Library Technical Help Guide

Lost Documents

On this page you'll find information about retrieving documents that have been lost on a personal computer or laptop, for example:

• files that were opened as an attachment and modified, but didn't save into an expected location,

• files which closed without prompting for a save location.

It's not always possible to retrieve a lost file, but here are some searches and functions you can perform to try and locate or restore a lost file, as well as some important pitfalls to avoid.

When trying to locate or restore a lost file, DO NOT

• Try to reopen the document from an email or a flash drive, as this may overwrite the lost copy
• Shut down or log off your computer, as this may delete temporary files

Lost file recovery for WINDOWS:

• Open the Windows menu, then type %temp% and hit Enter; this will open your computer's temp folder, which is where documents are stored when they're opened from the internet (e.g. downloaded from Google Docs or an email attachment)
• Open My Documents and use the search function in top-right corner to search for your document using keywords from the title (e.g. resume, lab report)
   

Lost file recovery for MAC:

• To locate AutoRecovered files on your computer, switch to Finder, then click Go > Go To Folder (or press SHIFT + COMMAND + G) and enter the appropriate folder path from the table below. Replace <username> with your username:
  • For Excel: /Users/<username>/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Excel/Data/Library/Application Support/Microsoft
  • For PowerPoint: /Users/<username>/Library/Containers/com.Microsoft.Powerpoint/Data/Library/Preferences/AutoRecovery
  • For Word: /Users/<username>/Library/Containers/com.Microsoft/Data/Library/Preferences/AutoRecovery