Word Document Disappeared: Quick Fixes!

Although by far compared to other word processing tools in the market, Word document is widely used around the world. While it offers a wide range of features and convenience for users, many face troubles such as Word document disappeared errors. Thus, this prompted many users to look online with queries such as "My Word document disappeared" and "I saved my Word document but it disappeared".

Similar to the users, are you also unable to find a solution for the Word document disappeared situation? Follow along with the article to find out the best five solutions that can fix Word document disappeared errors on your computer. We have also included various reasons that causes your Word doc disappeared to help you narrow down the reason and solution for better results.

Part 1: What Are Common Causes For Word Document Disappeared Situation

Before proceeding with solutions for the Word document disappeared error, first, you must understand the reasons behind it. By finding out the reasons, you will be able to apply the right solution to easily fix the saved Word doc disappeared issue.

Here are some of the typical reasons why Word Document Disappeared error:

• Abrupt Shutdown: When the system is turned off between tasks due to a power outage, a system malfunction, or lack of attention, it can result in the saved Word doc disappeared.
• Accidental Deletion: If you mistakenly remove a Word file while emptying your internal hard drive to free up space, you are going to experience a Word file disappeared issue.
• Missed Saving: Even though Word offers an autosave tool, it is preferable to save your document manually because it may not always function properly. If you neglect to save your Word document before closing it, you may have a Word doc disappeared problem.
• System Crash: While working on a Word document, if your machine crashes due to a technical issue or a power outage, your saved Word doc disappeared error occurs.
• Virus or Malware: Another common cause of why a Word document disappeared is a virus or malware attack. If you received a file from someone, downloaded it, or moved it from another computer, it may include viruses. Viruses or malware may affect files and alter the coding, rendering the data unusable, resulting in my Word document disappeared issues.
• Corrupt Disk: If your internal or external disk space malfunctions at any time, Word doc disappeared results. Furthermore, bad sectors on the hard disk can cause Word documents not to save, causing saved Word doc disappeared.

Part 2: Bext Methods to Fix Word Document Disappeared

After going over the reasons that caused the Word document disappeared issue, it is time to move towards the solution that will help fix it. The fixes can range from as simple as recovering from the recycle folder to using the best recovery tool, depending on the cause of the issue.

Following are the best five methods you should consider to fix saved Word document disappeared troubles:

#1 Recover From Recycle Bin

As mentioned, one of the common reasons for my Word document disappeared problem is accidental deletion. This action will result in moving the Word file to the recycle bin on Windows and Trash folder on Mac. However, you can easily recover these files back to their original location and access the doc.

Here are the steps for how to fix Word document disappeared on Windows and Mac:

Step 1: Open the "Recycle Bin" on your Windows from the desktop or the "Trash" folder on your Mac from the dock.

Step 2: Now search for the Word doc that has disappeared inside the folder.

Step 3: When you identify the Word file that disappeared, right-click on it and select the "Restore" option. Alternatively, you can drag and drop the file to the desired location on your system.

#2 Recover From Backup Files

For those looking for ways to solve it, I saved my Word document, but it disappeared issue, you can recover the Word doc from its backup files. Since most versions of MS Word save the documents backed up in the same folder with the file extension of WBK format, you can recover the Word doc disappeared from them. However, you have to make sure the original Word doc file matches the backup file but with the prefix "Backup of".

Here are the steps to follow to fix I saved my Word document, but it disappeared issue from the backup location:

Step 1: Open the "File Explorer" on your computer from the "Start" menu and navigate to the folder location from where the Word file disappeared.

Step 2: Next, click on the "Search" dialog box at the top right and enter ".wbk". Press the "Enter" key to search the folder.

Step 3: Once the search is over, look for the Word documents, which start with the "Backup of" Image name followed by the original Word doc Image name from the search results.

Step 4: When you identify the Word doc you were looking for, right-click on it and select the "Open" option.

Step 5: After the document is successfully opened with MS Word, consider saving it to another location.

#3 Recover Searching Temp Files

If you cannot find your Word document disappeared from the Recycle bin or Backup files, then fix my Word document disappeared from the temp files. The auto recover feature on MS Word creates temp files for the document to help recover when in need. However, the files are saved as ASD file formats, and you can search for them on your computer to recover the original file.

Here are the following steps for how to fix Word document disappeared on Windows:

Step 1: Start by pressing the "Windows + R" keys together to launch the "Run" window on your computer.

Step 2: Next, on the Run window, enter the "%AppData%" in the dialog box. Then, press "Enter" to open the temporary files folder on your computer.

Step 3: On the new File Explorer window, enter the ".asd" in the search dialog box at the top right to look for Word doc temporary files. Also, select the "Search options" and click on the "Date Modified" tab at the top to view the search results from the most recent files.

Step 4: Then, from the search results, identify and copy the Word document you want to recover.

Step 5: Paste the copied Word doc temp file to your preferred location and change the file extension to ".docx" format. You can access the Word document now.

#4 Recover From Previous Versions

If you are struggling with my Word document disappeared issue on a Windows system, you can fix it easily using the Previous Versions feature from the Hard drive. This feature from Windows helps to recover lost or deleted documents on your computer when the System Protection functionality is activated. However, you must remember the original location of the saved Word doc disappeared was stored with its folder name.

Here are steps for how to fix Word document disappeared on Windows from previous versions:

Step 1: Open the "File Explorer" on your computer from the "Start" menu.

Step 2: Click on "This PC" from the sidebar on the "File Explorer" and browse to the original location where your Word document disappeared was stored.

Step 3: You have to create a "New Folder" in the location with the original folder name if the previous folder with the Word file disappeared is lost or deleted. Or, if the original folder is still available, you do not have to create a new folder with the same name.

Step 4: Next, select and right-click on the original folder or the newly created folder with the original folder name. Then, select the "Restore previous versions" option from the context menu.

Step 5: On the new windows, select the version of the folder that might still contain the Word file that has disappeared.

Step 6: After the Word file is restored to the folder, you can access it. But consider copying the Word file to a different location of your preference.

#5 Recover Word File Disappeared Using Recoverit

As a last resort, when all the above methods fail to fix the "my Word document disappeared" trouble, then you should consider a reliable third-party data recovery tool such as Recoverit. It is among the most popular recovery tools that can easily help you recover multiple data types from your computer, including Word files. You can retrieve lost, deleted, or formatted data from many storage devices, such as hard disks, external disks, USB disks, and memory cards. Thanks to its advanced recovery algorithms, it can scan and restore hard-to-recover data from your computer.

Some of the key features of the Recoverit tool to help fix my Word document disappeared problem:

• User-friendly Interface: The user interface is simple to use, which makes it ideal for those with different levels of technical skills.
• Two Scan Mode: It offers quick and deep scan choices, allowing users to choose between a short scan for recent deletions and a deeper scan for hard-to-recover files.
• Multiple File Formats: It can retrieve many kinds of file formats, such as videos, photos, documents, messages, and more.
• Recover Lost Partition: This tool can restore data from disk partitions that were deleted, resized, lost, or corrupted.
• Recover Formatted Drive: It also recovers data from storage devices that were formatted and lost its content.
• Recover FIle Preview: You can check recoverable files before retrieving them to ensure that the correct data is restored.
• Multiple Storage Devices: It is compatible with a wide range of storage devices, including hard drives, SSDs, USB drives, memory cards, and external drives.

Follow the below steps for How to fix Word document disappeared on Mac and Windows with the Recoverit tool:

Step 1: Begin by downloading and installing the Recoverit data recovery application on your system (Windows or Mac) from the official website. However, ensure you do not install the tool on the same drive from where you are going to recover the Word file disappeared.

Step 2: Launch the tool on your system and select the "Hard Drives and Locations" option on the left side panel. Next, select the drive under the "Hard Disk Drives" section to scan for the Word doc disappeared.

Step 3: Next, to begin the search for the disappeared Word document, click the "Start" button. At first, the tool will start a quick scan of the drive or chosen partition.

Step 4: Once the scan is complete, you can view all of the recoverable Word documents. Then, choose the Word file you want to retrieve and click "Recover."

Step 5: If your Word document is not included in the list of recoverable files, click the "All-Around Recovery" option to look for additional files in the disk space.

Step 6: After the All-Around Recovery scan is done, all recoverable files will be shown along with their file types or locations. To restore your disappeared Word file, preview it and then click the "Recover" button.

Step 7: Select your preferred location and click on the "Recover" option to save the file on your computer. However, you should ensure that the recovered data is not saved in the original location.

Related Video >>: How to Recover Unsaved/Deleted Word Document?

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Part 3: How to Avoid Word Document Disappeared Issue

Now that you understand the ways to fix the "I saved my Word document but it disappeared" dilemma. Instead of applying these fixes, would it not be a better idea to avoid the error situation by following simple preventive measures? These measures can include as simple as proper saving methods to healthy backup strategies.

Here are some of the tips for you to prevent Word file disappeared errors:

1. Always back up important files, whether you have Word documents or some other data on your computer. Also, consider multiple backup strategies to future-proof data loss. When you are without a backup system, you can set up cloud backup storage or an external storage device.
2. Fortunately, Word document comes with auto recovery and auto-save features to avoid Word doc disappeared concerns. You can enable the feature by clicking on "File" and then "Options". Select the "Save" tab and enable the "Save AutoRecover information" and "Keep the last autosaved version if I close without saving" options.
3. Even though Word doc has an auto-save feature, you should remember to save your document as you work on it. Consider saving after each paragraph or section or at least before closing the document.
4. As an extreme backup measure, you can also save your Word document in other formats, such as PDF. When you face a saved Word doc disappeared issue for any reason, you will have the document in another format to recover from.
5. Constantly run system check utilities to check any issues with your system and hard disk. Since system crashes and disk failures can lead to data loss, including Word doc disappeared situations, you must keep the computer in healthy condition.
6. Keep your system and software updated to remove any bugs that can cause Word document disappeared problems.
7. Ensure to install effective anti-virus software to protect your system from malicious threats. Also, avoid connecting your external or USB devices to unknown systems that can be affected by viruses or malware.

Conclusion

While Word document disappeared is among the common issues for many MS Word users, you can fix it by following the solutions in the article. In addition, by understanding the reasons behind the issue, you can easily avoid it by applying the easy tips with your Word document. However, under any unfortunate situation, if you rather prefer an easy way to recover a Word file disappeared error, consider Recoverit. It is among the reliable tool that can allow you to recover Word doc along with other data from your computer effortlessly.