How to Recover Overwritten Excel with No Previous Version Windows 10/11

How to restore an accidentally saved over Excel file or how to recover overwritten Excel file? Try these two effective solutions to work out.

User Case: Accidentally Saved Over an Excel File

Case 1. "I accidentally overwrote an Excel file and saved it. Is there any way I can restore the overwritten Excel file?"

Case 2. "Does anyone know how to restore a Word document that was saved over in Windows 10, 8, or 7? I replaced a Word document on the Desktop and saved the file. I need to recover overwritten Word document!" 

Overwriting or replacing an Excel file is not a new problem for most Windows PC users. However, the issue is familiar, yet the solution still eludes most. So what can you do when your Excel file gets overwritten or replaced? Here, we provide two reliable methods to recover overwritten Excel files. 

And, in the end, two smart Word/Excel recovery and backup solutions are introduced to help you recover deleted Word Excel or back up Excel files to prevent data loss. You can use one of the best data recovery software to recover permanently deleted Word documents with ease. 

How to Recover Overwritten Excel File with Built-in Tool in Excel

Usually, while you are editing a Word or Excel file, Microsoft Office Excel or Word will automatically create some temporary files as a backup on your Windows PC if you have enabled the AutoSave feature. And the temp files won't overwrite the previous ones. Therefore, if you saved over an Excel or Word document, you can try to restore previous version of Excel file or Word document with the AutoRecover feature of Microsoft Office. 

Step 1. Open Excel, and click "File" > "Info" > "Manage Workbook". Click "Recover Unsaved Workbooks" from the drop-down menu.

Step 2. Select the unsaved file and click the "Open" button.

Step 3. Then, choose "Save As" in the bar at the top of the file to recover it.

Also read: How to recover unsaved Word documents in Windows 10

How to Recover Replaced Excel File from Temporary Files 

You can navigate to the temp file folder location on your Windows PC and find the previous versions of Excel or Word. Then, open and save the files as you need.

Step 1. Go to the location where the Microsoft Office temporary files are saved:

• On Windows 10/8/7/Vista: C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Office\UnsavedFiles
• On Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Office\UnsavedFiles

In the above path, replace UserName with your computer username.  

Step 2.  Find the temporary file of Excel file or Word document you need. 

Step 3. Open the target files and click "Save As" to recover replaced Excel file or Word document. 

After this, you should have successfully restored the overwritten Excel or Word document on your PC and can continue using it as usual. If this doesn't work, move on to the next method.

How to Restore Previous Version of Excel File or Word Document

Another feasible way to recover overwritten Excel files or Word documents is restoring files from backup. The previous versions come from File History or from restore points. As long as you have activated the Windows backup option, you can restore the previous version of the Word document or Excel file with the steps below.

Step 1. Create a new Excel/Word file with the same name as your lost Excel/Word file or find your present, saved-over Excel/Word file.

Step 2. Right-click on the Excel or Word file and select "Properties".

Step 3. Go to "Previous Versions", find and select the latest version or the version you want back, click "Restore".

This is all there is to it, your replaced or overwritten Excel or Word file will be restored with the same file name.

How to Recover Replaced Excel File on Mac 

How to recover a file you accidentally replaced on Mac? Take the following three solutions to recover overwritten Excel file with Time Machine, AutoSave, and Cloud backups.

Recover Previous Version of Excel File from Time Machine 

Recovering replaced files from local backups is the easiest way. Mac users use Time Machine to back up photos, videos, documents, and other files incrementally. Use it to restore replaced Excel file if you have enabled Time Machine backup.

Step 1. Run Time Machine from the menu bar on your Mac. Then, click the Time Machine and choose to enter it. 

Step 2. Select the folder with the overwritten files. 

Step 3. Click the "Restore" button to recover replaced Excel files on Mac. Then restored files go back to their original location. 

Recover Overwritten Excel File on Mac with AutoSave

Like on Windows, Office on Mac also has the AutoSave feature, which can automatically save documents at the intervals you set. If your Word or Excel files are corrupted or replaced, you can use the AnutoRecovery files to restore them. Follow the steps below. 

Step 1. Open your Mac, go to "Finder" > "Go" > "Go to Folder".

Step 2. Type ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Excel/Data/Library/Preferences/AutoRecovery and click "Go".

Step 3. Find the files you need and select "Save As" to restore it.

Recover Replaced Excel File on Mac via Cloud Backups

How to recover overwritten Excel files without Time Machine? You still have another way to make it by using cloud backups, such as OneDrive, iCloud, and Dropbox. These cloud backup services save a history of changes made to your files, allowing users to quickly and easily restore previous versions of files.

Here, we will show you how to recover Excel files saved over from Dropbox: 

Step 1. Open your web browser and go to dropbox.com. Log in to your account.  

Step 2. Select the folder where the overwritten file is located.  Open the latest version of your file. 

Step 3. Click the three dots on the right control panel and select "Version history". 

Step 4. Find the original version and click "Restore". 

Bonus Tips: How to Recover Deleted or Lost Word/Excel Files

If your Excel or Word document is not overwritten, it is lost or accidentally deleted. You can use professional data recovery software to retrieve the data. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is well designed and has a high reputation for recovering deleted files. It's powerful in restoring lost data in complex circumstances. 

Download this data recovery software to help you get back any deleted or lost Word and Excel files.

Step 1. Run EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard. Choose the drive where you lost files and start scanning. This software allows you to recover lost data from all devices, including HDD, SSD, USB drive, SD card, pen drive, camera, etc.

Step 2. Browse the full scan results. You can choose the file type you need by clicking on the file type filter. EaseUS data recovery software supports 1000+ file types like photos, videos, documents, emails, audio files, and many more. 

Step 3. Select the files you want to preview. Click "Recover" and set a storage location to save the recovered data. 

Back Up Word/Excel Files to Avoid Data Loss

The best way to avoid losing Excel or Word documents again is by backing them up.

Enable AutoSave in Excel or Word 

Step 1. Open Excel, go to "File" > "Options" > "Save".

Step 2. Check "Save AutoRecover information every * minutes" and "Keep the last autosaved version if I close without saving".

Step 3. Click "OK" to save the changes.

Back Up Saved Excel Files with Auto-Backup Software

Although Microsoft Office offers you the AutoRecover feature to automatically back up the unsaved files, it won't help protect the saved document. If you have a smart backup for the saved Excel or Word file, you can recover the backup even if it has been overwritten. In such a case, EaseUS file backup software can be set to back up your files every half hour. It is useful:

• To back up database files that are frequently changed
• To back up shared files that are frequently updated
• To create multiple backup points for recovery or rollback

If you often edit important Word and Excel documents, you should back them up with this smart tool.

Step 1. Click "Select backup contents" to initiate a backup.

Step 2. There are four data backup categories, File, Disk, OS, and Mail, click File.

Step 3. Local and network files will be displayed on the left side. You may extend the directory to choose which files to back up.

Step 4. Select the location where you want to store the backup by following the on-screen instructions.

Click "Options" to encrypt the backup with a password in "Backup Options," and to setup a backup schedule and choose to initiate a backup at a certain event in "Backup Scheme." There are a variety of other customization options available for the backup process.

Step 5. You may save the backup to a local disk, EaseUS' online service, or a NAS.

Step 6. EaseUS Todo Backup enables customers to back up data to a third-party cloud drive and its own cloud drive.

If you want to back up data to a third-party cloud drive, choose Local Drive, scroll down to add Cloud Device, add your account, and then log in.

You can also save backups to EaseUS's cloud storage service. Sign up for an EaseUS Account and log in after clicking EaseUS Cloud.

Step 7. To begin backup, click "Backup Now" Once the backup process has been finished, it will be shown as a card on the panel's left side. To further manage a backup job, right-click it.

How to Recover Overwritten Excel File FAQs

Read more information on restoring replaced Excel files.

Does overwritten mean deleted?

When you write new data, it overwrites the original data. The process is to write a set of data (binary) into the computer to replace the previous data. The original data will be erased, not simply deleted. You can't recover overwritten data with data recovery software.

Can overwritten Excel files be recovered?

Using the previous versions, you may try recovering overwritten Excel files on Windows 10. Once you enable File History or Windows backup on Windows 10 or Windows 11, you can restore the replaced Excel file. You can use your Time Machine backup to recover replaced files on Mac.

How do I recover a file I accidentally replaced?

You have three ways to recover an Excel file accidentally replaced:

• Recover overwritten Excel files with the AutoRecover feature of MS Office
• Recover replaced Excel files from temporary files on Windows 10
• Restore the previous version of the Excel files 

How do I recover an overwritten file without previous versions?

Two ways are possible to recover an overwritten file with no previous versions. One is restoring with the AutoRecover feature, and the other is recovering from temporary files.