If Word crashed before you could save your document, you may see a panel called “Document Recover” in the left side menu upon opening the app. If this panel opens, click your unsaved file in the panel to open it, and then go to File > Save As to save it now. If this worked for you, there’s no need to continue with this method.
If you didn’t see your document in the folder, it’s possible that you saved it to your Documents or Desktop folder.
If the document isn’t repairable, you can usually extract the text without the formatting and images. To do this, select Recover Text from Any File from the “File Type” drop-down menu at the bottom-right corner and then click Open. At this point, you can either save the file by clicking File > Save As or paste it into a new file.
Word 365: Click Info in the left panel, and then select Version history (the clock icon) in the center panel. Word 2019 or 2016: Click History on the menu. If you don’t see it, it’s usually because you have a subscription to Microsoft 365. In this case, click Info in the left panel and then select Version history in the center panel.
You won’t see the file here if you selected Don’t Save when closing Word. Unfortunately, there’s no way to recover a document if you selected that option.
If it doesn’t open in Word, click the file once, press Return, and then type . doc at the end of the file name. Press Return again to save the new file name and follow any confirmation requests. If you are prompted to select an application, click Open With and choose Microsoft Word.
This method only works for files saved to your OneDrive or SharePoint in Microsoft 365.
Word 365: Click the click the name of the document in the title bar of Word (at the top), and then select Browse version history. Word 2019 & 2016: Click the File menu and select Browse Version History.
