Use the Document Recovery task pane to recover your files

Sometimes a Microsoft Office program closes unexpectedly before you can save changes to a file you are working on. When this happens, the Document Recovery feature recovers as much as possible of the work that you did since you last saved the file.

When you start a Microsoft Office program after it closes abnormally, one of two things occurs:

• If data is available to the program about the latest changes you made to the file, the program opens the file so you can continue your work.

  What determines whether the Document Recovery task pane is displayed?Depending on how and why the program closed abnormally, data about the changes you made before the event occurred may be available to the program. If this data is available and the program can determine that it has recovered all the changes you made, it shows you that version of your file. If you are not sure this version is the version that you want, click the Recovered button (on the status bar) to open the Document Recovery task pane and decide which version you want to keep.

• If you need to identify which version of a file you want to keep, the program displays the Document Recovery task pane automatically.

Use the Document Recovery task pane

The Document Recovery task pane displays up to three versions of your file. In general, the file versions are displayed with the most current version at the top of the list.

Tip If the Document Recovery task pane makes it harder to see your file, you can click Recovered on the status bar to close the task pane. Click Recovered again to open the task pane.

1. Review the available versions of your file.

   A recovered version of your file

   This version should be the most current version of your file. (It is displayed only after a crash in which some or all changes that you made to a file were recovered.) Click this version, and then review the file.

   This version looks correctIf the file looks correct, right-click this choice, and then click Save As to save the file. Your file is now recovered. You can stop reading this procedure.

   This version does not look correctProceed to the next step.

   The word Repaired appears in this version

   If you want to see what repairs were made, right-click the file version, and then click Show Repairs.

   An automatically saved version (AutoSaved) of your fileClick this version, and then review the file.

   This version looks correctIf the file looks correct, right-click this choice, and then click Save As to save the file. Your file is now recovered. You can stop reading this procedure.

   This version does not look correctProceed to the next step.

   The word Repaired appears in this version

   If you want to see what repairs were made, right-click the file version, and then click Show Repairs.

   The original version of your fileAfter you click this version, you should review the file.

   This version looks correctIf the file looks correct, right-click this choice, and then click Save As to save the file. Your file is now recovered. You can stop reading this procedure.

   This version does not look correctIf, after reviewing all available versions of your file, you still don't see a version that has the correct and latest content, you may have lost some of your work. Right-click the version that looks the most correct, and then click Save As to keep that version.

   Note To decrease the chances of losing work again, see Avoid losing work when an Office program closes abnormally.

   The word Repaired appears in this version

   If you want to see what repairs were made, right-click the file version, and then click Show Repairs.

2. You might not be sure which version is the right version, or you might not have time to figure it out right now. In these situations, you can save each version with a different name and then go back later to review the different versions. Right-click each version in the Document Recovery task pane, and then click Save As.
3. When you have opened and saved all of the files that you want to keep, click Close in the Document Recovery task pane.

To decrease the chances of losing work while you use your Microsoft Office program, see Avoid losing work when an Office program closes abnormally.

See also:

• Avoid losing work when an Office program closes abnormally
• My Office program did not open a recovered file
• My recovered file or item does not contain my changes