I am trying to recover a Microsoft Word document that for some reason has been deleted (not in recycle box) - probably deleted without being saved

Bohdan Kozachuk

Hello, thank you for using Howly.

Customer Replay

The issue I have run into is that I had a Word document open and I thought I still had it but it appears under "recent files" but I can't open it or find it on my computer

It's a fairly important one which is why I was hoping to retrieve it
additional useful info might be: it's not in the recycling bin

Bohdan Kozachuk

Thanks for the info!

Customer Replay

and the steps I found on Google don't work as I can't find these buttons File > Info > Manage Document > Recover Unsaved Documents

Bohdan Kozachuk

Ok, thank you for letting me know your troubleshooting steps!
Do I understand correctly, you saved the file but can't find it, is that correct?

Customer Replay

No, I think what happened is that I accidentally closed it without saving it
And while it appears under "Recent" in Word, I can't open it

Bohdan Kozachuk

Understood. You have tried this, yes?
Go to File > Info > Manage Document > Recover Unsaved Documents

Customer Replay

It says "This document is either deleted or not currently accessible."
the problem is that I when I go to File, the "Info" option doesn't come up
I am working on an Apple laptop

Bohdan Kozachuk

Thank you for the additional information!
Let's try this again, but with pictures
Follow the instructions on the picture

Select the file, and then select Open.

In the bar at the top of the file, select Save As to save the file.

Customer Replay

I don't see the options on the first picture
"Manage document"
it looks very different on my MAc

Bohdan Kozachuk

Got, let’s try a different approach that can work better in this case

Customer Replay

I unfortunately don't think there's anything that can be done
I just don't remember closing the document and not saving it

Bohdan Kozachuk

Let's try to not give up, *****

Step 1. Open "Finder" on your Mac, then head to "Go" > "Go to Folder".
Step 2. Type: ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Word/Data/Library/Preferences/AutoRecovery and click "Go".

Please let me know when you're done with that so we can go further

Customer Replay

the document appears in the list that emerges when I paste that
what shall I do?

Bohdan Kozachuk

Step 3. Open the AutoRecovery folder, and locate all the files that start with the words "AutoRecovery save of". Select the one you want to recover, rename the file, then add the ".doc" filename extension.
Step 4. Double-click the file. The document now opens in Word for Mac.
Step 5. Click the File menu and select "Save As"'. Type a new name for the file into the Name field, select a folder for the file, and click the "Save" button.

Customer Replay

It worked!!
Thanks!!
So glad this worked!

Bohdan Kozachuk

Great job!
Thank you so much!

Customer Replay

Thanks for your help!