Accidentally Clicked Don't Save Word Mac? Recover Word Documents Not Saved

Don't worry if you accidentally clicked Don't Save Word on a Mac and lost unsaved Word documents. Here, we'll show you how to recover Word documents after clicking Don't Save on Mac with reliable file recovery software, TMP folder, and AutoRecovery feature.

Table of Contents

accidentally clicked don't save word mac

Restore Accidentally Clicked Dno't Saved Word Mac:

Open Microsoft Word on your Mac, click Finder > Go > Go to Folder, and enter the command ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Word/Data/Library/Preferences/AutoRecovery to Find the autosaved Word documents on your Mac.

If you accidentally clicked Don't Save Word Mac, read this tutorial carefully and try the following three solutions.

3 solutions to recover accidentally clicked Don't Save Word on a Mac:

  1. #Fix 1. Using Document Recovery Software💎
  2. - Run EaseUS Mac recovery software > Scan your Mac hard drive > Filter Unsaved Word documents. Find the Word documents you want and click the "Recover" button.
  3. #Fix 2. Recover from AutoRecovery
  4. - Launch Finder > Go > Go to Folder > Type the command to open the AutoRecovery folder on your Mac > Find the unsaved document you want and re-save it.
  5. #Fix 3. Recover from Temporary Folder
  6. - Go to Applications > Utilities > Terminal > Enter the command to open the TMP folder > Change the file extension to ".doc" or ".docx".

Read on to learn the detailed steps.

Fix 1. Recover Accidentally Clicked Don't Save on Word Mac Using 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".

This powerful Mac document recovery tool can also restore your unsaved Excel files or perform unsaved PowerPoint recovery. We provide a video tutorial to help you understand how to recover Word documents that were not saved on your Mac:

Recover unsaved Word Documents on Mac
 

Check out the following steps to recover unsaved Word documents on a Mac:

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".

select a location and scan for unsaved documents

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.

choose the unsaved documents

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.

recover unsaved documents on Mac

Don't forget to share this informative post on SNS to help others learn how to recover Word documents when accidentally click "Don't Save".

 

Fix 2. Accidentally Pressed Don't Save on Word: Recover from AutoRecovery

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

In most cases, when you accidentally close a Word file before clicking Save (Command + S), there is a chance to find the autosaved copy in the AutoRecovery folder on your Mac. Here are the steps that you can try to recover an unsaved Word document from the AutoRcovery folder manually:

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

Open AutoRecovery Folder.

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

Locate and open AutoRecovery folder.

Step 3. Check the AutoRecovery Folder.

Check and find lost Word files.

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

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

Fix 3. Recover Word Document Not Saved from Temporary Folder

Word Temporary Folder is a local folder on Mac that works to save temporary files that are currently being edited or modified. If you accidentally click Don't Save Word, try to look for it in the temporary files.

The folder is named 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".

Open TemporaryItem folder.

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

Type command line to open Temporary foder.

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

Find lost Word file in Temporary folder.

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 can help.

Tips to Avoid Accidentally Clicked Don't Save Word

When you accidentally press "Don't Save" on Word for Mac, don't worry. The above-mentioned methods can recover Word not saving on a 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.

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

  • ✅Dos: Reopen your Word application and see if the closed file is 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.

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

On this page, we collected 3 ways to help when you accidentally clicked 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 where you can find lost and unsaved Word documents 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 on my Mac?

You can recover Word documents that are not saved 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 a 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.

Was This Page Helpful?

Updated by Brithny

Brithny is a technology enthusiast, aiming to make readers' tech lives easy and enjoyable. She loves exploring new technologies and writing technical how-to tips. In her spare time, she loves sharing things about her game experience on Facebook or Twitter.

Read full bio

Written by Tracy King

Tracy became a member of the EaseUS content team in 2013. Being a technical writer for over 10 years, she is enthusiastic about sharing tips to assist readers in resolving complex issues in disk management, file transfer, PC & Mac performance optimization, etc., like an expert.

Read full bio

Product Reviews

TrustScore 4.7 | 59 reviews
  • EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is a powerful system recovery software, designed to enable you to recover files you’ve deleted accidentally, potentially lost to malware or an entire hard drive partition.

    Read More
  • EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is the best we have seen. It's far from perfect, partly because today's advanced disk technology makes data-recovery more difficult than it was with the simpler technology of the past.

    Read More
  • EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Pro has a reputation as one of the best data recovery software programs on the market. It comes with a selection of advanced features, including partition recovery, formatted drive restoration, and corrupted file repair.

    Read More