How to Recover Overwritten Excel File on Mac | Recover Now

While editing or copying Excel files on Mac, you may accidentally click the "Don't Save" button or save over existing Excel files with the same name and overwrite your Excel files by mistake. That can be very distressing, but there are several methods you can use to recover the original file.

You should know that the "Overwritten" Excel files on your Mac can be recovered because the updated data do not truly overwrite these files. These new data are just written in a new location, so you can still recover the replaced Excel files on a Mac with backups or data recovery software.

So, let's dive in to get detailed tutorials on recovering overwritten Excel files on Mac.

Fix 1. Recover Overwritten Excel Files on Mac with Data Recovery Software

When you lose data, the first thing you should do is apply professional data recovery software if you don't have any backups. No advanced tech knowledge is required to use a user-friendly data recovery tool like EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac. You can download a trial version of this software using the download button.

This software can help you recover unsaved Excel files on Mac, and it can also recover Excel spreadsheets you have deleted before.

You can scan various storage devices on a Mac with an EaseUS data recovery program, so it can be helpful to scan the backup disk that has saved the Excel files before to recover the original files or recover previous versions of Excel files on Mac.

Check the following guide to recover "overwritten" Excel files on Mac with EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac:

Step 1. Select the disk

Launch EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac, hover the mouse over the device where you lost an unsaved file, and click "Search for lost files".

Step 2. Choose unsaved documents

After the scan, click "Type", and expand "Unsaved Documents". Click the exact file type - Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Keynote, Pages, or Numbers you lost without saving.

Step 3. Preview and recover unsaved files

Double-click to preview your unsaved file, select the right version and click "Recover" to save the file to another secure location on Mac.

To help more Excel users who have overwritten files on Mac, please share this passage on social media and let more people know!

Fix 2. Restore an Overwritten Excel File on Mac with Backups

The best way to recover an overwritten file on a Mac is by applying recent backups. You can check backup disk, Time Machine, or cloud backups to recover original files.

✅From backup disk: If you have copied lost Excel files from your Mac to your backup external hard drive or USB flash drive manually, you can recover a replaced file on Mac by copying Excel files back to your Mac.

✅From Time Machine: To apply Time Machine backups, you need to make sure you have enabled it in advance. Once Time Machine is activated, you can enter Time Machine from the menu bar and view previous versions of your Excel files.

✅From cloud storage: iCloud can sync documents and desktop files for you, so you can regain the overwritten files from iCloud. However, if you have uploaded Excel files on other cloud storage, redownload the files from the target cloud disk.

Fix 3. Recover Saved Over Excel Files on Mac in Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Office apps and Apple built-in apps like Pages and Numbers support restoring files to previous versions. With this functional feature, you can easily recover previous versions of Excel files on Mac. However, you should know that these features are also supported by cloud backup, so you should enable iCloud, OneDrive, or SharePoint to use it.

Let's find out how to recover saved over Excel files on Mac with Microsoft Excel's built-in feature:

Step 1. Launch Microsoft Excel and open the overwritten Excel file with it.

Step 2. Click the "File" tab from the menu bar.

Step 3. Then, you can choose "Browse Version History" to quickly restore older versions of your Excel files.

If this feature is greyed out, that means your file is not uploaded to OneDrive or SharePoint. For this situation, you should apply other methods or recover Excel files on Mac with EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac.

Summary

The best way to avoid Excel files getting deleted or overwritten on your Mac is to create backups frequently.

It's recommended that important Excel files be backed up in more than two locations.

It's better to recover "overwritten" Excel files on Mac as soon as possible, or your files may be truly overwritten by other files.

Don't forget to share these recovery methods and useful tips on social media to help more Excel users!

Overwritten Excel File Recovery on Mac FAQs

Check the following frequently asked questions to learn more about overwritten Excel file recovery:

1. How do I recover the previous version of Excel files on Mac?

You can recover previous versions of an Excel file on Mac with Time Machine or MS Excel/Numbers built-in feature. Time Machine will back up your Excel files automatically, and you can restore previous versions from the backups.

To use Microsoft Excel and Numbers features, you should enable OneDrive, SharePoint, or iCloud in advance.

2. Is it possible to recover replaced Excel files on Mac?

Yes, the replaced Excel files are not actually overwritten by new data. The new data will be saved to a new location, and you can recover replaced files on a Mac with professional recovery software or from recent backups.

3. How can I recover overwritten Excel files without the previous version on Mac?

If you cannot find previous versions of the Excel files on Mac in Microsoft Excel or Numbers, you should check recent Time Machine backups.