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How to Recover an Unsaved Word Document

Word crashed before you saved. It almost certainly kept an AutoRecover (.asd) snapshot. Here is how to get your document back.

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  1. Reopen Word. If the Document Recovery pane appears on the left, click your file, check it is the newest version, then Save As a .docx immediately.
  2. No pane? Go to File → Open → Recover Unsaved Documents (button at the bottom of the recent-files list). This opens the folder of unsaved drafts (.asd/.wbk).
  3. Still nothing? Open the AutoRecover folder directly: press Win + R, paste %AppData%\Microsoft\Word\, and look for a .asd with a recent timestamp. In Word use File → Open, set the file type to All Files, and open it.

On a Mac

Look in ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Word/Data/Library/Preferences/AutoRecovery/ for a file starting with AutoRecovery save of. Double-click it, then Save As.

If there is no .asd at all

AutoRecover only saves every 10 minutes by default, so very recent work may be gone. Check the Windows temp folder (%Temp%) for ~WR*.tmp files, and enable a shorter AutoRecover interval under File → Options → Save so this is less painful next time.

FAQ

Where does Word store .asd AutoRecover files?

On Windows usually %AppData%\Microsoft\Word\; the exact path is shown under File → Options → Save. On Mac it is inside the com.microsoft.Word container's AutoRecovery folder.

I closed Word and clicked Don't Save — can I still recover it?

Often yes. Use File → Open → Recover Unsaved Documents, or open the newest .asd from the AutoRecover folder before Word overwrites it.

How often does Word save an .asd?

Every 10 minutes by default. Lower it under File → Options → Save so future crashes lose less work.

Can I delete .asd files after recovering?

Yes. Once your real document is saved, the .asd is just a stale snapshot and is safe to delete.

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