Use the Document Recovery task pane to recover your files

Sometimes a Microsoft Office program closes unexpectedly before you can save changes. When this happens, two things might occur:

• The program opens the file so you can continue your work.
• The Document Recovery task pane appears, with up to three recovered versions of your file. You can identify which version you want to keep.

 Note   If the Document Recovery task pane does not appear in your file, see the following:

• Automatically save and recover Office files
• My Office program did not open a recovered file
• Recover Unsaved Versions in Office 2010

Use the Document Recovery task pane

When a file closes unexpectedly, sometimes the Document Recovery task pane appears with one to three available files that you can save.

Do the following to work with the Document Recovery pane when it appears.

For each file, you can select Open, Save As, or Delete.

1. In the Available files list, click the arrow next to the recovered file.
• To review the the recovered version of the file, click Open.
• To rename and create a new version the file, click Save As.
• To delete this recovered version of your file, click Delete.
2. Save and keep the recovered file that you want.

 Tip   If the Document Recovery task pane makes it more difficult to see your file, click Recovered on the status bar to close the task pane. To open the task pane, click Recovered again.

 Note   To decrease the chances of losing your work again, make sure that AutoSave is enabled, and manually save your file frequently.

Files in Protected View

What is Protected View?

If your file closes unexpectedly while open in Protected View, it will appear in the Document Recovery task pane with the following changes:

• The Save option is disabled.
• A shield icon appears next to the file instead of the application icon.
• If you open the file, it will open in Protected View.

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