Losing important Excel files while working on it can be a distressful experience. Whenever you encounter the deletion of important Excel files on your Windows devices either by mistake or any other reason, don’t freak out. There are several free data recovery tools and techniques that you can try to recover your unsaved Excel files without any cost.
Microsoft Excel offers built-in features that allow you to recover unsaved files in no time. Here, in this guide, we will walk you through easy steps to recover unsaved Excel files on Windows, ensuring your precious data is accessible again. Read On!
What Keeps Excel Files Unsaved on Windows Devices?
There are several factors that lead to the deletion of unsaved Excel files on a Windows device. Understanding these factors can help you take precautions to prevent data loss. Some common reasons for the data loss issues are:
- Sudden Application or System Crash: When your Excel application or system crashes all of a sudden, it leads to the loss of unsaved Excel files. In such sudden crashes, any changes made to the file since the last save may be lost.
- Accidental Closure: Sometimes, when you accidentally close Excel without saving your work, the file remains unsaved.
- Power Outages: Sudden power failure while you’re working on an Excel file can also result in unsaved changes. To avoid such instances, you need to configure Excel to auto-save at regular intervals.
- Storage Issues: If the storage location where your Excel file is stored is out of storage, you might not be able to save any changes. Additionally, if the file location is inaccessible or the file located on a network drive experiences connectivity issues, the same issues can occur.
- Permission Issues: If you don’t have the necessary permissions to modify or save a file, your changes will not be saved. This usually occurs when you work with files on network drives or in shared folders.
- Software or Add-in Conflicts: Sometimes, issues with other software or Excel add-ins can prevent files from being saved properly.
How do I Recover Unsaved Excel Files?
Here are some prominent methods that you can try to recover Excel files on your Windows devices. In case, your Excel file is lost or deleted from your computer or any storage device, these free data recovery methods will help you to restore them with ease:
Method 01: Use Recover Unsaved Workbooks
One of the most commonly used methods to recover unsaved Excel files on Windows is by using the ‘Recover Unsaved Workbooks’ option. To recover your deleted files using this method, you need to:
- Launch MS Excel software and open any workbook. Go to File > Open.
- Now, scroll down and click Recover Unsaved Workbooks. This will open a list of unsaved files in the Document Recovery pane.
- Locate and double-click on the file you need to recover.
- At last, right-click on the version of the file that you need to restore and click Save As to save it at the desired location.
Method 02: Restore File Using AutoRecover Feature
Microsoft Excel offers a built-in AutoRecover feature that saves copies of all open Excel files at fixed intervals. This option allows you to recover the file if the Excel software gets accidentally closed due to an unexpected system breakdown or power failure. Go through the following steps to recover unsaved Excel files with the AutoRecover feature:
- Open a new Excel file. Go to File > Options > Save, then click Save workbooks.
- Now, check and ensure that the checkbox next to the ‘Save AutoRecover information every’ and ‘Keep the last autosaved version if I close without saving’ option is selected.
- Next, copy the file path next to the AutoRecover file location.
- Launch File Explorer, paste the Menu Bar file path there and press Enter.
- Locate the unsaved Excel files (which usually appear with the .xlb extension). Double-click on the file and select Excel from the list of apps to open the .xlb file.
- Finally, save the file to the desired location.
Method 03: Restore File with Previous Versions Utility
You can use this option to recover unsaved Excel files if you’ve saved the workbook earlier, but you suddenly lose access to the file. This usually occurs due to the Excel application or system crash. This method helps you save the previously saved version of your Excel file. All you have to do is:
- Open the Excel File and go to File > Info > Manage Versions.
- Now, from the previously saved versions that appear on the screen, choose the one you want to restore.
- Click the “Save/Save As” button to store the file with a different name at the desired storage location.
Method 04: Use Third-Party Recovery Software
If the above methods fail, you can consider recovery of your unsaved Excel files using a professional third-party recovery software. There are several free data recovery software that allow you to restore your lost or deleted files from any device without any cost.
Of all the solutions for getting back unsaved Excel files, the Stellar Data Recovery Free tool is the best. This all-in-one data recovery tool offers several amazing features, such as:
- The software supports recovering data from all devices, including iPhone/iPad devices, Windows, and Mac computers.
- Recover Excel files that are deleted due to accidental deletion, corrupted storage, or lost after software updates.
- Recover data from any storage device, including internal or external hard drive, USB drive, SD card, etc.
- Not only photo recovery, the software also supports recovery of your deleted videos, data files, etc.
Quick Steps to Recover Unsaved Excel Files Using Stellar Data Recovery Free Tool:
- Download the Stellar Data Recovery Free tool on your computer, and then launch it. Select the type of file you need to recover and click the “Next” button.
- Now, select the folder or storage from where you need to recover the required files and click “Scan”.
- After completion of the scanning process, select the files that you need to restore and click the Recover button to save recovered data.
Tips to Prevent Future Data Loss
Here are some preventive measures that you can keep in mind to avoid losing unsaved Excel files in the future:
- Turn ON the “AutoSave” option in Excel to automatically save your work at regular intervals.
- Regularly create backup of your important Excel files to a cloud storage service or an external drive.
- Check if you have the necessary permissions to edit and save files, especially when working on network drives or shared folders.
- Make a habit of manually saving your work frequently.
Wrapping Up
After reading the above easy steps to recover unsaved Excel files on Windows, you will be able to get all your unsaved Excel files back. Microsoft Office offers several in-built backup options that you can use to get your unsaved files with ease. Apart from these manual methods, you can use free data recovery software, such as Stellar Data Recovery Free to recover unsaved Excel files on Windows 11/10/8/7 or macOS devices. Download the software and make a habit of creating backups of your important files to handle such data loss issues.
