How to Restore a Previous Version of an Excel File

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Q: How can I revert an Excel spreadsheet to a previous version after saving it?

"Is it possible to recover a saved and overwritten Excel to its previous version? I had a crucial workbook with two sheets, but accidentally saved over it, now leaving me with only one sheet and a lot of lost data. I don't know how this happened; I wasn't even aware. I need to retrieve the lost data. So, if anyone could assist me, is there a way to restore the workbook to its previous state before the deletion occurred? And if so, how can I do that?"

Recovering an overwritten Excel file is a popular concern among many users. How you restore an earlier version of an Excel file depends on whether or not you saved it. If the Excel file is still open, you can simply use Ctrl + Z or the Undo option to revert the Excel file to a previous state.

However, if an edited Excel file has been saved and closed, restoring an earlier version isn't so straightforward. In the sections below, we'll discuss how to recover previous versions of Excel 2016, 2013, 2010, and 2007 in two different scenarios. One, where you have saved a file and want to restore an old Excel version; and two, where you haven't saved the file and want to recover an earlier version of Excel. Plus, at the end, we highly recommend trying out the Data Recovery Wizard tool to easily restore a lost saved Excel file.

How to Restore a Previous Version of an Excel File After Saving

There are two ways that you can use the Windows Backup feature and the Manage Dictionary feature in Excel to restore a previous version of an Excel file.

1. Recover an earlier version of an Excel file from a previous version

When File History and System Restore are turned on, Windows can automatically save old versions of your data files.

Step 1: Open File Explorer and locate the Excel/Word file.

Step 2: Right-click on the Excel file and select “Properties.”

Step 3: Click the “Previous Versions” tab, select the version you want to restore, and click “Restore.”

2. Recover an earlier version of the Excel file using built-in Excel tools

Step 1: Open the file you are working on.

Step 2: Go to File and click Info. Under Manage Document, click on Reopen Closed Unsaved Files.

Step 3: Click the “Revert” button at the top of the file to overwrite any saved versions.

How to recover an earlier version of an unsaved Excel file

If you didn't save the file, you might be able to recover an earlier version of Excel by trying one of two methods.

1. Recovering an Unsaved Excel File from Auto-Recover

If the AutoRecover option is turned on, Windows saves versions of your file as you work. You can recover an earlier, unsaved version of your Excel file by following these steps.

Step 1: Click File > Info > Manage Workbooks > Recover Unsaved Workbooks.

Step 2: Select the file and click "Open".

Step 3: Click “Save As” at the top of the file to save your document.

2. Recover an older version of an Excel file from a .TMP file

Microsoft Office has an auto-recovery feature that saves temporary files of your work. You may be able to recover an earlier version of an Excel or Word file by finding the .TMP file:

Step 1: Locate the Excel/Word temporary files with the .TMP extension, as per the location of the Temp folder on your computer.

For Windows 7 users: C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Excel\ For Windows 8/10 users: C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Office\UnsavedFiles\

Step 2. Locate and identify any temporary Excel or Word files that begin with either "$" or "~" and end with ".TMP". Choose the correct version based on the date, copy it to a secure location, and rename the file extension from .TMP to .XLS/.XLSX for Excel or .DOC/.DOCX for Word.

Conclusion: If your Excel file is accidentally overwritten and causes data loss, you can use the 4 methods above to restore previous versions of an Excel file. Besides overwriting an Excel file, users may also lose Excel due to accidental deletion, formatting of storage devices, system crashes, virus attacks, emptying the recycle bin, and more. In this case, the above methods will no longer apply. Then, how to recover deleted Excel documents? Calm down and easily get back lost Excel with the tools Data Recovery Wizard tool demonstrated below.

How to Recover Deleted/Lost Excel Files with Data Recovery Software

If you have previously deleted an older version of Excel, or if you have lost your saved Excel due to accidental deletion, formatting of the hard drive, or other reasons, you can use the Data Recovery Wizard tool to recover deleted Excel from your computer or other storage device in 3 easy steps.

Now install the program and follow the wizard to easily recover your lost Excel/Word files.

Step 1: Run the Data Recovery Wizard. Select the drive where you lost your files and start the scan. This software lets you recover lost data from all kinds of devices, including HDDs, SSDs, USB drives, SD cards, flash drives, cameras, and more.

Select the location to scan

Step 2. Preview the scan results. You can click on the file type filter and choose the file types you need. tools Data Recovery Wizard supports over 1000 file types, such as photos, videos, documents, emails, audio files, etc.

Step 3: Preview the files you want to recover. Click on “Recover” and set a location to save the recovered data.