Users sometimes lose focus and delete the wrong file, storage devices can become corrupted, and theres always the looming threat of physical damage.

All files that end up in the Trash folder remain there until the folder is emptied, which can happen automatically (after 30 days) or manually.

For example, if the files were in your Documents folder, open Finder and select Documents from the sidebar on the left.

Lets take a closer look at three methods that you can use to recover unsaved Excel files.

Unfortunately, temporary files typically dont have file extensions, and their names tend to be non-descriptive.

Your best bet is to look at file creation dates and manually check all files that were created around the time when the data loss incident took place.

Just dont go looking for it there because you wont be able to find it.

The Temporary Folder is hidden, and you need to unhide it first.

Its purpose is to automatically save open documents to the AutoRecover folder, allowing users to easily get them back in the event of an unexpected crash or shutdown.

This feature is available only for documents saved on OneDrive, OneDrive for Business, or SharePoint Online, which is why we havent mentioned it until now.

However, AutoSave is by far the most reliable way to recover Excel files after a hard drive failure since it doesnt depend on locally stored files.

It shouldnt then come as a surprise that Excel files can become corrupted and impossible to open.

The only problem is that this feature is included only in the Windows version of Excel.

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