How to Recover Notepad++ Unsaved Files

Amy Dennis

Jun 03, 2026 • Filed to: Recover Files • Proven solutions

TL;DR:

You can recover unsaved Notepad++ files directly from the software's default backup directory or use a third-party data recovery tool if the temporary files were deleted.
    ● Access the built-in backups by navigating to %APPDATA%\Notepad++\backup\ in Windows Explorer, where unsaved documents are temporarily stored with a .bak extension.
    ● If the program corrupted before saving or the local backup folder is empty, scanning the storage drive with Recoverit Data Recovery is necessary to retrieve the lost text files.
    ● Prevent future data loss by navigating to Settings > Preferences > Backup within Notepad++ and checking the Enable session snapshot and periodic backup option.

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Notepad++ is a replacement for a notepad and is a free source code editor and allows users to edit files with diverse file extensions. However, you may lose your unsaved files in Notepad++ because freezing happens or the program crashes or corrupts. This article discusses effective methods How to Recover Notepad++ Unsaved Files. Recover unsaved Notepad++ files from a backup folder or use professional data recovery software - Recoverit Data Recovery.

What is a Notepad++ file?

Notepad++ is a free text and source code editor and Notepad replacement that supports several languages. Running in the MS Windows environment, its use is governed by GPL License. Notepad++ is written in C++ and uses pure Win32 API and STL which ensures a higher execution speed and smaller program size.

Method 1: Recover Notepad++ Unsaved Files from Backups

If Notepad++ suddenly crashes or corrupts you may lose your unsaved files. However, if the periodic backup feature is turned on you may have chance to recover unsaved or corrupted files after the program crashes.

Backups can be found directly on PC by navigating to C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Notepad++\backup (usually).

If the Notepad++ backup folder is not there, follow these steps to recover unsaved Notepad++ files from the backup:

Step 1. Find Notepad ++ backup location on PC.

• Open a new Notepad ++ file, click on "Settings" > "Preference".

• Click "Backup" on the Preference window, and find the Notepad ++ backup location on your PC in the "Backup path".

Step 2. Find Notepad ++ backups for lost/unsaved files.

• Copy the backup path of your Notepad and paste it into your Windows Explorer, press Enter to find the exact backup folder of your Notepad ++.

• You will be able to see all Notepad backups listed there, and now click "Date modified" to choose the most recent notepad file that you've lost, right-click on it and choose to open with Notepad.

Step 3. Save and restore lost Notepad ++ files.

• Now you should be able to view the lost Notepad ++ files.
• Click "Save As" or "Rename" to save your lost or unsaved Notepad＋＋files to a safe location.

Related：How to Recover the Previous Version of Word Document

Method 2: Recover Unsaved or Deleted Notepad ++ files without Backup

When Notepad++ crashes/gets corrupt and delete your .txt files or you lose unsaved Notepad++ files, you can restore form backup. However, if backup files cannot be found on PC you can use professional data recovery software- Recoverit Data Recovery and recover unsaved files.

Recoverit is an easy to use powerful data recovery software that helps to retrieve lost and deleted files under different scenarios. It provides different modes of data recovery, simple scan can be performed to access inaccessible data. And "all-around recovery" can be performed as well.

Recoverit scan the device where you have saved Notepad++ program and recover deleted or unsaved files in three simple steps. Download and install Recoverit Data Recovery on your computer, follow the steps mentioned below to recover unsaved or deleted Notepad++ files.

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Step 1: Select the location from where your files were deleted

Select the location where your Word document files lost, and then click "Start" to begin scanning.

Step 2: Scan deleted files

Recovery software will start all-around scan to search your deleted and unsaved Notepad++ files. It will take few minutes to finish scanning. However, if the files are of large size it will take few hours to scan.

Step 3: Preview and recover deleted files

After the scan, you can preview all recovered files, select the target one and click "Recover" button to save.

Notepad++ VS Notepad

Notepad is a classic windows built-in text editor, it is one tool that is used by every individual to write or edit text files.

Notepad++ is a free source code editor which is a replacement for the notepad. It additionally supports more languages. Tabbed documents, spell checker, file comparisons, zooming, and the find and replacement feature make it much more attractive than the old traditional notepad.

Notepad++ files are identical to Notepad files. Even though Notepad++ is a lot more capable text editor compared with the original Notepad, it doesn't depend on some proprietary file format to store files.

Relevant Reading: How to recover unsaved Notepad files?

Bottom Line

Be it due to computer crashes, program corrupts or crashes or freezing happens document gets lost or deleted. In this case, files can be recovered from backup but if you still did not manage to find the documents you are looking for, then use the most powerful option, use of free data recovery tool. The best software we recommend is Recoverit Data Recovery. Recoverit Data Recovery can easily recover unsaved or lost files back in three simple steps i.e. select, scan, preview and save.