Losing an unsaved Excel file on Windows devices can be a frustrating experience, especially when you’ve invested significant time and effort into your work.
However, Microsoft Excel provides several built-in features and recovery options that can help you to recover unsaved files. If these options fail, you can use any free data recovery software to retrieve your unsaved files without any cost.
This guide will walk you through various methods to help you learn how to recover unsaved Excel files on Windows 11, ensuring that you can get your files back with minimal disruption.
Why Excel Files May Be Unsaved?
Before you use any free data recovery software or manual methods to restore unsaved Excel files, it’s helpful to understand why an Excel file might remain unsaved. Some of the main reasons for the same are:
- Unexpected Shutdown: A sudden power outage or system crash can cause Excel to close before you have a chance to save your work.
- Accidental Closure: Closing Excel without saving the current file or accidentally clicking “Don’t Save” can cause the deletion of unsaved work.
- System Errors: There may be problems with the operating system or Excel itself that prevent you from saving your file.
How do I Recover Unsaved Excel Files?
Now that you are familiar with the reasons for the deletion of unsaved Excel files on your Windows device, it’s time to apply adequate methods to get deleted files back. Just go with these methods to get your files back:
Method 01: Use Third-Party Data Recovery Software
Let’s start with the simplest method. There are many free data recovery software that allow you to restore deleted or unsaved Excel files on Windows 10/11 without any cost.
Stellar Data Recovery is a good choice for restoring deleted files of many types, including photos, videos, documents, etc. The software supports the recovery of data from USB flash drives, SD cards, hard drives, etc.
The Stellar Data Recovery Free tool is known for its amazing features, such as:
- It supports the recovery of files deleted due to many data loss situations, including accidental deletion, formatting, virus attacks, etc.
- Recover data from formatted, corrupted, encrypted drives.
- Can recover files deleted from NTFS, exFAT, and FAT formatted drives.
- Allows you to preview the recoverable files after scanning your storage drive.
- 100% safe and secure software. No viruses and malicious pop-ups.
Here’s how to recover unsaved Excel files on Windows 11 using the Stellar Data Recovery Free tool:
- Step 1: After downloading and installing the Stellar Data Recovery Free software on your Windows 11 device, launch it. Select the type of data you need to recover and click Next.
- Step 2: Choose the folder location where your unsaved Excel file was earlier stored and click Scan to initiate the scanning process.
- Step 3: After completion of the scan, preview the recoverable files and choose the ones you want to restore. Click the Recover button to save selected files at the desired location.
Method 02: Recover Unsaved Excel Files Using AutoRecover
Excel provides an in-built AutoRecover option that automatically saves a temporary copy of your files at regular intervals. You can use this feature to recover your unsaved file if Excel closes unexpectedly. All you have to do is:
- Firstly, open Microsoft Excel on your Windows 11 device.
- Click on the File tab from the menu bar at the top of the Excel window.
- Now, from the menu bar, select “Info” to view information about the current file.
- Click “Manage Workbook,” and from the list of unsaved workbooks on your screen, click “Recover Unsaved Workbooks” to open the AutoRecover location.
- Browse through the list of unsaved files and choose the one you want to recover.
- Click “Open” to open the file, and then save it immediately on your device to prevent further data loss.
Method 03: Recover Unsaved Excel Files from the Temp Folder
Windows often creates temporary files while you’re working on a document, including Excel files. These temporary files can be easily recovered if your original file wasn’t saved. Follow the below steps to recover Excel files from the Temp folder:
- Press the Windows + E keys to open File Explorer.
- Now, type %temp% in the address bar and press Enter to open the temporary files folder.
- Locate the files with the .tmp extension or those starting with “Excel,” followed by a series of random characters.
- Locate the correct file you need to restore and rename it with a .xlsx extension. Open it with Excel and save it immediately.
Method 04: Use Backups to Recover Unsaved Files
If you’re using backup utilities like OneDrive to save your files, you can easily restore an unsaved Excel file through the version history or Recycle Bin in OneDrive. For this:
- Access OneDrive using File Explorer or by visiting the OneDrive website.
- Now, go to the folder where your Excel file was saved earlier.
- Right-click on the file that you need to recover and select “Version History.” You can restore a previous version of the file that was automatically saved by OneDrive.
If the file was accidentally deleted, go to the Recycle Bin in OneDrive to restore the file from there.
Method 05: Enable AutoSave to Avoid Future Deletion
Microsoft Office 365 provides an in-built AutoSave feature that automatically saves your work to OneDrive or SharePoint every few seconds, as mentioned. Though this won’t help you recover a lost file, it will prevent data loss in the future. All you have to do is:
- Launch Excel and open a new or existing workbook.
- Click on the “File” tab and then select “Save As.” Select OneDrive as the location to save your file.
- After saving the Excel file in OneDrive, you will see the AutoSave toggle in the top-left corner of the Excel window. Turn it on to automatically save your work.
Conclusion
I hope the aforementioned Windows data recovery methods help you learn how to recover unsaved Excel files on Windows 11. Whether you utilize AutoRecover, temporary files, or any third-party free data recovery software, each method provides a pathway to potentially recover your lost data.
Additionally, enabling features like AutoSave and backup utilities on your device can help prevent future data loss, ensuring that your important work is always backed up and secure.
