How to Recover Deleted Word Documents – 5 Free Methods You Should Know
Last Updated on September 20, 2025 by Yulia Ilina
How do you recover deleted Word documents deleted by accident? It should be painful when some important Office files are lost or deleted. What are the best methods to retrieve the files? Word has a built-in method to get back some lost or unsaved files with Auto Recovery. Besides, you can find the files from backup files from temporary files or Cloud services. Moreover, data recovery is another efficient method to retrieve deleted Word documents.
- Part 1: How to Recover Deleted Word Documents from Auto Recovery
- Part 2: How to Restore Deleted Word Documents via Temporary Files
- Part 3: How to Retrieve Deleted Word Files from Recycle Bin
- Part 4: How to Recover Deleted Word Files via One Drive
- Part 5: How to Recover Deleted Word Documents with Data Recovery
Part 1: How to Recover Deleted Word Documents from Auto Recovery
Microsoft Word has a built-in Auto Recovery features to retrieve unsaved or deleted Word documents. It should be the initial choice if some Word files are unsaved, crashed, or deleted by accident. Just find the destination folder for the auto-saved Word files.
Step 1: Launch the Word document on your computer. Go to the File menu and choose the select the More button. Select the Options button to select the Options button from the drop-down list.
Step 2: Go to the Save tab and check the destination folder to recover the deleted Word documents. Just click the Browse button to find the auto-saved Word files or change the time for the auto-save feature.
Step 3: Once you have located the deleted Word documents from the folder, you can open the files again to check the details. After that, you can save the file with a new Word file name or replace the original one.
Note: If the Word documents crashed suddenly when you open the Word program again, you can find the Document Recovery option with a list of recovered Word documents on the left side.
Part 2: How to Restore Deleted Word Documents via Temporary Files
The Temporary Files feature is another built-in way to retrieve unsaved or deleted Word documents. The retrieved files are saved in the ASD extension, which you can open and save with Word. But it only saves the temporary files for the recently crashed documents.
Step 1: Open a Word document with the Word program. Click the File menu and choose the Info button. Scroll down to the Manage Document option to check the unsaved changes of Word documents.
Step 2: Click the Manage Document menu and select the Recover Unsaved Documents option. After that, you can find a list of all unsaved Word files with the prefix of the original file.
Step 3: From the dialog box, search for your missing deleted Word files. Open the recovered Word documents, and then click the Save As button located in the File menu.
Part 3: How to Retrieve Deleted Word Files from Recycle Bin
Is there another easy method to retrieve the deleted Word files? Windows Recycle Bin is another choice you should try. It will temporarily store deleted items, including Word documents, you can simply click the Restore button to get them back to your computer.
Step 1: Open the Recycle Bin by simply double-clicking the Trash icon on your computer to recover the deleted Word documents you have just deleted on your computer.
Step 2: Search for the deleted Word document you wish to recover. It is easy to locate the document with the original name. Moreover, you can right-click the deleted files to check the properties.
Step 3: Once you have found the lost or deleted file, just right-click the item and then choose the Restore option to retrieve the files to the original folder on your computer accordingly.
Part 4: How to Recover Deleted Word Files via One Drive
If you have enabled the auto-sync features for the documents with a Cloud service, such as iCloud or One Drive, you can also retrieve the deleted Word files from it easily. Since One Drive is built-in cloud service with the Office program, you can recover deleted word files below.
Step 1: Sign in to the OneDrive account that you have already enabled the auto-sync feature. You can also go to https://portal.office.com from a web browser to retrieve the files.
Step 2: Click on the Recycle Bin option from the left-hand side, where you can find the list of files that have been deleted. Select the deleted Word files you want to retrieve from the list.
Step 3: Once you have done the process. Simply click the Restore option to retrieve the deleted Word file. It will download the file to your computer and you can open and save it for further editing.
Part 5: How to Recover Deleted Word Documents with Data Recovery
In case you still cannot retrieve the Word documents with the above ways, Data Recovery is another versatile method to restore the Office files. It has 2 different scanning modes to provide advanced algorithms to get the deleted files back. Moreover, there is a Filter feature that enables you to search for the deleted files with name and position.
1. Restore the deleted, unsaved, or lost Word documents on Windows/Mac.
2. Provide an advanced deep scan mode to get lost/deleted Word documents.
3. Search for the desired files with different categories and the filter feature.
4. Preview the deleted Word documents before purchasing or a recovery.
Step 1: Download and install Data Recovery, you can launch the program on your computer. Select the file type you wish to restore. Mark the hard disk as well and then select the Check all file types option.
Step 2: When the whole process is done, you can select the deleted Word file you want to retrieve. Of course, you can click the Recover button to get the files back from the quick scan mode.
Step 3: If you cannot find the deleted files you wish to recover, you can click the Deep Scan mode to scan all resources completely. Just enter the name or the path to locate the files easily.
Conclusion
Can you recover deleted word documents? It does not require any complex methods. Here are the built-in methods to help you out, such as the temporary folder, auto recovery, and One Drive. If you cannot get the files back, Data Recovery is the ultimate choice to recover deleted text from word documents with the advanced deep scan mode.