How to Recover Temporary Word Files on Mac (with 2 Practical Methods)

What is a Word Temporary File Mac? It is a copy of the Word document that you are editing but have not saved on your Mac. It is generated every time you open a document. You may wonder what is the Word Temporary File Mac for. The main purpose of Word temporary files is to be used for recovering unsaved Word documents on Mac.

By default, Word saves temporary files in the TMP folder on a Mac. In this article, we'll cover the location of these temporary files on a Mac and how you can use them to recover an unsaved Word document.

Recover an Unsaved Word Document with File Recovery Software

If all else fails, you might want to use a professional file recovery software like the Mac Data Recovery Wizard. It can recover files from a sudden crash, accidental deletion, or unsaved state.

Accidentally clicked "Don't Save" on Word for Mac? With a Mac Data Recovery software tool, you can recover permanently deleted Mac files, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files, from the Trash. Its user-friendly interface allows you to recover unsaved Word documents with just a few clicks. Follow these steps:

Note: You can create a backup with Disk Backup first. You can then recover data from the backup image when the disk is damaged or files are accidentally deleted or lost from the disk without being saved.

Step 1: Select the disk

Run the “Data Recovery Wizard for Mac” tool and hover over the device where your unsaved file was lost, then click “Find Lost Files.”

Step 2: Choose the unsaved document

Once the scan is finished, click on “Type,” and then expand “Unsaved Documents.” Click on the exact type of your unsaved file – whether it's a Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Keynote, Pages, or Numbers document.

Step 3: Preview and recover the unsaved files

Double-click to preview an unsaved file, choose the correct version, and then click “Recover” to save the file to a secure location on your Mac.

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How to Find Word Temporary Files on Mac [2 Ways to Check]

You're editing a Word document, and suddenly, Word keeps crashing on your Mac, forcing you to force quit the Word app or restart your Mac. As a result, you lose all the latest changes you made to the Word file, and worse, the Word document is missing.

In such cases, as reported by the Apple community, you might encounter the same issue: your Word document gets converted to a temporary file format. How can you retrieve an unsaved Word document, then?

The first (and most direct) way is to locate the temporary Word file and save it as a new Word document. But where does Word store its temporary files on a MacBook? Here are two tried-and-true methods to find them.

Locate Word Temporary Files on Mac via Terminal

"Terminal" is a powerful built-in program on a Mac that allows you to quickly access folders where you might find your Word temporary files. Follow these steps to look for Word temporary files on your Mac:

Step 1. Open Terminal from Applications > Utilities.

Step 3: Locate and open the “Temporary Items” folder.

Step 4. Select the unsaved Word document that you want to recover and open it with Microsoft Word.

If you want to recover an unsaved Word document, click "Save As" and then save it to a new location.

Locate Word Temporary Files on Mac Using Finder

Aside from using Terminal, you can also use the Mac Finder to locate Word temporary files. Follow these steps to search for Word temp files on your Mac:

Step 1: Click “File” > “New Tab” to open a new tab for browsing your MacBook's storage, or press “Command + N” to open a new Finder window.

Step 2: Type the name of the file you're looking for in the search box, then hit “Enter” to continue.

Here are two practical methods to recover an unsaved Word document: via Word temporary files and using file recovery software. Both can be used to recover unsaved Word document on Mac without AutoRecovery.

Recover an Unsaved Document Using Temporary Files in Word If you accidentally closed Microsoft Word or the program crashed, causing you to lose an unsaved document, you can attempt to recover it through Word's temporary files. Follow these steps: 1. **Close Word**: Make sure Microsoft Word is completely closed. 2. **Locate the Temp Folder**: Word typically creates temporary files in the same folder. For Windows users, this location is usually: - `C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Word` - For Mac users, the path might be: - `/Users//Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Word/Data/Documents/Temporary Items` If you can't find these folders, press `Win + R` (Windows) or `Cmd + Space` (Mac), type `%temp%` in the Run dialog box or Spotlight search, and hit Enter. This will open a temporary folder that may contain Word's temporary files. 3. **Find the Temporary File**: Within the folder, look for files starting with `.asd` or `~$`. These are typically Word's temporary files. The filename might resemble the name of your previous working document or consist of random characters. 4. **Recover the File**: To open and save the temporary file, right-click it, choose "Rename," and change the file extension from `.asd` or `~$` to `.docx` (or `.doc`, depending on your version of Word). Then double-click the file to open it in Word. 5. **Save the File**: Once opened, immediately save it to your desired location to prevent further loss. Please note that this method isn't always effective, as not all crashes generate temporary files. If this fails, you may need to try other data recovery tools or services.

As we mentioned earlier, one of the main purposes of Word temporary files is to recover unsaved Word documents. Once you locate the Word temporary files through Terminal or Finder, you should open and save them. Follow these steps:

Step 1: Find the temporary file of your unsaved Word document on your Mac using Terminal or Finder.

Step 2: Choose the Word temporary file in the Temporary Items folder.

Step 3: Open the temporary files in Microsoft Word, and then select “File” > “Save As” to save your unsaved Word document in a safe location.

You can recover unsaved Word/Excel files from temporary files on your MacBook to fix the crashed Office 2016. Check out this article.

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

This article discusses 4 effective ways to recover unsaved Word and Excel files from crashed Office 2016 on your Mac. Read More >>

Conclusions

This article will guide you on how to find Word temporary files on your Mac and how to use Word temporary files to recover unsaved Word documents. Additionally, we'll present two practical alternatives to recover unsaved Word documents: the Auto-Recover feature within the Word application and a Mac data recovery wizard tool.

Frequently Asked Questions About Word Temporary Files on Mac

Here are some questions people often ask about Word temporary files on a Mac:

1. Where are temporary Word files on a Mac?

Word temporary files are stored in the TMP folder on a Mac; see the steps:

Step 1: Open the Terminal, found in Applications -> Utilities.

Step 3: Locate and open the “Temporary Items” folder.

2. How can I recover an unsaved Word document from the TMP folder?

Follow the steps below to recover unsaved Word documents from the TMP folder:

Step 1: Open Terminal and type open $TMPDIR to navigate to the TMP folder.

Step 2: Use Microsoft Word to find and open the Word document you need within the TMP folder.

Step 3: Click File > Save As to save the document in a new location.

3. Can I recover unsaved Word documents on Mac without AutoRecover?

You can recover an unsaved Word document without AutoRecover, using professional and reliable tools like "Data Recovery Wizard for Mac," restoring from the "Recovery Items" folder, or retrieving it from a Time Machine backup.