This Document Is Either Deleted or Not Currently Accessible? Recover Word on Mac

Sue Wayne

Mar 25, 2024 • Filed to: Solve Mac Problems • Proven solutions

When this document is either deleted or not currently accessible notification appears on your Mac, it signifies that there is a problem. You may have deleted or corrupted your Word document mistakenly and so accessing or opening it becomes impossible. This article informs you how to recover such Word documents on Mac.

Part 1: Overview of Deleted or Not Accessible Word Document

When opening a Word document, most people get confused when they get the Word document error message because they hardly understand what it really means. Not understanding it also causes panicking, especially if the said document is very important.

This document is either deleted or not currently accessible is a Word document error message or notification that appears when a file is not available or cannot open on Mac. It means that you cannot access the contents of the specific Word document no matter how many times you try to open it.

This document is either deleted or not currently accessible message appears due to various reasons. It appears because of either of the following causes;

Part 2: How to Recover and Open Deleted Word File on Mac

This document is either deleted or not currently accessible message does not mean that you cannot recover and open the Word file on Mac. There are various solutions that can help you get back the file, especially if it is temporarily or permanently deleted. They include the following;

Method 1. Recover Word document from Trash on Mac

Trash on Mac is the location where documents and files are stored after temporary deletion using Command-Delete or Delete functions. So, files in this location are easy to restore and use again. The following are steps on how to recover a Word document from Trash on Mac.

Step 1: Open Trash

On your Mac’s dock, click on the Trash icon to open it; a Finder window will open and display the trashed item in your hard drive.

Step 2: Choose the Word document you need to recover

Choose the Word document you need to be recovered and Control-click or right-click on it. In the drop-down menu that appears, select the Put-Back option.

The Word document will be returned back to its initial location and a Finder window will open to verify this.

Method 2. Recover Word document from Time Machine Backup

The inbuilt Mac program, Time Machine, is meant for backup and restoration purposes. Therefore, if your regularly backup your Mac files, they become restorable from Time Machine, regardless of how they get deleted or lost.

Use the following steps to restore deleted Word document from Time Machine

Step 1: open Time Machine icon

First, connect the Time Machine backup disk and switch it on. Second, access the folder that stored the deleted Word document, for example, the Documents’ folder or a window of any other respective storage location. From the Time Machine menu, select Enter Time Machine.

Step 2: Find the respective file and preview it

You may use the search field to trace the lost Word file or the timeline to scroll the screen, which will display Time Machine backups with dates and time. Choose the specific Word file to be recovered and click on Spacebar to preview it to confirm that it’s the needed file.

Step 3: Recover the file

After confirmation of the file, click on the Restore function at the bottom of the page to recover the Word document from Time Machine.

Note that recovering a file from Time Machine requires a prior and regular backup of files. If you cannot find the file in this backup, you may need a better method to recover it.

Method 3. Recover Word document using Recoverit Data Recovery for Mac

Although the above native solutions are prompt and simple, they are not always reliable due to less workability and time consumption. For instance, a permanently deleted Word document cannot be recovered from Trash since it’s not there.

Additionally, if you do not consistently back up your files in Time Machine, file restoration from this backup disk is impossible.

Therefore, you need the ultimate solution, Recoverit Data Recovery Mac, since it is powerful and created purposely to recover lost or deleted files on Mac.

Recoverit is the best complete tool to recover a deleted Word file since it supports deletion scenarios like permanent or accidental deletion, and data loss cases like virus attack, hard drive formatting, system crash and emptying of Trash.

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The following is the Recoverit procedure to recover and open deleted Word file on Mac

Step 1: Indicate the Deleted Files Location

First, run Recoverit Data Recovery software on your Mac. Second, indicate the location where the Word document was lost or deleted. Select from the Devices section or Select the location tab. Proceed by clicking on the Start function at the bottom right corner.

Step 2: Authorize Scanning of Selected Location

This recovery software will conduct an all-round scan on the selected location to search for the Word document. The searching algorithm and advanced scanning increase the chances of finding you deleted, lost, or formatted Word document. During this scanning process, you should check the scanned files and click on the Pause or Stop functions at the top area at any time when you find the Word document.

Step 3: Preview Word Document and Recover it.

Before recovering the recoverable document, it is advisable to review it first to confirm its identity. From the right panel, click on Preview and then double click the document from the resulting menu. If it is the right Word document, click on the Recover function at the bottom to restore to Mac.

However, you should not save the recovered Word document in the previous location due to overwriting of data. Instead, select a different area.

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Part 3: How to Repair Inaccessible or Corrupted Word on Mac

A corrupted Word file on Mac is troublesome, especially when you do not know the corruption causes. The above methods will not repair a corrupted file and so you must use other ways to handle this document is either deleted or not accessible notification. The following are different methods to repair inaccessible or corrupted Word in Mac.

Method 1. Check for backup or email files

If the Word document was emailed to you or from you, you can still access the original uncorrupted file. Simply find the original version in the email folders and download them. You may check the Sent or Inbox folder or use the search feature in your email.

It is also advisable to check the backup folders to locate a saved version.

Method 2. Forcefully repair corrupted Word file using Word

Word has an option known as Open and Repair, which is significant in recovering a corrupt Word document. This feature detects and removes issues in the document when there are problems in opening it. Use the following steps to utilize the feature.

Step 1: Open Word application

If you have not launched Word application, do so by clicking the icon.

Step 2: Access the Open option

Access the main menu and select File and then click on Open.

Step 3: Access Word document storage location and repair file.

When the browser opens, locate the storage location of the Word document and select it. Choose the drop-down arrow at Open and select Open and Repair.

This method should completely fix and repair the corrupted word file. If it fails, try the next solution.

Method 3. Make a copy

Making a copy of the respective Word document is a preliminary step that you should take, despite that it does not work for some recovery cases. It involves making a backup copy of the document despite being corrupt and storing it in removable media or external hard drive. This repair method ensures backup copy lies in a safe location and thus allows experimentation with the original file in the effort to recover the file.

Method 4. Built-in Recovery options

Microsoft Word can recover text from any file using its built-in recovery feature. However, the recovery results vary depending on the corruption type. Here are the steps to follow;

Step 1: Open the Word file

To open the Word file, click on the File option and go to Open.

Step 2: Access the Recover Text from Any File option

To access the Recover Text from Any File option, go to Show or Enable list option and click on the drop-down arrow. Trace the corrupted Word file and follow the instruction to repair the file.

Word will immediately try to recover text from the corrupted Word file.

Method 5. Run CHKDSK

You can repair the corrupted file by running this command since it allows you to check internal disks and systems. The command checks the underlying file system integrity and helps you determine where the problem lies; within the corrupted document or at the file system level.

Method 6. Extract RAW text

Extracting RAW text, also known as using another word processor, can save a corrupt Word document that does not open. It is advisable to use a program that reads or supports Word documents to extract it.

Part 4: Tips to Prevent Deleted or Corrupted Word on Mac

Deletion and corruption of Word documents on Mac are avoidable if you take the necessary measures. Below are the tips on how to prevent having deleted and corrupted Word documents on Mac.

To avoid both deletion and corruption of Word document on Mac;

Tips to Prevent Corrupted Word on Mac

It is easy to prevent deletion or corruption of Word documents, which leads to "this document is either deleted or not currently accessible" message. However, if both are inevitable, there are ways to recover the Word document. In extreme cases, use Recoverit Data Recovery software for Mac, since it’s powerful enough.