden, so it is not certain that searching using the method described above will help, so you will have to check the contents manually. To do this:

You can find the last saved file in the directory. The appearance may differ depending on the version. In Word 2010 the folder looks like this:

There is an alternative to this method. It consists of the following:

A few notes:

• The method is only relevant if automatic saving of Word data is disabled;
• You can restore a document in this way only after a forced shutdown of the system (voltage drop, critical error etc.);
• In order for a file to be added to a folder, the user must work with it for some time;
• Unsaved files are presented in .asd, older versions (before 2010) of Word do not see this format.

That's it system methods are ending. Now let's talk about recovering Word information using third-party software.

Recovering a document using third-party programs

The method presented below will allow you to return a lost file from your device even in the most difficult situations: accidental deletion without placing it in the recycle bin, damage by a virus, formatting, etc.

In this case, third-party programs downloaded from the Internet are used for recovery ( It is advisable to check for malware with an antivirus). Here are some specialized applications:

• 7- Data Recovery. Among the advantages, multifunctionality should be noted: there are five options for recovering lost data. Despite the presence of the Russian language, the program is quite complex for inexperienced users;

• Active Undelete. The most universal utility that works with everyone file systems, OS and supports most external devices. The interface is quite simple and perfect for beginners;

• Wondershare Data Recovery. Powerful program, capable of recovering any files both from a computer and from external media;
• . On at the moment is a leader in the Word file recovery segment.

Comment. The resources of all utilities are limited; if a large amount of data was written to a disk or flash drive after deleting an unsaved file, then you should not expect a positive result.

In order to recover a Word text document in .doc or .docx format, the latest Wondershare Data Recovery program is ideal.

The entire stage of working with the application consists of 3 steps:

There is an hour left before you submit or send a document that you have been working on for days, and now, instead of saving all the changes, you forget to save it, or the program closes itself. This has happened to many. This is just one of many scenarios that happen to even very experienced PC users. Fortunately, Microsoft has a mechanism for recovering documents lost before they were saved.

Step 1. Open a blank word document. Go to the "File" menu on the top panel.

Step 2. It will open before you horizontal menu with all the parameters related to saving, printing and other actions with the document. Go to details.

Step 3. So, in the Details section, you will see the document management area.

Click on the button as shown in the screenshot and in the pop-up menu select the option that suits you, in our case it is recovery.

Step 4. A new window will open on your screen with all the files that you did not have time or could not save in time. Select the required document and open it.

Step 5. The file you select will open in Word. Save it.

Note! The folder with unsaved documents displays only those that were lost no later than 4 days ago. After this period, all unsaved documents are permanently deleted from your computer.

Where are the unsaved documents located?

The AutoSave feature was introduced in 2010 versions of Office software. If you are working on an older computer with older versions of software, your hard drive Windows disk there is a place that stores unsaved Office files for four days. You can't move files out of this area, but you can open and access them for later saving.

There is an easier way, enter the word “Unsaved” in the search bar of the Start menu. The system will find the corresponding folder for you. Open it and view the contents.

In fact, this is where the system directs you when you try to recover a document using Word AutoRecovery. Again, you will see in the folder everything that was created no more than 4 days ago.

As you can see, documents that you did not manage to save are not deleted from your computer, they do not disappear into nowhere, but are stored on the computer for some time. You can also open them with standard program“Notepad” if Word is not doing its job. Unfortunately, in this case you will lose the graphics and formatting, keeping only the text, but in many cases this is already a big deal.

Option 2: Recover Lost Word Documents Using EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard

No matter which version of Word you are using, it is really difficult to complete the entire recovery process using the guides listed above Microsoft Office. EaseUS allows Word users to recover deleted documents in just three steps. Among other functions performed by this program are the following:

• Windows recovery;
• search for USB files;
• search for lost Word documents, etc.

All this can be easily done using this program. Even a beginner can handle this tool. It is applicable to Word 2013, 2001, 2007, 2003, 2002.

Note! This is paid software. However, you can download and use trial version. You don't even need to register for a trial.

Step 1. Download, install and run the program, select the drive where the unsaved documents were supposedly located, and click on the “Scan” button to find all Word documents.

Step 2. The general scan will begin first. Upon completion, a deep scan will automatically start, helping to find more documents.

Step 3. As soon as the program scans your hard drive, browse through all the recovered Word documents and select the ones you want to keep. After that, by clicking on the “Restore” button, return them back.

EaseUS document recovery software is much easier to use than any other program in this category. It is, as the name suggests, designed to make people's lives easier.

For the future

Of course, prevention is always best way don't lose data. It starts with careful and regular conservation. Don't be lazy and do this even when you leave the computer to, for example, make tea or coffee or answer a call. This can protect you from future information loss. Although the software saves files to AutoSave from time to time, it cannot save everything. Most often, computers have a standard interval of 10 minutes. So there is a risk of losing the data you entered 10 minutes before the document was unsuccessfully closed.

If the file was ready to autosave and you closed it, you will lose the last nine minutes of work. You can change this setting so that autosave occurs more frequently.

Step 1. In older versions of the software, open Help from the File menu. In this section, select Options. In newer software Go to File > Options.

Step 2. Go to your save settings and change them as you wish. Don't forget to save the changes you made.

This mode remembers the latest version with autosave, even if you close the entire file before saving. This feature is present in all products office suite from Microsoft.

Video - How to recover an unsaved or damaged Microsoft Word, Excel or PowerPoint document

Let's look at 11 ways to recover an unsaved Word document, because not saving a document is perhaps the most annoying mistake when working. Time spent creating and writing, but the document is lost.

Read the article to the end and find out what you need to do and in what cases you can restore a Word document.

An unsaved document, which can be more offensive after several hours of work. Thinks you are the one who is insured because you constantly use “Ctrl + S”?

By the way, every Word user should know how to return an unsaved document. This can happen for several reasons:

• power surge or power outage;
• accidental closing of a document without saving (the “no” button was pressed when the program asked to save);
• Word malfunctions and various messages appear about the impossibility of saving the document;
• The folder to save the document does not appear;
• presence of viruses in the system;
• process blocking Word works antivirus program.

Don't panic and make unnecessary mistakes. There are several ways to correct the situation.

Automatic file recovery

All MS Office packages provide an automatic file recovery function when the program is closed unexpectedly, which is designed specifically for cases when unsaved Word documents need to be resuscitated.

When you reopen the document, the program will offer to restore open files at the time of its emergency closure. The documents will be located in a list on the left side of the screen in the “Document Recovery” panel.

In addition to the title, the version of the document is indicated. To restore a document, you need:

• open the latest autosaved version from the list " Available files» by clicking the mouse;
• After opening the file, you can continue working or save the file as usual.

The Document Recovery window opens only once after a failure. It is not recommended to close this panel without viewing the list of documents located there.

You can open earlier versions of an open document as follows:

• select the “File” section in the menu ribbon;
• open the “Information” item;
• in the window that opens, select the desired action in the “Versions” or “Document Management” sections.

How to recover an unsaved Word document

There are cases when, after working on a document, the user did not save the data before closing the document, or a failure occurred and the document was closed without saving.

In this case, you can use the built-in function of Word, autosave the document and, at the same time, let’s see how to find unsaved documents in Word.

The settings for the AutoSave function are located:

• open the “Saving Documents” window by performing the following chain of actions “File” → “Options” → “Save”;
• check the presence of a daw in the “Auto-save” item (there should be);
• set the autosave interval value - the lower the value, the more often the program will automatically save the document.

If you work on a document for 15 minutes, and the autosave option is set to 10 minutes, then the actions performed by the user in the last 5 minutes will not be saved.

Unsaved documents are stored in a special folder, the path to which is indicated in the line “Data directory for autorecovery”.

Let's look at 2 ways to return unsaved text in Word from the Data Catalog for autorecovery, which is suitable for all versions of Word (2003, 2007, 2010, 2016):

The first way to open an unsaved document is:

• click the “Browse” button next to the line “Data directory for autorecovery”;

The second way to open an unsaved document:

• Use your mouse to select the entire line of the “Data directory for autorecovery” window;
• press right click mouse and select the line “Copy”;
• open the “Explorer” window (hover the cursor over the “Start” button in the lower left corner of the screen, right-click and select the line “Open Explorer” or “Explorer”);
• clear the address bar (if full)
• paste the copied folder address into the address bar;
• in the window that opens, select the desired file from the list of documents with the .asd extension;
• open the document by double clicking the mouse.

You can read more about the AutoSave function in the article.

The procedure for restoring an unsaved document consists of several simple steps:

1. Open the latest version of an unsaved file in text editor Word from the folder “Data directory for autorecovery” (see procedure above).
2. Save it using the “Save As” function (File → Save As → Enter a document name → Select folder → OK).

How to recover damaged documents

There are several ways to recover damaged Word documents. Depending on whether it is possible to open a document or not, different file recovery methods are used.

Recovering an unsaved file using the command line

The method in question opens documents with damaged add-ins. The algorithm for recovering a damaged file is as follows:

1. Close the Word test editor;
2. Open the “Run a program” window (Start → Run);
3. Enter the command winword.exe /a;

After starting Word, open the damaged file via (File → Open → selecting a file from the list → Open).

Recover a document by copying text

In this case, let's look at how to restore text in Word by copying from one file to another.

1. Create a blank Word document.
2. Copy all intact parts of the original document.
3. Paste the copied text into a new document.

Copying should be done in parts from one break to another, without including them in a new document. Also exclude the last characters of the paragraph.

Forced file recovery

If the damaged file cannot be opened in the usual way, you can resort to forcibly restoring the Word document.

Perform the following algorithm of actions:

1. Open Word program;
2. Click the “Browse” button and find the damaged file;
3. Click on the found file with the mouse;
4. Click on the arrow on the right side of the “Open” button;
5. From the list that opens, select the line “Open and restore”.

Recovering a damaged document using a converter

When it is impossible to open an unsaved document, you must use Word's built-in “Recover Text from Any File” feature.

When restoring files in this way, only text without formatting will be restored. Unfortunately, all other objects (tables, graphs, images and other data) will also not be restored.

Algorithm for opening a Word file through a convector:

1. following the chain File → Open, open the “Open Document” window;
2. in the file type field, select the “Recover text from any file” function;
3. select the damaged file to open;
4. Click the “OK” button.

Word saves the last used file type, so it is necessary after opening damaged files change the file type to .docx.

How to Recover Deleted Word Documents

After accidentally deleting files previously saved on your computer, you need to look in the Recycle Bin to restore them:

1. Open the “Trash” shortcut by double-clicking.
2. From the list, select the deleted file to recover and right-click on it;
3. Select the line “Restore”.
4. The deleted file will be restored to its original location where it was originally saved.

If the cart has been emptied, deleted files It won’t be possible to restore using this method, but there is still a solution.

How to recover a deleted document in Word? You can resort to the autosave files discussed above.

How to recover files using special programs

To recover various types of files not found in the Recycle Bin or AutoSave Folder, there are special programs for file recovery, for example, Hetman Office Recovery.

The programs have a wide range of capabilities for recovering deleted and damaged files after program failures, disk formatting, and virus attacks.

In addition to paid products, it is possible to download a trial or free version programs with limited functions.

After installing the program on your computer, the algorithm for recovering deleted or damaged documents is performed according to step by step instructions programs.

Along with installed programs, you can use online service on the website.

Recovering from a Word Backup

Before starting work, you need to make sure that the “always create a backup copy” option is enabled on your computer. To do this:

• following the chain File → Options, open the “Word Options” window;
• select “Advanced”;
• Check the box “Always create a backup copy”.

Backups are usually saved in the same folders and have a .wdk extension.

If the document is not found in the previous folder, you need to enable the search for the file through the “Start” command and enter “.wdk” in the “Find” line. Then sequentially open all the found documents.

Are you familiar with the situation when, having spent the whole day working in Word, upon completion of it you are about to close the file with a clear conscience, but the cursor treacherously clicks on the “do not save” option, and all your efforts are in vain? Or while you are writing an essay and suspect nothing, the light suddenly turns off, and along with it all the unsaved data disappears? If you are reading this now, then most likely something of this kind has happened to you. But don't despair! The process of finding an unsaved document and restoring it is quite quick and simple, so you won't spend a lot of time on it.

Let's look at ways to restore Word documents for three versions: 2010, 2007 and 2003. They differ slightly, but first things first.

Word 2010 version

Fortunately, in this version the developers took care of such a problem? and you can return the lost document without any problems. Moreover, if an emergency shutdown occurs, that is, the computer turns off without your participation, the program itself will restore the file that you did not have time to save.

And if no unexpected shutdowns occurred and you simply missed pressing the “save” button, then you need to search for backup copies of documents manually. It's not that hard, below are detailed instructions.

1. Open Word and click on “File” in the upper left corner of the screen. After that, go to “Information”​

2. Find “Versions”, click and select the “Recover unsaved documents” function.

3. A folder opens in front of us where backup copies of documents are located. We look for the file we need among them and open it.

4. Save the document and continue to work on it as much as necessary!

That's all, we found a backup copy of the document and restored everything manually, spending a maximum of 5 minutes on this. You may be wondering why the unsaved file ended up in a certain folder? It's simple, in Word 2010, by default, the document autosave function works every 10 minutes. If desired, this time can be changed, for example, to autosave every 2 minutes. This is quite easy to do, let's figure it out together.

1. Go to “File” again, only this time select “Help” from the menu, and then “Options”.
2. On the right in the options menu we find “Saves” and set up a convenient interval for us at which autosave will be performed. There you can also change the path of saved files to make them easier to find.

That's all, now you know how to recover a Word 2010 document. Now let's understand how to recover an unsaved Word 2007 document. Everything is a little different there, but also quite simple and understandable.

Word 2007 version

In general, the only difference between earlier versions of word (2007, 2003) is that there is no “Information” section in the menu, from where we “pulled out” the unsaved documents. However, as mentioned earlier, restoring files is still not difficult for you and me.

That's all, the restoration of the lost document has been completed! The same scheme works with the version Word 2003 .

Backup Converter

But if you cannot open the file using the methods given above, it means that the file is damaged or deleted and you need to use a backup converter. It is installed with Office, but sometimes you need to activate it manually.

Congratulations, you now have this option enabled. If it was turned on before, then you don’t need to do any of the above; let’s start using it right away. So, how to recover a deleted word document:

1. Launch word, “File” - “Open”.
2. Enter the path to backup copy and click on it.
3. In the field above the “Cancel” button, set the “Text recovery” option.
4. Click on the arrow next to “Open” and select “Recovery”.

Done, we have “returned” the deleted/damaged file using the converter.

What to do if there is no backup

It happens that it disappears after the document in Word has been closed. But this situation is not hopeless; there are several ways to return your file safe and sound.

First way

1. Open “My Computer”.
2. Enter “*.asd” into the search bar. This is the extension of all unsaved word files, and the asterisk is read as any character.
3. Once your search is complete, locate the backup copy of your data in the list provided.

And if the system didn’t find anything, try using “.wdk” instead of “*.asd”. If this option does not help you, try the next method.

Second way

If the first option does not help you, then there is no automatically saved document. However, your data may still be in temporary files. So what to do:

1. Open “My Computer” again
2. Now enter “*.tmp” into the search bar.
3. We look for the file you need in the list.

Third way

Sometimes temporary data is saved with a ~ sign and a tilde at the beginning.

1. Go to the search again, in the parameters indicate the date of the last change in the file.
2. We type “~*.*” and the system searches for all documents that begin with a tilde.
3. From the entire list that appears, find the document you need.

These are all the ways by which it is possible to recover lost and unsaved files. But if none of them helped you, then try using special programs.

When you work with voluminous or important documents, you need to make sure that auto-save is configured, but it is better to save yourself to be absolutely sure of the safety of your documents.

No one is immune from cases when, when creating text document Computer power outages may suddenly occur.

Or, when “cleaning” the computer, the user accidentally deletes some important DOC file.

In this article we will tell you how to recover a Word document.

What is Microsoft Word

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Today, Microsoft Word occupies a leading position in the list of utilities designed for creating and editing text documents. It's included in the package Microsoft programs Office, developed directly by Microsoft.

Word's main rival can only be called , which is included in the same software package as Word.

There are a great many versions of this program. Each of them was intended for: Word 97, 2000, XP, 2003, 2007, 2010, 2013.

To date, the latest version of this program is the newest Microsoft Word 2016. However, the 2007 and 2010 versions remain the most popular.

At the moment, all versions are adapted to different versions operating systems, therefore not at all necessary, to install more new version programs, change OS.

The utility includes great capabilities for creating and editing text documents, tables, charts and more.

Word has a huge number of tools in its “luggage” that allow you to make your document more informative (through diagrams, tables, drawings, etc.).

Thanks to the great variety of built-in text, you can make text beautiful and pleasing to the eye, and the functions of inserting graphic elements will help you design your document beautifully and originally.

Activating autosave (creating a backup copy)

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Often, especially in latest versions programs, present automatic creation backup copy of a text document.

It is created in case of an emergency (sudden power shutdown of the computer, critical system error, etc.).

In order for a copy to be created automatically, you must enable autosave in the program. Below we will look at how to enable this function on the latest versions.

Word 2003

The first step in activating this function is to open the tab “ Service" , then click on the item "Options" .

A window will open in front of you in which you need to go to the tab "Saving" , then check the box "Auto-save every..." and set the time after which changes to the document will be automatically saved. Then by pressing the button "OK" save the setting.

IN in this case you can set absolutely any time period, even one minute. This setting does not affect the performance of the computer in any way and does not slow down the operating system.

The advantage of this setting is that changes to your document will be saved automatically and the chance that you will lose your data is extremely small.

Word 2007

To apply the autosave setting in the 2007 version of the program, you need to open the context menu by clicking on the round LMB icon in the upper left corner of the program window.

In the new window on the left, click on the item "Saving" and on the right side of the window put a tick next to "Auto-save every..." and select a time interval.

To save the parameter changes, press the button "OK" and the new settings will take effect immediately.

Word 2010

In the Word 2010 version, setting autosave settings is not much different from the previous ones.

This method works with versions 2007 and higher. The whole point is to find and restore a backup automatically created by the program itself.

Word 2007

To restore a Word document from a backup, you need to go through the following steps:

1 Open Word 2007, then, in the upper left corner, open the context menu by clicking on the round icon.

2 In the menu, select the item "Options" and click on it with LMB

3 In the left part of the window that opens, select the item "Saving" .

4 On the right side we look for the line "Data directory for autorecovery", which specifies the backup path. We copy/write/remember this path.

5 Close the settings window, and then open the context menu in the upper left corner again.

6 Select the item "Open" .

7 In the window that opens, enter/paste the path to the backup folder and look for the file in the name of your document that you want to restore.

8 On the button "Open" press triangle and select "Open and restore" , then press the Enter button.

You can also do this manipulation in version 2003. Thus, you will open a copy that was saved automatically when an emergency occurred.

Word 2010 and higher

In programs from the “tenth” version and higher, there is a special tool for restoring an unsaved Word document. In order to use it, you must perform the following steps:

1 In the upper left corner, open the menu "File" , in which you need to select the “Information” item.

2 In block "Versions" select button "Version Control" , then "Recover Unsaved Documents" .

3 In the window that opens, you need to select the name of the document you want to restore, then click the button "Open" .

4 The file opens temporarily, so to save it you need to go to the menu again "File" - "Save as..." and select path, name and save. The document has been restored.

If the backup copy is saved incorrectly, the file may not open when you try to open it in the standard way (by double-clicking LMB).

To open it, first launch the program itself, then open the menu "File" - "Open" and select the path to the backup copy, then in the folder find the document with the desired name and extension .asd or .wbk.

If you did not have time to give the document a name, then the file name will consist of the first characters printed in the document.

Select the document by single-clicking LMB, then on the button "Open" click on the small triangle, and instead "Open" put "Restore" , then press the Enter button.

1 Press "Start" - .

4 In the window that opens, open the tab "View" , then place a marker near the item "Show hidden files, folders and disks" . Save changes by pressing buttons "Apply" And "OK" .

How to recover a deleted Word document

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There can be a great many reasons for accidentally deleting a Word text document. If it was very important, you can try to restore it.

First of all, you should go to "Basket" and see if your document is there. If the document ends up there, restoring it is as easy as shelling pears.

To do this, right-click on the file and context menu select item "Restore" .

You can also simply drag the document from the Trash to your desktop. This way, the document will be restored without damaging the contents.

To recover a permanently deleted Word document, you will need additional software.

The program is called Hetman Office Recovery and it is intended directly to restore deleted and damaged Microsoft documents Office.

Hetman Office Recovery is provided free of charge. To download the program, follow the link, then click the button "Download for free" .

After clicking the button, the system will automatically prompt you to select the download path. You need to choose where to download installation file with extension.EXE.

Once the download is complete, open the installation file. Follow the installer's prompts for a successful installation of the program. Once the installation process is complete, restart your computer and launch the program.

When you start the program, it will automatically prompt you to select the drive on which the document you need was located before deleting it.

To start recovery, double-click on required disk LMB, then follow the following steps:

• First you need to determine the type of analysis you want to perform (quick scan or full analysis);
• In the search criteria, select the parameters by which the program will search for the document (file type, creation date and size);
• After entering all the data, press the button "Next" .

Now the program will be able to provide you with all files of a given type that have ever been located on the selected media.

Using the built-in preview function, a document can be opened within the program to view the content, after which it can be restored.

This program allows you to restore any documents created in programs Microsoft package Office.

To search the required document you just need to specify the appropriate file type when entering search parameters.