Recover Unsaved Word/Excel Files from Crashed Office 2016 on Mac

Overview of Recovering Unsaved Word/Excel Files

When your Office 2016 app suddenly crashes on a Mac, resulting in the loss of an unsaved Excel file, stay calm. Follow the methods provided to recover your unsaved Excel file:

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Microsoft Office for Mac 2016 updates sometimes crash on macOS or Mac OS X, resulting in unsaved Word documents being lost unexpectedly. You might have worked on a Word file for a long time, and it's unacceptable to lose it suddenly. So, how can you recover unsaved Office files due to an app crashing? Keep reading and check out the three potential solutions here. Besides, it's recommended to use a professional Mac data recovery tool to help you retrieve permanently deleted/lost Word documents in the easiest way.

How to Recover an Unsaved Word Document in Microsoft Office 2016 for Mac

Here are two possible ways to recover unsaved Word document on Mac after crash. We also provide online tutorials on how to recover unsaved or lost Excel files on Mac. Feel free to check them out if needed.

Method 1: Recover from AutoRecover in Word 2016

The AutoRecover feature available in some Office programs can automatically restore your files if the program or system crashes.

Step 1: Open the Finder on your Mac and go to Go > Go to Folder.

Step 2: Type ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Word/Data/Library/Preferences/AutoRecovery, then click Go.

3. In the “AutoRecovery” folder, locate all files that begin with “AutoRecovery save of.” Select the file you want to recover, rename it, and add the “.doc” file extension.

Step 4: Double-click the file. The document will now open in Word for Mac.

5. Click the “File” menu and select “Save As.” Type in a new name for the file in the “Name” field, choose a folder to save the file in, then click the “Save” button.

Method 2: Restore from the Temp Folder

Follow these steps to recover an unsaved Mac Office file from the Temp folder following a software crash.

Step 1: Click on “Applications” > “Utilities,” and then double-click on “Terminal.”

Step 2: Enter open $TMPDIR in Terminal, and it opens the TMP folder. This folder is used for temporary files.

Step 3: Locate the “Temporary Items” folder and then right-click on the unsaved Word file you wish to recover, and select “Open with Microsoft Word.”

Step 4: Save the Word file elsewhere by clicking "File" then "Save As."

If you still need guidance on how to recover unsaved Word documents in Windows, you can find it here.

Method 3: Recover unsaved Word 2016 using a data recovery software

Thankfully, there's this data recovery tool to come to the rescue. Follow the steps below to learn how to recover an unsaved Word document in just 3 simple steps.

Note: You can create a backup by first clicking Disk Backup on the left. You can recover data from the backup image when the disk is damaged or when unsaved documents on the disk are accidentally deleted or lost.

Step 1: Select the Disk

Launch the Mac Data Recovery Wizard, hover over the device where you lost your unsaved file, and click Find Lost Files.

Step 2: Choose the unsaved document

Once the scan is complete, click “File Types” and then expand “Unsaved Documents.” Click on the specific file type that you lost – for example, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Keynote, Pages, or Numbers.

Step 3: Preview and Recover Unsaved Files

Preview an unsaved file by double-clicking it, choose the correct version, and click “Recover” to save the file to a secure location on your Mac.

How to Recover Permanently Deleted/Lost Word 2016 on Mac

If you have permanently lost your saved Word, Excel, or PPT files on Mac due to accidental deletion, disk formatting, virus attack, or lost partitions, you will need a third-party tool to help with file recovery. Among them, Data Recovery Wizard for Mac is one of the best Mac data recovery software, and it's worth a try.

With this tool, you have high chances of retrieving deleted files from Mac Trash, memory card, USB drive, internal/external hard drive, and so on.

Note: You can create a backup first by clicking “Disk Backup” on the left. The software will recover your documents from the backup image. This prevents further damage to your disk and data, making it safer and more reliable.

Step 1: Scan the Lost Document

Select the location where your important Word/Excel/PPT/Numbers/Pages document was lost, and then click “Search Lost Files”.

Step 2: Find Lost Documents on Mac

The tool Data Recovery Wizard for Mac will immediately start scanning the disk volume you selected. The scan results will be displayed in the left panel. Choose "Documents" to quickly filter out previously lost DOC/PDF/PPT/XLS files.

Step 3: Recover Lost/Deleted Documents

Simply double-click the targeted file to preview it, and then hit the “Recover” button to instantly get your lost document back.