How to Recover an unsaved Microsoft Office 2010 file

Microsoft Office has a fantastic feature built in where it can recover unsaved new documents. Now in order to use this feature, you will need to have Save Auto Recover information… and Keep the last auto saved version if I close without saving enabled inside Microsoft Office.

Here is how to enable Auto Recover and Auto Save to protect your files in
Microsoft Office:

1. Click the File tab. 1. Under Help, click Options.

2. Click Save.

3. Make sure the Save Auto Recover information every x minutes check box is selected.

4. In Word 2010, Excel 2010 and PowerPoint 2010, make sure the Keep the last auto-saved version if I close
without saving check box is selected.

Here are the steps to take to recover your unsaved new document in Microsoft Office Excel, Work, or PowerPoint 2010 if
you inadvertently close it before saving it:

1. Open the Office 2010 applications that you were using.

2. Click the File tab.

3. Click Recent.

4. Click Recover Unsaved Documents if you are in Word 2010, Recover Unsaved Workbooks if you are in Excel2010 or Recover Unsaved Presentations if you are in PowerPoint 2010.

1. Your saved drafts folder will open in a new window. Select the file and then click Open. 2. In the business bar at the top of the file, click Save As to save your file to your computer.

You can also access these files by using these steps:

1. Open the Office 2010 application you were using.
2. Open a new file or any existing file.
3. Click the File tab.
4. Click Info.
5. Click Manage Versions.
6. Click Recover Unsaved Documents if you are in Word 2010, Recover Unsaved Workbooks if you are in Excel
   2010 or Recover Unsaved Presentations if you are in PowerPoint 2010.

7. You will see the list of your unsaved files. Select the file and click Open.
8. In the business bar at the top of the file, click Save As to save your file to your computer.

Notes
You can also browse to one of the following file locations to open the file, depending on your operating system:
Windows 7/Windows Vista
C:\Users\User_Name\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Office\UnsavedFiles
Windows XP
C:\Documents and Settings\User_Name\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Office\UnsavedFiles
Important These file locations cannot be changed.  Files in this folder will be kept for four days after creation.

(…source Eric Ligman)

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