How to Recover Unsaved Excel Files

How to Recover Unsaved Excel Files in Excel 2010 and 2013

Sept. 23, 2014 11:32 am / Posted by Michael Eric to Office Tricks
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"How to restore mu unsaved Excel file in Excel 2010?"

Have you ever experienced the mishap of mistakenly closing a file while working on it or losing it due to a power failure or a gremlin in your computer? If yes, you'll know how frustrating it can be. Fortunately, changes were made in Microsoft Excel 2010 and 2013, which make the process of restoring workbooks simpler. To make it possible, you must first turn on Save auto recover information and Keep the last auto saved version if I close without saving.

Following will introduce how to recover unsaved and overwritten Excel files.

How to recover unsaved Excel files in Excel 2010 and 2013

Image you are working on a new document in Excel and the program locks up unexpectedly. In a few seconds you realize that you didn't save the workbook. Don't freak out and discover below how to recover an unsaved file.

• 1. Go to FILE, and then click Open. Choose Recent Workbooks.
  
  
• 2. Scroll down and click on the Recover Unsaved Workbook button at the bottom of the list.
  
  
  
  
  Note: You can also go to the File, and then Info, open the Manage Workbooks drop-down and select Recover Unsaved Workbooks from the menu.
  
• 3. When the Open dialog box pops up, just select the necessary file and click Open. Note that the document will open in Excel and the program will prompt will prompt you to save it. Click on the Save As button in the yellow bar above your worksheet and save the file to the desired location.
  
  

How to recover overwritten Excel files in Excel 2010 and 2013

For Excel 2010 and 2013, it's not only easier to restore the unsaved workbooks, but also to recover previous versions of your document. Suppose you make a mistake that you can't undo, or when you want to see how the document looked like a few minutes earlier. Read below to know how to recover overwritten Excel files.

• 1. Click on the FILE tab and choose Info on the left-hand pane. Next to the Manage Versions button you'll see all autosaved versions of your document.
  
  
• 2. If your Excel closed incorrectly, the last autosaved file is labeled with the words (when I closed without saving).
  
  Excel automatically saves versions of the workbook at specified intervals, but only if you've made changes to your spreadsheet between these intervals. The name of each version has a date, time and the "autosave" note. When you click any of them, it will open along with the most current versions of your workbook so that you can compare them and see all the changes.
  
  
• 3. When you open the file you want to restore, you'll get the message above your worksheet. Just click on the Restore button in the yellow bar to revert to the newer unsaved version of the workbook.
  
  
  
  
  Note: Excel deletes all previously autosaved versions when you close the document. If you want to look at the previous version again, it is better to create a backup copy of your data.

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