Recover an Unsaved Excel Workbook (Closed Without Saving or After a Crash)

You clicked Don’t Save by mistake, Excel crashed, or the PC restarted — and hours of work seem gone. Before you redo it all, check the recovery spots; Excel quietly keeps temporary copies.

Why: Excel’s AutoRecover saves a background copy of open workbooks at intervals (every 10 minutes by default). If Excel closes abnormally, it offers those copies in a Document Recovery pane next time it starts. Separately, if you closed a new, never-saved workbook by choosing “Don’t Save,” Excel keeps that draft for a few days under Recover Unsaved Workbooks. The catch: AutoRecover only works if the feature was turned on before the crash.

Fix 1: Take the Document Recovery pane (right after a crash)

When you reopen Excel after a crash, a Document Recovery pane appears on the left listing recovered files.

1. Click each item to preview which has the most recent work (the label shows whether it’s the original or an AutoRecover version).
2. Click the one you want, then Save As immediately to a normal .xlsx file.
3. Once you’ve saved the good copy, close the pane and discard the rest.

If the pane doesn’t appear, go to Fix 2.

Fix 2: Recover a workbook you closed without saving

This covers a brand-new workbook you closed and chose not to save.

1. Open Excel and open any workbook (or a blank one).
2. Go to File > Info.
3. Click Manage Workbook and choose Recover Unsaved Workbooks.
4. The folder of unsaved drafts opens. Pick the file (these are .xlsb/.xlsx temp copies named with a code), click Open.
5. A banner reads “RECOVERED UNSAVED FILE.” Click Save As to keep it permanently.

Fix 3: Restore an earlier AutoRecover version of a saved file

If the file was saved before but you lost recent edits (e.g. closed without saving the last changes):

1. Open the file, go to File > Info.
2. Under Manage Workbook, look for a version labeled (when I closed without saving) or with a timestamp.
3. Click it to open that version, then click Restore in the yellow bar at the top to overwrite the current version — or Save As to keep both.

Fix 4: Turn on AutoRecover so this can’t happen again

Recovery only works if the feature was enabled. Confirm and tighten it now:

1. Go to File > Options > Save.
2. Tick Save AutoRecover information every [N] minutes and lower the number (5 minutes is reasonable).
3. Tick Keep the last AutoRecovered version if I close without saving.
4. Note the AutoRecover file location path — that’s where temp copies live if you ever need to dig manually. Click OK.

For real safety, enable AutoSave by storing files in OneDrive or SharePoint, which saves continuously and keeps version history.

FAQ

There’s nothing under Recover Unsaved Workbooks — why? AutoRecover was probably off, or the file had been saved at least once (then it’s under Manage Workbook versions, not unsaved). A workbook never saved with AutoRecover off can’t be recovered through Excel.

How long are unsaved drafts kept? Excel retains the last AutoRecovered “closed without saving” copy for about four days, then it’s purged — recover it sooner rather than later.

I overwrote a good file with a bad save. Try File > Info > Version History (OneDrive/SharePoint files) or right-click the file in File Explorer and check Previous Versions if File History / restore points are enabled.

Sources: Microsoft Support — Recover an earlier version of an Office file