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If Microsoft Word crashes, do this immediately to recover unsaved work

Is there anything worse than having to redo work you've already done? Spending hours on paper only to have Microsoft Word crash when you're almost done is crushing. While You Should Get Used to 10 Essential Microsoft Word Routines You Should Know 10 Essential Microsoft Word Routines You Should Know The word "routine" is the very picture of boring. Except when it comes to a productivity app like Microsoft Word. Every second saved adds to the convenience of using it for our daily needs. Read more about pressing Ctrl + S shortcut regularly, luckily Word automatically saves backups in case of crashes.

The next time Microsoft Word crashes, try this method to recover unsaved documents.

Open a File Explorer window, then navigate to This PC . In the search box at the top right, type .asd . This is the file extension. The File Extension Guide:How to Fix and Rename Your Files The File Extension Guide:How to Fix and Rename Your Files Do you have broken files with missing or messed up file extensions? Adding the correct extension could make those files readable again. We'll show you how to bulk edit file extensions. Read more for Microsoft Word backups. Give your computer a minute to search for anything with that extension. If you find a file, it's almost certainly the recovery copy of the document you just lost.

Double click on it to open it again in Word. If this doesn't work, open Word and go to File> Open To access it manually. Then of course you need to save the file to another location so as not to lose it. Be sure to do this search right away and don't restart your computer, so Word doesn't discard the saved copy.

This brings an important distinction between two Word recovery features. With AutoSave, which is the old document protection method, Office will simply save changes to your file every few minutes so you don't lose them. Office applications now keep a record of your changes in a temporary file, but it's only used if Word crashes . If you close Word normally and say No when you are asked to save your changes, your edits are lost.

Office 2013 and newer versions include a feature to recover unsaved documents, which can help in the above situation. Go to File> Open> Recover unsaved documents (at the bottom of the window). Really, though, you should never have to worry about this. Hit Ctrl + S regularly to save the changes you've made, and use the recovery method above to recover your changes if Word crashes. It's not worth risking Word auto recovery just because you forgot to save regularly.

Have you accidentally deleted an Office file? Fortunately, you can recover the files you have destroyed. How to Recover Deleted Office Files How to Recover Deleted Office Files Lost a crucial file and need to get it back? These tips will help you get your Office documents back in no time. Read More

Have you ever lost a Word document and hours of work with it? Were you able to recover a file using one of these methods? Tell us about it below!