Accidentally Clicked Don't Save Word Mac? Recover Unsaved Word

Problem - Accidentally pressed Don't Save Word on Mac

I accidentally clicked don't save on microsoft word Mac. So I lost 10+ pages of work! Please help me recover unsaved Word documents.

In case you are one of the users who accidentally pressed don't save on Word Mac, read this tutorial carefully and try the following four solutions.

Dos and Don'ts when you closed Word without saving the file:

• Dos: Reopen your Word application, and see if the closed file was showing up in the Recently closed area. You can directly restore the recently closed item back.
• Don'ts: Never try to start a new round of editing in Word, which will usually result in data overwriting and reduce the chance of full recovery. 

Related Post: Recover unsaved PowerPoint on Mac

Tip 1. Accidentally Pressed Son't Save on Word Mac, Try Recovery Software

Generally speaking, an unsaved document will not appear in the Trash folder, and recovering it from elsewhere is difficult. Here, we'd like to recommend a handy tool - EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac.

• It is specially used to recover deleted and lost files on Mac. Whether your files are unsaved or lost, this Mac data recovery software will help you.
• Especially for unsaved files, it can retrieve the unsaved files from the previous version folder.
• It can not only retrieve lost Word documents, but also Office Excel/PowerPoint files and all other types of files.

Download the text recovery converter for Mac now, and let it find the unsaved Word file that you accidentally clicked "Don't Save".

Note: You can create a backup by clicking the "Disk Backup" on the left first. When the disk is damaged or the unsaved document on the disk is accidentally deleted or lost, you can get the data back from the backup image.

Step 1. Select the disk

Launch EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac, hover the mouse over the device where you lost an unsaved file, and click "Search for lost files".

Step 2. Choose unsaved documents

After the scan, click "Type", and expand "Unsaved Documents". Click the exact file type - Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Keynote, Pages, or Numbers you lost without saving.

Step 3. Preview and recover unsaved files

Double-click to preview your unsaved file, select the right version and click "Recover" to save the file to another secure location on Mac.

For Windows users, please refer to this page: Recover Unsaved Word Document in Windows 10. If you still have problems, watch this video to recover unsaved Word documents.

• 00:00 - Options for Word Recovery
• 00:37 - AutoRecovery in Word
• 02:04 - Recover Doc From TMP Folder
• 03:06 - Recover Doc From Mac Trash
• 03:39 - Recovery Software

Tip 2. Recover Unsaved Word Document from AutoRecovery

AutoRecovery is a built-in feature enabled in the Microsoft Office application by default. It will automatically save changes in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. document files every 5 or 10 minutes. 

In most cases, when you accidentally close a Word file before clicking Save (Ctrl+S), there is a chance to find the autosaved copy in the AutoRecovery folder on your Mac computer.

Here are the steps that you can try to recover a lost Word document without saving it from the AutoRcovery folder manually:

Step 1. Go to Finder, then click "Go", and select "Go to Folder".

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

Step 3. Check the AutoRecovery Folder.

Step 4. Find the file named as AutoRecovery*** in other extensions, and open it with Word.

Step 5. View the content of the unsaved Word document, then re-save it on Mac Desktop.

Let us learn other 2 different ways and repair "accidentally pressed don't save on Word Mac". Before that, don't forget to mark this passage by sharing it on Facebook, Twitter, or SNS.

Tip 3. Recover Word Document Not Saved from Temporary Folder

A temporary Folder is a local folder on Mac that works to save temporary files that is currently under editing or modification. If you accidentally clicked don't save word Mac, try to look for it in the temporary files.

The folder is named as TemporaryItems, and you may find all temporary files of the unsaved Word in a TMP format. Follow the steps to recover the Word document that was not saved from this folder now:

Step 1. Go to "Applications" > "Utilities" > "Terminal".

Step 2. Enter open $TMPDIR in Terminal and press Return.

Step 3. Find and open the folder named as TemporaryItems.

Step 4. Locate and save the unsaved Word document to the desktop.

Step 5. Then change the file extension from ".tmp" to ".doc" or ".docx".

After this, open it in your Word application and check the content in the lost Word document that was not saved again. If everything is there, hit the Save button this time.

Also, don't worry if you see nothing in the Temporary folder. EaseUS Mac file recovery software, as recommended in Tip 1, can help.

Tip 4. Recover Unsaved Word Documents from the Trash Folder

The Trash folder is the obvious place to go for the missing Word documents. Most of the time, when you delete older files on your Mac to make room, your Word documents could be gone.

The Word documents may still be in your Trash folder if you fail to save them before deleting them. To fix your Word documents, take these steps:

Step 1. To open the Trash folder, click on the icon for it on your Mac desktop.

Step 2. Look through the items in the Trash folder for the Word document. Once the file is located, click it and hit the Space Bar to view a preview.

Step 3. If you can't see the Word document, you might try looking for it in the Trash's Recovered Items folder. This is due to the possibility that your Word document is housed in that folder.

Tips to Avoid Accidentally Clicked Don't Save Word

When you accidentally press "Don't save' on Word on Mac, don't worry. The above 3 mentioned methods can recover unsaved Word documents on Mac. 

To minimize the chance of losing your hard work in Word, keep those tips in mind when you edit Word the next time:

• Click "Save" or press the "Ctrl+S" keys once you've made changes in Word.
• Disable problematic programs that freeze your Mac or Word.
• Set the AutoSave to a higher frequency (10-minute intervals by default), such as 5 or 3 minutes.

Sum Up: Your Lost Word by Clicking "Don't Save" Is Recoverable

On this page, we collected 3 ways that can help when you accidentally pressed "Don't save" in Word on Mac. For an instant and effective way, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac with its unsaved file recovery feature is worth a try.

If you don't want to use software, AutoRecovery and Temporary Folder are the last locations to find the lost and unsaved Word document on your Mac. Your lost Word file that was closed by "Don't save" is recoverable. Go and follow to bring back your hard work now.

Accidentally Clicked Don't Save Word FAQs

If you still have problems, read the questions and answers below.

1. What to do if I accidentally pressed don't save?

• Try data recovery software
• Check the AutoRecovery folder
• Check the temporary folder

2. How do I recover a Word document after clicking don't save Mac?

You can recover unsaved Word documents on Mac with the steps below:

• Launch EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac
• Select the location and click Search for lost files
• After the scan, select Unsaved Documents
• Double-click to preview your unsaved file
• Click Recover to save the file to another secure location on Mac

3. How do I recover an unsaved Word document on a Mac without Autorecover?

If you've been backing up your Mac with Time Machine frequently, you can use the Time Machine backups to recover the Word document.