Recover Previous Version Word Document File of 2007 / 2016
Introduction – MS Word Application
With MS Office Suite, million of user create Document, Powerpoint, Excel sheet and Database easily and MS Word application used to create word document easily to save information. Since Various versions of MS Word released by Microsoft such as Word 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010 2007 and many more, hence one common error faced by hundreds of user of the opening previous version of Word document file in new versions application to retrieve and save file again in new file format. In this post, we will tell you when users may want to recover a previous version of Word document or unsaved files. Let us learn about both the issues one by one.
Need to Recover Previous Version of Word Document
While using MS Word for document creation, it is common to make mistakes for the users. Imagine someone mistakenly deleting certain part of their document and then saving the file without undoing the mistake. In that case the deleted part will not be available to them when they open the last saved file. So the only solution they have is to retrieve the previous version of the same file that contains their required data.
Method1: How to Recover a Previous Word File Version
In order to get back the older version of an overwritten MS Word document, you need to take the help of Windows Backup/ Windows Restore Point. For this, follow the steps given:
- Open File Explorer and go to the folder of the Word file whose previous version you want to restore.
- Select the file and right-click on it to get the Context Menu.
- Choose “Restore previous versions” option to get a list of available versions with their respective locations.
- Choose the version that meets your need and click on Restore.
Remember: If “Restore previous versions” option is not in the context menu, there is no older version This feature will only be available if you have enabled Windows Backup or System Protection for that drive.
Method 2: Use Temp File to Recover Previous Word File Document
When ever user working on Word file,temporary file is created in default location till file saved by user. To recover back previous word document, You can use the this location to retrieve file back.
Since Location can temp file can be changed according to Windows Operating System.
Location of Temp Word File in Windows 7 OS
Location of Temp Word File in Windows 8 / 10 OS
After finding above location, just open the file in Word document, where you find the unsaved previous data, save it to recover back in docx file format.
Bonus Tip: If you want to enable System Protection for your system,
- Open Windows Explorer or File Explorer and click on “Properties.”
- From the System window, choose “System Protection” from the left side.
- Choose System protection tab and click on Configure>> select the radio button beside “Turn on system protection” option.
- Click on OK to apply this setting for future. Note that the previous versions will be available only after enabling the option.
Method 3: Recover Corrupted Previous Version Word Document File
Using above tips, You can recover back Previous version word file but what about corrupted word document. How you can repair damaged word file and save back in healthy file format, for that follow the steps:
Step 1: Install & Download SysTools Word Recovery Tool within System
Step 2: Add Corrupted MS Word File
Step 3: Repair Word Document File
Step 4: Preview Details of Repaired File
Step 5: Save Recovered Document File
Conclusion
Saving previous versions word file document issue can be easily solved if MS Word user follow the right approach to fix it. Otherwise, data loss can be possible. To Recover the same data again of the previous word file, the option offered by Word Application and method of recovering from temp file also available and if you find any corruption issues in a desired word file then automated solution also mentioned in above section