Digital documents play a very important role in our day-to-day lives. Whether they are entertainment, documentation, or means of communication, we save multiple categories of documents on our devices, including Mac. Sometimes, you may encounter sudden deletion of these Word documents from your device. If you ever experience such issues, don’t lose hope. Luckily there are several methods and software available for data recovery on Mac that you can use to recover lost Word files. Here, in this article, we will explain various methods to help you learn how to recover lost Word documents on Mac, allowing you to recover and access your content once again.

What Causes Deletion of Word Documents on Mac?

There are several reasons why any file, including Word documents, gets deleted from your Mac device. Before applying any Mac data recovery software or manual method to restore those files, it is important to find the exact cause of this data loss issue. Some prominent reasons why Word files get deleted on Mac are as follows:

• Accidental Deletion: Instances may occur when your Word file gets inadvertently deleted while organizing files or clearing clutter.
• System Crashes: Unexpected system crashes or freezes can lead to deleting unsaved changes or even entire Word documents.
• Emptying Trash Bin: Intentionally or mistakenly emptying the Trash folder without checking its contents can permanently delete Word documents.
• Disk Formatting: When you format a disk or partition, it may erase all data, including Word files, if not backed up.
• File System Corruption: Issues with the Mac file system, like corruption, may cause sudden deletion or inaccessibility of Word documents.
• Malware or Viruses: Malicious programs, like Viruses or malware, can target and delete files, including Word documents, compromising data integrity.

Quick Methods to Recover Lost Word Files

In this part of the blog, we will explore various methods, including manual methods and Mac data recovery software, that you can apply to recover lost or deleted Word documents. Just go with these methods one by one to restore your lost content:

Method 01: Check the Trash Folder

Before you proceed with any other method to restore lost Word files on Mac, check the Mac in-built Trash folder. Every deleted file on Mac goes to the Trash folder before getting permanently deleted. To recover lost files from Trash, you need to:

• Double-click on the icon of the Trash folder located on your desktop to open it.
• Locate the deleted Word file that you need to restore.
• Right-click on it and select the “Put Back” option to restore the selected file to its original location.

Method 02: Use Time Machine Backups 

If your deleted file is not in the Trash folder, it might have been permanently deleted from your Mac. In such cases, you can use any earlier backups to recover lost/deleted Word documents. You can also use Mac’s built-in Time Machine backup to create backups of your system files automatically and restore them when data loss occurs.

To recover your lost files using this method, you must enable the Time Machine backup on your device. Follow the below steps to learn how to recover lost Word documents on Mac using the Time Machine utility:

• Connect the external device containing your Time Machine backups to your Mac.
• Now, open the folder where your deleted Word file was earlier stored.
• Choose the version of the document you need to restore and click “Restore.”

Method 03: Utilize the AutoRecovery Files Option

Microsoft Word on Mac provides an AutoRecovery feature that you can use to save changes to your Word documents at regular intervals. To recover lost files using the AutoRecovery option, you need to:

• Launch Finder and go to the “Go” menu.
• Select “Go Folder” and enter the following path: ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Word/Data/Library/Preferences/AutoRecovery
• Locate the files with names starting with “AutoRecovery save of.”

Once you get the desired AutoRecovery file, open it in Word and save it to your device.

Method 04: Check iCloud and Online Backup Services

Another alternative to recover lost Word documents via backups is by using iCloud or other backup options. Follow the below steps to recover your lost files using your iCloud account easily:

• Open a web browser and visit iCloud’s official website. Log in to your iCloud account using the Apple ID and password.
• Click the Account Settings icon, and select “iCloud Settings” > “Restore Files.”

• Browse through the list of recently deleted items and select the Word document you need to recover.
• Now, click the “Restore” or “Recover” button, depending on your iCloud version, and wait until the recovery process is completed.

• After completion of the recovery process, verify that the recovered Word file is accessible and contains the desired content.

Method 05: Recover Lost Word Documents Using Data Recovery Software

Instances may occur when the above-mentioned manual methods fail to recover your lost Word documents. In such cases, you can use Mac data recovery software to restore the lost/deleted content. Tools like Stellar Data Recovery Professional for Mac are an all-in-one solution for easy and quick recovery of deleted files of any type, including Word documents. It can recover your lost Word files in three simple clicks, i.e., Select, Scan, and Recover.

Go through the following steps to know how to recover lost Word documents on Mac using the Stellar Data Recovery Professional for Mac tool:

Step 1: Download and install the Stellar Data Recovery Professional software on your Mac. Launch the tool and from the homepage, select the type of file you need to recover (to restore lost Word files, click Documents) and click Next.

Step 2: Now, select the storage location from where you must restore the selected files and click Scan to begin the scanning process.

Step 3: Preview the recoverable files once the scanning process is completed. Select the Word documents you need to restore and click Recover to save the selected files at the desired location.

Conclusion

I hope the aforementioned methods help you learn how to recover lost Word documents on Mac. You can easily use the above manual methods or specific Mac data recovery software like Stellar Data Recovery Professional for Mac to restore lost Word files. The key is to act promptly and explore multiple avenues to increase the chances of successful recovery.