Word 2011 for Mac looks for and opens any AutoRecover files for the document(s) that you were working on when an unexpected crash occurred. Your document opens with “Recovered” appended to the filename. Choose File→Save As from the menu bar to restore the original filename and location.
Click on the Trash can icon in the Dock to open it. You'll now see the contents of the Trash. Look for your file. If you click on a file and press Space Bar you may be able to see a preview of it. If you don't see your file look for a 'Recovered Items' folder in the Trash. Apr 17, 2018 Click the Microsoft Office Button, and then click Word Options. In the left pane, click Advanced. In the right pane, click File Locations under General section. In the File Types box, click AutoRecover Files Note In Word 7.x, click AutoSave. Click Modify. Enter the name of the folder in which you want Word to store recovered documents. Learn how to AutoSave your files to OneDrive with Excel, PowerPoint or Word. Skip to main content. Excel for Office 365 Word for Office 365 PowerPoint for Office 365 Excel for Office 365 for Mac Word for Office 365 for Mac PowerPoint for Office 365 for Mac OneDrive OneDrive for Mac OneDrive. Choose your sub-folder location from the list. Recover text from a damaged file in Word. On the Word menu, click Preferences. Under Authoring and Proofing Tools, click General. Make sure that the Confirm file format conversion at Open check box is selected, and then close the General dialog box. Click File, Open. On the Open menu towards.
Losing work you've done on a document because of crashes, or if you accidentally close the file without saving, can be very frustrating. Thankfully, to reduce the chances of losing your work, the suite of Office applications provides two options (AutoRecover and AutoSave) to save Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and other documents at various intervals automatically.
In this Windows 10 guide, we walk you through the steps to configure when Office applications should save the contents of a document automatically.
How to enable AutoRecover in Office for documents you store on your PC
AutoRecover is a legacy feature that allows you to control the time when you want to auto-save a document. When enabled, it saves a copy of the document (every 10 minutes by default) to ensure that most of the content is available in the event that the app or your device crashes, or if you close a document without saving.
To enable AutoRecover for documents that you store locally on your computer, do the following:
- Open Start.
- Search for Word (or any Office app), click the top result to open the experience.
- Click on the File menu.
- Click on Options.
- Click on Save.
- Under the 'Save documents' section, check the Save AutoRecover information every (X) minutes option.Quick Tip: It's also a good idea to check the Keep the last AutoRecovered version if I close without saving option to add an extra layer of protection.
Once you completed these steps, moving forward, documents that you create on any Office application (such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) will save automatically every 10 minutes.
If you must disable this feature, you can use the same instructions, but on step No. 6, make sure to clear the Save AutoRecover information every (X) minutes option.
How to enable AutoSave in Office for documents you store in OneDrive
AutoSave is a similar feature that saves document changes automatically, but only if you're saving files in the OneDrive folder or SharePoint online. (This feature is only available for Office 365 subscribers. If you're not a subscriber, you can start with the Office 365 Personal plan, which is usually priced at $69.99 per year. )
To enable AutoSave for documents that you store in the OneDrive folder, do the following:
- Open Start.
- Search for Word (or any Office app), click the top result to open the experience.
- Click on the File menu.
- Click on Options.
- Click on Save.
- Under the 'Save documents' section, check the AutoSave OneDrive and SharePoint Online files by default on Word option.
After completing these steps, when you save an Office document in the OneDrive folder future changes will save automatically.
Using this feature, you won't find an option to control the AutoSave timer because the changes are saved in real-time while you're working in the document.
If you want to disable this AutoSave feature, you can use the same instructions, but on step No. 6, make sure to clear the AutoSave OneDrive and SharePoint Online files by default on Word option.
If the AutoSave toggle switch is grayed out above the ribbon menu, it means you haven't saved the document for the first time, or the document is not in the OneDrive folder. Also, remember that this feature is independent of the legacy auto-save built into Office, which means that disabling this option won't affect auto-save for files you store locally on your device.
How to change AutoRecover frequency in Office apps
If you want to adjust the time to save documents automatically in Office, do the following:
- Open Start.
- Search for Word (or any Office app), click the top result to open the experience.
- Click on the File menu.
- Click on Options.
- Click on Save.
- Under the 'Save documents' section, check the Save AutoRecover information every (X) minutes option.
- Set the time (in minutes) when the app should automatically save the contents of a document.Quick Tip: To minimize the chances of losing your work during an unexpected situation, it's best to set the AutoRecover feature to save your content every 1 minute.
- Click the OK button.
Once you complete these steps, Office documents that you store locally on your device will save automatically at the intervals you specified.
More Windows 10 resources
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-->Note
Office 365 ProPlus is being renamed to Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise. For more information about this change, read this blog post.
Symptoms
When you save a Word for Mac document, the application crashes or quits unexpectedly.
Resolution
Mac Office Autosave Location
Step 1: Download and install all Office updates
To obtain updates with Office for Mac applications, follow these steps:
Microsoft AutoUpdate for Mac, which comes with Office, can keep your Microsoft software up to date. When AutoUpdate is set to check for updates automatically on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, there's no need to search for critical updates and information; AutoUpdate delivers them directly to your computer. To do this:
- Start any Office for Mac application on your computer.
- Click Help menu, click Check for Updates.
For additional information about Office for Mac updates, seeWhere and how to obtain Office for Mac software updates.
If the issue continues to occur, proceed to the next step.
Step 2: Check the hard disc name
Make sure that your hard disc has a name. The name cannot be all numbers but can contain numbers. The name must start with a letter. It must not contain any special characters, such as periods, commas, semi-colons, quotation marks, and so on.
Step 3: Save to a different location
If you are saving a file in your Documents folder, instead try saving the file to the desktop or to a different location.
Remember that there is a 255-character limit to the file name, and the path of the saved file is included in the name. For example, a file that is saved to the desktop has the path 'HDusersyour user nameDesktop.' These characters are counted toward the 255-character limit.
If you want to save to a network share or to an external device (such as a flash drive), first save the file to your local hard disc. If you can save the file to the hard disc (your Documents folder), there is nothing wrong with the Excel installation or with the file. If you cannot save to your local hard disc, go to step 3.
If you cannot save the file to an external device, contact Apple or the manufacturer of the external device. If you cannot save to a network share, contact the network administrator (your IT department) or the owner of the share. If you do not have an IT department and you want to save to a network, contact Microsoft Professional Support.
Step 4: Empty the AutoRecovery folder
Important
The location of certain files are different if you have Service Pack 2 (SP2) installed. To check if it is installed, open Word, and then click About Word from the Word menu. If the version number is 14.2.0 or above, you have Service Pack 2 and you should follow the Service Pack 2 steps when provided in this article.
If there are too many items in the AutoRecovery folder (userDocumentsMicrosoft User DataOffice 2008 AutoRecovery or Office 2010 AutoRecovery), this can cause memory problems and save problems because these files are loaded into memory when Word is started.
Move AutoRecovery files to the desktop or to another folder to see whether they are causing the problem. To do this, follow these steps:
To empty the AutoRecovery folder, follow these steps if have version 14.2.0 (also known as Service Pack 2) installed:
- Quit all applications.
- On the File menu, click New Folder.A new folder is created on the desktop. The folder will be called 'New Folder.'
- On the Go menu, click Home.
- Open Library.NoteThe Library folder is hidden in Mac OS X Lion. To display this folder, hold down the OPTION key while you click the Go menu.
- Open Application Support, and then open Microsoft.
- Open Office 2011 AutoRecovery.
- On the Edit menu, click Select All.
- Drag all files into 'New Folder' on the desktop.The AutoRecovery folder should be empty.
- Open Excel for Mac 2011 and try to save a file.If you can save a file, review the contents of 'New Folder' to decide which files that you want to keep.If the problem continues to occur, go to the next method.
To empty the AutoRecovery folder, follow these steps if you do not have Service Pack 2 installed:
- Quit all applications.
- On the File menu, click New Folder.A new folder is created on the desktop. The folder will be called 'New Folder.'
- On the Go menu, click Documents.
- Open Microsoft User Data, and then open Office 2011 AutoRecovery.
- On the Edit menu, click Select All.
- Drag all files into 'New Folder' on the desktop.The AutoRecovery folder should be empty.
- Open Excel for Mac 2011 and try to save a file.If you can save a file, review the contents of 'New Folder' to decide which files that you want to keep.If the problem continues to occur, go to the next method.
Step 5: Remove Word preferences
Note
Removing the preferences will remove any customizations that you made. These customizations include changes to toolbars and custom dictionaries and keyboard shortcuts that you created.
- Quit all Microsoft Office for Mac applications.
- On the Go menu, click Home.
- Open Library.NoteThe Library folder is hidden in Mac OS X Lion. To display this folder, hold down the OPTION key while you click the Go menu.
- Open Preferences.
- Look for a file that is named com.microsoft.Word.plist.
- If you locate the file, move it to the desktop. If you cannot locate the file, the application is using the default preferences.
- If you locate the file and move it to the desktop, start Word, and check whether the problem still occurs. If the problem still occurs, quit Word, and then restore the file to its original location. Then, go to the next step. If the problem seems to be resolved, you can move the com.microsoft.Word.plist file to the trash.
- Quit all Office for Mac applications.
- On the Go menu, click Home.
- Open Library.NoteThe Library folder is hidden in Mac OS X Lion. To display this folder, hold down the OPTION key while you click the Go menu.
- Open Preferences, and then open Microsoft.
- Locate the file that is named com.microsoft.Word.prefs.plist.
- Move the file to the desktop.
- Start Word, and then check whether the problem still occurs. If the problem still occurs, quit Word, and restore the file to its original location. Then, go to the next step. If the problem seems to be resolved, you can move the com.microsoft.Word.prefs.plist file to the trash.
- On the Go menu, click Home.
- Open Library.NoteThe Library folder is hidden in Mac OS X Lion. To display this folder, hold down the OPTION key while you click the Go menu.
- Open Application Support, and then open Microsoft.
- Open Office, and then open User Templates.
- Locate the file that is named Normal, and then move the file to the desktop.
- Start Word, and then check whether the problem still occurs. If the problem seems to be resolved, you can move the Normal file to the Trash. If the issue continues to occur, go to the next step.
Step 6: Create a new user account
Sometimes, user-specific information can become corrupted. This can interfere with installing or using the application. To determine whether this is the case, you can log on as a different user or create a new user account, and then test the application.
If the issue occurs even when you use the alternative account, go to the next step.
Step 7: Test saving the file in safe mode
Try to save when the computer is operating in safe mode. If you can save while in safe mode, the problem probably concerns software that is running in the background.
For information about how to enter safe mode in Mac OS, seeClean startup to see if background programs are interfering with Office for Mac.
More information
If the steps in this article did not resolve the issue, visit the Mac forums for possible resolutions/workarounds.