6 Simple ways to recover lost Excel files

Your Microsoft Excel spreadsheets are likely the lifeblood of your small business. Whether it’s your monthly budget, an upcoming payroll sheet, or your entire inventory list, seeing hours of hard work vanish in an instant is terrifying. Before you start retyping everything from scratch, take a deep breath. Your data is probably still hiding on your computer. Work your way down this list of simple methods to rescue your lost work.

1. Check the recovery panel

If your computer restarts out of nowhere or Excel suddenly freezes and closes, the program usually tries to save your progress automatically.

• Step 1: Open a brand-new, blank Excel spreadsheet.
• Step 2: Look at the left side of your screen. A panel called “Document Recovery” should pop up.
• Step 3: Look for your lost file, click the version with the most recent time next to it, and go to File > Save As to save it securely.

2. Recover unsaved workbooks

We’ve all done it: you close a document and accidentally click Don’t Save instead of Save. Excel actually keeps a hidden stash of files for this exact scenario.

• Step 1: Open Excel, click File in the top left, and choose Info.
• Step 2: Click the button that says Manage Workbook, then select Recover Unsaved Workbooks.
• Step 3: A folder will pop up. Click the “Date Modified” header to sort the files from newest to oldest.
• Step 4: Open the most recent draft. If it’s your missing work, click File > Save As to save a permanent copy.

3. Search AutoRecover

If the first two options didn’t work, Windows might still have a backup tucked away in a hidden system folder.

• Step 1: Hold down the Windows key on your keyboard and press R.
• Step 2: In the little box that appears, copy and paste this exact text: %AppData%MicrosoftExcel and hit Enter.
• Step 3: Sort the files by the date they were last modified so the newest ones are at the top.
• Step 4: Click through the files to find your draft. Open it, then go to File > Save As to save it to your normal business folders.

4. Use Version History

If you save your business files to OneDrive or SharePoint, you have a built-in time machine. This is incredibly helpful if you made a huge mistake on a sheet and need to go back to its previous state.

• Step 1: Open your spreadsheet in Excel.
• Step 2: Click the file name at the very top middle of the screen and choose “Version History.” (You can also find this by going to File > Info > Version History).
• Step 3: A panel will open on the right showing previous times the document was saved. Click on them to preview what the file looked like at that exact moment.
• Step 4: Found the right one? Click Restore to bring it back.

5. Look at Previous Folder Versions

If your computer has Windows File History turned on, it regularly takes snapshots of your folders. This is perfect if you completely deleted a file by mistake.

• Step 1: Open your file folders and find the exact folder where your lost Excel sheet used to live. Right-click that folder and choose Properties.
• Step 2: Click the tab at the top labeled “Previous Versions.”
• Step 3: Pick a folder version from a date before you lost the file, and click Open.
• Step 4: A window showing exactly what that folder looked like in the past will open. Find your Excel sheet, copy it, and paste it back onto your current desktop.

6. Search the temporary files

When all else fails, fragments of your spreadsheet might be sitting in your computer’s Temp folder — a place where Windows stores leftover data.

• Step 1: Press the Windows key + R, type in %temp%, and hit Enter.
• Step 2: In the search bar at the top right, type *.tmp and sort the results by date. If nothing shows up, try searching for ~$* instead.
• Step 3: Look for files created around the time you lost your work. Right-click one, choose Open With, and select Excel.
• Step 4: If your missing numbers and text magically appear, immediately copy the data, paste it into a new Excel sheet, and save it.

Pro tip: Don’t want to go hunting for files ever again? Take 30 seconds right now to change this one setting:

1. Open Excel and go to File > Options > Save.
2. Look for the setting that says “Save AutoRecover information every 10 minutes.” Change that 10 to a 2.
3. Ensure the box underneath it, “Keep the last AutoRecovered version if I close without saving,” is checked.

Whenever possible, try to save your business documents to a secure cloud service such as OneDrive. It automatically backs up your keystrokes as you type, giving you total peace of mind to focus on what really matters: growing your business.

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