Disk Drill for Windows

How to Recover Word Document with Disk Drill
for Windows

Microsoft Office is the most-used office suite of applications in the world, and Word documents lead the charts in terms of total data loss incidents per year. While the latest version of Word comes with an integrated auto-backup functionality as well as cloud synchronization, it’s still way too easy to accidentally delete Word documents. Fortunately, Word document recovery doesn’t have to be complicated. Disk Drill for Windows supports all file formats associated with Microsoft Office, including .doc and .docx, allowing you to recover any lost Word document with just a few clicks.

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Free version recovers up to 500 MB

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And we’re not just talking about using the Recycle Bin, either. While some data recovery solutions out there do nothing but use features that come with all versions of the Windows operating system for free, Disk Drill for Windows goes far beyond that, allowing you to recover deleted word document even after emptying the Recycle Bin. That’s possible thanks to best-in-class data recovery algorithms that analyze the content of your hard drive at the file system level — something you can’t do otherwise.

#1 If you hurry up, you can recover
all lost Word documents

Let’s say you’ve accidentally deleted a bunch of important Word documents and emptied the Recycle Bin. Sounds familiar? Millions of computer users around the world run into this exact problem every month. Most assume their files are gone forever. Only a small minority of users know that Disk Drill for Windows can recover all deleted Word documents if used as soon as possible.

When you empty the Recycle Bin, the Windows operating system doesn’t shred your documents. It just figuratively throws them aside. The documents will sit on your hard drive until another application decides that it wants the storage space they occupy and overwrites them. When that happens, even Disk Drill can’t help you. The good news is that modern hard drives are so large that usually you have enough time to download and use Disk Drill to recover word document. So, don’t wait any longer and download Disk Drill for Windows right now. You’re just a few steps away from recovering all deleted Word documents on your computer.

1Download Disk Drill
2Install it
3Start Disk Drill for Windows

#2 How to recover a Word document using Disk Drill for Windows

Disk Drill for Windows makes Word document recovery as simple as it can be. Do you hate when you install and launch a new application only to find out that you have no idea how to use it? We do too. That’s why we’ve designed Disk Drill to be intuitive and self-explanatory. The user interface adheres to modern usability principles, and you’ll never encounter any technical language without an explanation nearby. Not only can Disk Drill save your files, but it can also save you a lot of time you would otherwise waste on convoluted manuals and tutorial videos. Even highly technical software such as Disk Drill can be simple to use — it just takes a lot more experience and energy to create it.

#3 Scan your storage device for free

With Disk Drill for Windows installed and ready for use, it’s time to select your storage device on the main screen and start the recovery process. Disk Drill for Windows comes with an abundance of useful features and data management and protection tools, but you may safely ignore them for now. Disk Drill is designed to work right out of the box without any configuration. The regular data recovery scan cover almost all data recovery scenarios you will ever come across.

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We understand that you Word documents move across multiple devices — all of which can fail unexpectedly. These days, the typical office worker download a bunch of Word documents from the company’s share cloud storage solution, transfer them to her laptop, copies them onto a USB flash drive, and move them to a home PC to make last-minute adjustments. Disk Drill for Windows supports all major storage devices and file systems, including FAT32 and NTFS, which are used by the Windows operating system as well as Mac OS X and Linux.

How to recover unsaved
Word document

Microsoft Word stores unsaved Word documents as files with the .asd extension. Disk Drill for Windows fully supports the recovery of this file extension, allowing you to restore your progress even if you forget to save your work in the first place. If the recovered file doesn’t contain everything you’ve written, that’s because Word didn’t have enough time to temporarily save it. However, it’s unusual to lose more than a few sentences this way.

#4 Select which Word documents you want to recover

Disk Drill doesn’t just restore all deleted files on your computer, leaving you with a huge mess to sort out. Instead, it presents all findings as an ordered list of files, which you can sort by various criteria and filter using the filter function. If you want to, you can select only a single file, or you can select all files at once — Disk Drill won’t ever stay in your way.

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With hundreds of thousands of satisfied customers around the world, Disk Drill is the most trusted data recovery solution in the world. It has an unmatched track record of success and a team of skilled, dedicated developers, who constantly release updates and add useful features.

Alternative Methods to Recover Word Documents

It’s pretty easy to accidentally lose a file while working with Microsoft Word. You can be responsible for deleting the file yourself with the slip of a finger. The computer you are working on might crash while you are working on an important document and you can’t afford to lose it. Maybe Microsoft Office closed unexpectedly and now you don’t see the file you were editing.

There are several methods that you can use in an attempt to get your file back. They employ tools or features that are native to Windows or Microsoft Word. You might be lucky and be able to pick up close to where you were when the file disappeared.

#1 Check the Temporary Files

You may be able to get back your document if Word suddenly crashes by searching for the temporary copy of a file that it creates while you are working with it. The temporary file can be restored by two methods.

Method 1:

Navigate to the C:\Users\Owner\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Office\UnsavedFiles folder.
Locate the file you need and save it to the .DOC format.

Navigate to the C:\Users\Owner\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Office\UnsavedFiles folder.
Locate the file you need and save it to the .DOC format.

recover word document from the temporary folder

Method 2:

Open Word.
Select File > Info > Manage Document.
Choose Recover Unsaved Documents from the menu.
Select your unsaved file and click Open.
Choose Save As and save the file to your desired location.

Open Word.
Select File > Info > Manage Document.
Choose Recover Unsaved Documents from the menu.
Select your unsaved file and click Open.
Choose Save As and save the file to your desired location.

recover word document via temporary files

#2 Use the Document Recovery Feature

When any Microsoft Office application closes unexpectedly, the Document Recovery feature fires up the next time you open the Office app. This helps you recover files that were not saved when the program crashed.

The Document Recovery Window will open and you will be presented with a list of files that are available for recovery. You can click on each file to open it and review it. Once you open a file it is available for editing in Word.

Files that you do not open and therefore choose not to recover will be displayed the next time you open Word. You can delete the files that you definitely don’t want and you can choose to review the ones you are unsure of next time Word starts. When you close the Document Recovery pane you will have these two options regarding the handling of the available files.

recover word document using the recovery feature

Yes, I want to view these files later (safest option) - Select this option if you might want to access the files at a later time.

No, remove the files. I have saved the files I need - Select this option if you are sure you won’t need the data contained in the files.

#3 Try Word’s AutoRecover Tool

Microsoft Word has an AutoRecovery feature that can help you recover unsaved documents. It is turned on by default when you install the application and automatically saves a copy of open documents every 10 minutes. You can modify this setting to have the app save at a shorter or longer time interval if you like. If the application or your computer happens to crash while you are working on a Word document, you can recover it to the state it was in when last automatically saved.

AutoRecovery makes use of the Document Recovery feature described above and will fire up when you start Microsoft Word. In cases where your computer has crashed, follow these steps to restart Word and recover unsaved files.

Right-click the taskbar and select Task Manager.
Select the Processes tab and perform an End Task or End Task on all instances of Winword.exe or Microsoft Word.
Close Task Manager and start Microsoft Word.
The Document Recovery pane should open and display the AutoRecover files available. If this is the case, follow the steps outlined in the previous section.

Right-click the taskbar and select Task Manager.
Select the Processes tab and perform an End Task or End Task on all instances of Winword.exe or Microsoft Word.
Close Task Manager and start Microsoft Word.
The Document Recovery pane should open and display the AutoRecover files available. If this is the case, follow the steps outlined in the previous section.

recover word document via AutoRecover Tool

If Word does not automatically find the AutoRecovery files, you still may be able to locate them manually. Use the procedure appropriate for your version of Word.

Word 2010:

Select the File menu and choose Recent.
If the document you seek is not listed, choose Recover Unsaved Documents.

Select the File menu and choose Recent.
If the document you seek is not listed, choose Recover Unsaved Documents.

Word for Office 365, Word 2019, Word 2016, and Word 2013

On the File menu, select Open, and then Browse.
If you don't see your document listed, select Recover Unsaved Documents.

On the File menu, select Open, and then Browse.
If you don't see your document listed, select Recover Unsaved Documents.

If these methods still don’t find your files, perform a computer-wide search for files with an extension of .asd. This is the autosave extension. If you find suitable files, use these procedures to open them.

Word 2010:

On the File menu, select Open.
In the Files of type list (All Word Documents), select All Files.
Select the .asd file that you found, and then choose Open.

On the File menu, select Open.
In the Files of type list (All Word Documents), select All Files.
Select the .asd file that you found, and then choose Open.

Word 2019, Word 2016, or Word 2013

On the File menu, select Open, and then Browse. (In some versions, you must select Computer and then Browse.)
In the Files of type list (All Word Documents), select All Files.
Choose the .asd file that you found and select Open.

On the File menu, select Open, and then Browse. (In some versions, you must select Computer and then Browse.)
In the Files of type list (All Word Documents), select All Files.
Choose the .asd file that you found and select Open.

Frequently Asked Questions

Updated on Mar 28, 2020 by Disk Drill Team

Where does Word save AutoRecover files?

In order to find out where Word saves AutoRecover files on your computer, you can navigate to the Microsoft Office File menu and select the Options tab. In the Word Options dialog box, select the Save option. The path that contains the AutoRecover files will be displayed along with other parameters.

Can I retrieve a Word document that wasn't saved?

You may be able to retrieve a Word document that has not been saved by using the Recover Unsaved Documents option. Access this option by opening a blank document and clicking on File > Info > Manage Document. Select the desired unsaved document and click Open to recover the document.

How do I recover a replaced Word document?

To recover a replaced Word document you need to:

Open the overwritten file.
Select Files from the Microsoft Word tool bar.
Click Info > Versions and choose the desired version to recover.
Click the Restore button at the top of the document.

How do I retrieve a deleted text in Word?

To retrieve a deleted text in Word:

Select the File Menu in Word and choose Open.
In the Files of type box, choose Recover Text from any File.
Select the document that contains the text that will be retrieved.
Choose Open.

How do I turn on autosave in Word?

To turn on autosave in Word:

Click on the Microsoft Office Button.
Select Word Options and then click on Save.
Select the Save AutoRecover information every X minutes check box.
Specify how frequently you want the program to save your data.

How do I restore a previous version of a Word document on a Mac?

To restore a previous version of a Word doc on a Mac:

Open the file you want to roll back.
Select the Files option from the tool bar.
Click Info > Versions and select the version you want to restore.
Click the Restore button located at the top of the document.

Extra data recovery methods for advanced users

Besides the standard recovery method, which covers virtually all data recovery cases out there, Disk Drill for Windows also comes with a special recovery method called Deep Scan. Like the name suggests, Deep Scan meticulously scans each and every sector of your storage device, looking for traces of deleted documents. This recovery method comes in handy if you have a lot of time and want to ensure that you don’t miss absolutely any file.

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