After almost a decade, I might just transition back to Microsoft Word after learning about this cool trick that helps retrieve unsaved files manually

[Windows Central]

Losing unsaved files in Microsoft Word can be a pain. However, there's a cool trick that can help you retrieve lost and unsaved Word documents by searching for .asd in the File Explorer under My/This PC.

After almost a decade, I might just transition back to Microsoft Word after learning about this cool trick that helps retrieve unsaved files manually : Read more

 

[Geoff-37]

Losing unsaved files in Microsoft Word can be a pain. However, there's a cool trick that can help you retrieve lost and unsaved Word documents by searching for .asd in the File Explorer under My/This PC.

After almost a decade, I might just transition back to Microsoft Word after learning about this cool trick that helps retrieve unsaved files manually : Read more

I've got no problem with the tip. That's all good, even if it has been there for years (and Autosave works fine, too).

The big story is in the headline!
10 years!

You're telling me you've lasted 10 years without using Word?
And you're a . . . writer?
And you write for Windows Central?

What on Earth were you thinking? And how did you hide it from your employer(s)?
Is it even possible.

 

[bradavon]

You don't need to search for them.

It's these ASD files Word's "Recover Unsaved Documents" allows you to access. In Word click File -> Info -> Manage Document -> Recover Unsaved Documents and it takes you to the folder Word stores ASD files in, from here it will even change it to show *.asd. Agreed it is hidden.

It's a surprise to most people because most people just don't read errors/prompts. It says "documents will be stored for a period of time if you don't save" or words to that affect next to the Save/Don't Save buttons.

AutoSave requires documents to be in OneDrive/SharePoint, then it's always On by default. You can't just enable it no mater where the document is stored unfortunately.

There's another feature AutoRecover that you can enable but this only saves your docuemnt every XX minute IF you've previously saved it. It did used to be called AutoSave hence the confusion I think the author has with the terminology.