How to Recover Deleted Microsoft Word Files

Auto Recover in Word
1. Reopen Word as soon as possible. If the computer has restarted for whatever reason, wait until it finishes loading Windows to attempt opening Word. Open Word by going to 'Start', open 'All Programs,' click on the 'Microsoft Office' folder, select 'Microsoft Office Word.'
2. Scroll through all Word documents recovered by your Microsoft Auto Recover feature. The recovered documents will appear in a panel on the left side of the Word box. Select any word file in the panel to open it.
3. Save the recovered file to avert further losses. To save, click on 'File' and hilight 'Save.' Select the folder you wish to save the file, input a name you give the file, and select the 'Save' button.
Search for the Document
4. Click the 'Start' menu. Type in the unique name of the file that was mistakenly deleted or-- if there wasn't an opportunity to name it -- type 'Document' within the search box, because any unsaved Word file will be named 'Document' followed by a numeral. Press 'Enter' on to search the computers hard drive. If the file comes up in the list, select the file name to open it. If it does not, go to step 2.
5. Examine the temporary files saved on your hard drive. To do so, click 'Start' and input '*.tmp' within the search box. Press 'Enter' to bring up all temporary files stored on the computer, and if the temporary file appears in the list, select the file name to open it within Word.
6. Inspect the 'AutoRecover' folder to check that the file didn't recover automatically the just fail to materialize in the list of recovered Word files. Double-click the 'Microsoft Office' icon in the top left corner of Microsoft Word, select 'Word Options', click on 'Save' to view your 'AutoRecover File Location.' Go to 'Start' and click on 'My Computer,' and find the folder in the hard drive designated as the 'AutoRecover File Location.' Search for the Word file within the AutoRecover folder.