How to Turn on AutoSave in Word 2007/2010/2013/2016/2019

Cedric updated on Jan 26, 2022 to Data Recovery Solution | How-to Articles

How to turn on AutoSave in Word to back up Word document automatically? Follow the step-by-step tutorials here to turn on AutoSave in Word 2007-2019 on Mac and Windows 10. Besides, you can also find the guides to recover unsaved Word documents effectively and learn how to recover deleted Word documents with EaseUS file recovery tool.

Solutions in this article apply to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, and 2019.

It is rather frustrating to work on a Word document for hours or days but lose the content due to applications hangs/close, abrupt power outage, or OS crash. You may not have time to save or back up the file. There is nothing worse than work you've been working on disappearing into the abyss.

In this case, enabling the Word AutoSave feature will be extraordinarily important, which can automatically save your work at predetermined intervals. Then, you can recover unsaved Word documents even if something unexpected happens.

This post mainly tells how to turn on AutoSave in Word on Mac and Windows computers. Additionally, you can learn how to recover unsaved and deleted Word documents with simple and useful methods.

How to Turn on AutoSave in Word Mac

Microsoft Office offers the AutoRecover option in Word 2019/2016/2013/2010/2007 or Office 365 to save the document you're working in at a certain interval. You can turn on AutoRecover in Word on Mac by using the following steps.

Step 1. Open Word on your Mac. Click on "Word" in the menu bar and click "preferences."

Step 2. Click on "save" to open the save menu. Tick the box of "Save SutoRecover info every xx minutes".  Then, click "OK".

Step 3. You can create a new document to test the feature in action.

How to Turn on AutoSave in Word in Windows 10

The guides below display how to turn on AutoSave in Word on Windows 10/8/7 computer. Follow to start the auto-save function to back up a copy of your Word every a few minutes.

Note: AutoRecover can't replace regularly saving your files, you must still do this.

Step 1. Open Word, go to "File" > "Options".

Step 2. Click the Save tab on the left panel. Check the boxes of "Save AutoRecover information every * minutes" and "Keep the last autosaved version if I close without saving".

You can set the AutoSave interval to a minimum of 1 minute so that you can save your documents in real-time.  

Step 3. Click "OK" to save the changes.

How to Recover Unsaved Word Document in 2 Ways

After a proper setting, the AutoRecover in Microsoft Word starts work and saves the temporary at a specific location.

Word AutoSave location on Windows 10/8/7/Vista/XP:

  • Windows 10: C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Office\UnsavedFiles
  • Windows 8/7/Vista: C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Office\UnsavedFiles
  • Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\UserName\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Office\UnsavedFiles

If you have experienced the situation where your Word document is closed without saving, you can use the two ways below to recover unsaved Word documents in Windows 10 and Mac.

Way 1. Recover Unsaved Word Using Document Recovery

As you have made Word keep the last autosaved version if you close without saving, when you open Word again, it will display the latest available edition.

Step 1. Open Word 2016 or another version on your computer.

Step 2. Find the available version beneath Document Recovery. Right-click the file, and choose "Open" or "Save".

Way 2. Restore Word by Using Recover Unsaved Documents

You can still get back unsaved Word documents from temporary files. Here are the steps to do it.

Step 1. Open MS Word, click the "File" tab in the upper left.

Step 2.  Click "Info" > "Manage Document". Then, select "Recover Unsaved Documents" from the drop-down list.

Step 3. On the unsaved files windows, there will be all temporary files. Find the target document you need.

Step 4. Open the recovered Word document and click the "Save As" button in the top banner to restore your files. 

These are the ways to restore unsaved Word documents. You see, after turning on the AutoSave function, you have a high probability of recovering lost files.

However, the best way to restore data is to save and back it up. To avoid data loss, you need to back up your important files regularly or you can apply a Windows schedule backup software for automatic backup.  

How to Recover Deleted Word Document with Data Recovery Software

You can use the above methods to recover unsaved word documents, but how to recover deleted saved word documents?

Word documents can be lost because of accidental deletion, hard drive formatting/corruption, OS crash, or virus attack. In these situations, you can recover missing Word documents with EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard. This file recovery tool has the following key features. 

  • Recover deleted or lost Word, Excel, PPT, photos, video, emails, and other file types
  • Recover lost data from SD card, USB flash drive, pen drive, HDD, SSD, etc.
  • Support recovering DOC/DOCX files on both Windows and Mac computers

Free download EaseUS data recovery program and retrieve deleted or lost Word documents in three steps.

Step 1. Choose the Word file location

Choose the drive or a specific folder and click the "Scan" button.

Step 2. Locate your Word files

The software will start immediately scanning all lost data on the selected drive. After the scan, click the "Documents" option in the left panel. Choose "Word" from the category bar. Then, click "Preview".

Step 3. Recover Word files

After previewing the lost Word files, select the desired Word files and click "Recover". Then, select a folder to store the Word files.

Concluding Words

In the event of a program crash or power failure, you may lose the unsaved Word documents that you have been working on for a long time. Windows' built-in AutoSave feature can guard against Word loss as it will automatically save the document. So, we highly recommend you learn how to turn on AutoSave in Word by following this how-to article.

Furthermore, you can free download and use EaseUS data recovery software to restore lost files and repair corrupted Word documents efficiently.