About
Microsoft Office contains a very useful feature called AutoRecover that will recover your document in the chance that your computer unexpectedly crashes or turns off. By default, this setting is turned on to save every 10 minutes. This Knowledge Base Article will guide you on how to make sure this feature is enabled on your PC so that you do not lose any of your work.
Environment
Microsoft Office 2019, Office 365 and most newer versions of MS Office, for Windows and Office for Mac.
Steps
Windows:
- In Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Publisher or Visio, click File > Options > Save.
- In Outlook, click File > Options > Mail.
- Make sure the Save AutoRecover information every x minutes box is selected. This is the amount of time that Word will wait before saving your AutoRecover document. You can adjust this to save more frequently in case your PC keeps crashing.
- In Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, make sure the Keep the last autorecovered version if I close without saving box is selected.
Hint: The Save button is your best friend. To be sure you don’t lose your latest work, click Save (or press Ctrl+S) often. If you ever use AutoRecover to recover your unsaved document, make sure that you immediately save it.
Refer to Microsoft Support Use AutoSave and AutoRecover to help protect your files in case of a crash for more detail.
Mac:
One may specify how frequently AutoRecover files are automatically saved in Word, PowerPoint, or Excel:
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On the Word, PowerPoint, or Excel menu, click Preferences.
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Click Save .
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In the Save AutoRecover info box, enter how frequently you want the program to save documents.
Refer to Microsoft Support Recover files in Office for Mac for more detail.