Best Ways to Recover Unsaved or Lost Excel Files on Mac

Wondering how to recover lost or unsaved Excel Files on Mac? Many Mac users nowadays experience a very common issue. Mainly such data loss scenarios occur due to unexpected system crashes, power failures, or similar reasons. It is frustrating, and you have to apply some data recovery methods to get the lost Excel file back on Mac.

If Excel file is unsaved on your device, you will be unable to access or open that file. In this article, we are providing some best ways to recover deleted Excel files on Mac..

These fixes will help you to recover such unsaved Excel files from Mac devices that you have either shut down or crashed during work.

Why Excel File Gets Disappeared or Lost on Mac?

Before you apply any method to get back your lost Excel files on Mac device, it is important to know why such issues usually occur.

Here are some common reasons for the loss of unsaved Excel files on a Mac:

• Hardware failure or system crash: Sudden system failure or worn components can cause hardware failure that brings your system down before you save your Excel file.
• Software issues: Any software program installed on your Mac may force you to perform the system restart without saving the file.
• Virus or Malware attacks: Your device might have malware or virus that can be responsible for unsaved Excel files.
• Manual errors: When you got distracted or did not pay enough attention, you get this issue for unsaved Excel files, on your device.

In many of the above situations, recovering lost Excel files still possible. All you have to do is, perform a quick approach by applying some data recovery methods on Mac.

Quick Methods to Recover Unsaved or Lost Excel Files on Mac

Whatever is the reason for data loss on your Mac device, there are several methods that you can apply to recover the lost or unsaved Excel files.

Just apply these methods one by one to get your deleted files back:

Method 01: Recover Lost Excel Files from the Temporary Folder

Go through the below-given steps to recover unsaved Excel files from the Temporary folder of your Mac device:

• First, open Finder, go to Application > Utilities and then launch Terminal.
• Now, type “open $TMPDIR” in the Terminal window and press Enter key to open the Temporary Files folder.
• After that, select the “TemporaryItems” folder.

• Find the unsaved Excel file that you need to restore. Then copy and save it to another safe location after changing the file extension from .tmp to .xls/.xlsx.

Method 02: Restore Unsaved Excel Files from AutoRecover

If the above steps become fail to restore that Excel file, you can use the AutoRecover or AutoSave feature on Mac. If these options are enable on your device, you can protect your Excel files even after Excel or Mac crash.

All you have to do is:

• Launch Terminal on your Mac.
• Now, type the command “defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles true” into Terminal and press the Return key. This command will make all the items visible on your device screen.
• Then, click Finder and press the Return button.
• Type /Users/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Excel/Data/Library/Preferences/AutoRecovery command and click the Go button. This command will open the Excel’s AutoRecovery Folder.

• Find the unsaved Excel file from that folder and recover it to a saved location on your Mac.

Method 03: Recover Unsaved Excel File Using Data Recovery Software

If you fail to recover the unsaved or lost Excel file on Mac using the above methods, you can use the data recovery software. 

There are several professional data recovery tools available online that you can use to retrieve the deleted Excel file.

Given below are the main features that you should keep in mind before you opt for any such tool:

• It must have an easy-to-use interface.
• The recovery process must not be time-consuming
• The data recovery software that you want to use must be of a reasonable price.

Stellar Data Recovery Professional for Mac is one of the most widely used Mac data recovery software that you can use to recover files of any type. This software helps you to recover almost all kinds of files, including photos, videos, documents, and other types of data. 

Given below are some amazing features that make this tool the best:

• This software supports the latest macOS Ventura 13 and lower versions.
• Supports recovery of Excel files for all versions like Excel 2013/2016.
• Along with Excel file recovery, this software allows you to recover lost or deleted data of several types, including documents, photos, videos, audio, and much more.
• The software is available in multiple versions so you can check their features and select the one that best suits your requirements.
• This recovery tool is 100% secure and supports the recovery of data files from HDD, SSD, SD Card, and other types of internal/external drives.

How do I Recover Unsaved Excel File Using Stellar Data Recovery Professional for Mac?

Now when you are familiar with the features of the tool, it’s time to check the steps that you need to perform in order to recover lost or unsaved Excel files using this software.

Go through the following steps to recover lost/unsaved Excel files with this recovery tool:

• Firstly, you need to install the recovery software on your Mac. Launch it and select the file types that you need to recover. Click the “Next” button to continue.

• Now select the location where your lost, deleted, corrupt, or damaged Excel file was already located earlier.

• After the scanning process, preview the recoverable files and hit the “Recover” button to save the recovered files at any desired location.

Conclusion:

This post provided you some best ways to recover unsaved or lost Excel files on Mac devices. You can try these recovery methods on macOS Ventura, Monterey, Big Sur, and other versions.

Whether your Excel file deleted by mistake or due to other reasons (like Power failure), the above methods will help you to get them back. Apart from manual methods, you can try software like Stellar Data Recovery Professional for Mac. It is one of the quick and easy recovery solutions to get back your files effectively within no time.