Picture a scenario: you have been working on your paper for a week now, and while creating a new folder, you accidentally delete it. The second you realize the file is gone, you frantically check the Recycle Bin, praying it is there. But, you have used the Shift + Delete command, and your paper is gone ‘forever’. All you can seemingly do is sit there in anger and despair; however, contrary to your belief now, you can either hop over to a homework help site like homework help in Canada (disclaimer; sponsored link), or continue reading for some tips on how to recover the deleted document.
Since it is possible to lose or delete a Word document in different situations or for whatever reasons, let’s identify the main reasons these things happen:
• As mentioned before, the use of Shift + Delete Command
• Command prompt used for erasing files
• Accidental hard drive formatting
• Recycle Bin bypassing
• Recycle Bin empty
• System errors
Luckily for you, there are ways to recover a document lost in such situations. So, let’s look into some tips and tricks that can help you quickly recover the lost or deleted Word document.
Restoring Files from A Backup
If a document is accidentally modified, deleted or lost, there is no reason for panic. You can always try to restore it from a backup if you’re using Windows backup. If you’re using a Mac device, you can also try to restore the document using the Time Machine Backup. Another possibility is recovering Word documents using previous versions, which both Windows and Mac automatically save as a part of the restore point.
However, if you want to restore a file from a backup, make sure the media or drive that your backup is saved on is available. Once that is ensured, you need to follow these steps:
• Open Backup and Restore: click the Start button, then move to Control Panel, where you’ll click System and Maintenance; there you’ll click on Backup and Restore
• Click Restore my files, and then follow the steps in the wizard.
If you want to restore a deleted file, here are some additional steps:
• Open Computer: click the Start button and then click Computer
• Locate the folder that used to contain the deleted file; right-click it and then click Restore previous version
Search for Temporary Files or ~ Files
Sometimes, when we want to recover the accidentally deleted Word document, we ought to look for them in the so-called Temporary files folder. Here’s how to do that:
• Click the Start button and then click on My Computer
• Press F10, and ensure that you can see all the hidden files and folders.
• Close My Computer
• Open Windows Search
• Look for the .tmp files
• Explore through the folders and documents until you find the one that got deleted
On the other hand, when you are working in Word, the majority of files get automatically saved as a backup procedure. These saved files often start with “~.” Therefore, you can use the Windows Search option to look back for deleted files containing this symbol, and here’s how:
• Open Windows Search
• Type the “~” symbol into the search bar
• Scroll through files and documents and see if the one that got deleted is there
Use Auto Recover
If you are still having trouble with recovering your accidentally deleted Word document, try using the Auto Recover option according to the advice from iMyFone. The Auto Recover tool is a part of Microsoft Word itself; it is not an additional tool you have to download from the Internet. The Auto Recover can be extremely helpful when your computer suddenly crashes down or freezes in the middle of your work. Here’s how to find this tool and use it:
• Open Microsoft Word
• If a Document Recovery screen shows upon opening, make sure to use this tool to recover the document
• The Document Recovery screen will pop up on the left side of the window; make sure to double-click the document or choose to Save As…
• In case there is no Document Recovery screen, under the File Tab select ‘Recent.’
• At the bottom of the menu, there will be a Recover Unsaved Documents tool
• Click and browse to see if you can find the lost/deleted document
Use Professional File Recovery Tools
According to LifeWire, there are many data recovery programs that can help you recover accidentally deleted files and Word documents. These recovery tools can help you recover, or ‘undelete’ files on your computer. Here is the list of the best recovery tools for December 2018;
• Recuva
Recuva is the best recovery software tool currently available. The tool is extremely easy to handle and offers a number of optional advanced features too. Recuva can undelete files from hard drives, external drives (USB, for example), DVD/CDs and memory cards. Recuva can also recover data in Windows 10, Windows 8 & 8.1, 7, Vista, XP, and older Windows versions too.
• Puran File Factory
After Recuva, the Puran File Factory is one of the best file recovery tools out there. It is very easy to use and is capable of recovering data from any Windows drive. One remarkable thing about Puran File Factory that sets it apart from the competition is the capability to identify more files than most other tools. Therefore, you could be using both Recuva and Puran File Factory side by side in case Recuva misses out on some files.
• Disk Drill
This file recovery software tool is a simple, easy to use, and free. Disk Drill can recover up to 500MB of data from any storage device. This tool also offers the possibilities of previewing image files before recovering them, pausing and resuming the scans, partition recovery, backing up the entire drive, etc. The primary advantage of Disk Drive is that it doesn’t only work for Windows, but also macOS. 2
