Your PC suddenly froze, and all the Excel or Word work you hadn’t saved disappeared... Has that ever happened to you?

The good news is that Office includes a built-in feature called AutoRecover, so even after a freeze or forced shutdown, there’s a real chance you can get your unsaved data back. Tabs you had open in Chrome and even some browser work in progress can often be restored, too.

In this guide, based on a Windows 11 setup as of March 2026, we’ll walk through how to recover your work by app, plus the AutoSave and recovery settings that can save you from this headache next time.

First Things First: What to Do After a Freeze

Right after your PC freezes and you have to force it to shut down, it’s natural to panic and start clicking around. But wait a moment. If you do things in the wrong order, you may accidentally lose data that could’ve been recovered.

Here’s what to do right after your computer restarts, in order of priority.

  1. Stay calm and let the restart finish — Don’t press the power button again while Windows is rebooting. It may be running repair steps in the background
  2. Open the Office app first, but don’t open the file yet — When you launch Excel or Word, the Document Recovery pane may appear automatically if AutoRecover files are available
  3. Open your browser — Chrome will often ask if you want to restore your previous session
  4. Save recovered files with a new name — Before overwriting the original file, use “Save As” so you have a safe copy

Following this order gives you a much better chance of recovering your work. Now let’s go through the exact recovery steps for each app.

3 Ways to Recover Unsaved Excel Data

Excel has a feature called AutoRecover, which backs up your work every 10 minutes by default. It’s an official recovery method covered by Microsoft Support.

Method 1: Use the Document Recovery Pane at Startup

After a freeze, when you open Excel, you may see a Document Recovery pane on the left side of the screen. It lists automatically saved files, so all you need to do is click the file you want to recover, then choose “Save As”.

One important warning: once you close this pane, it may not appear again. So if you see it, save the recovered file right away.

Method 2: Look Under “Recover Unsaved Workbooks”

If the recovery pane doesn’t appear, you can search manually.

  1. Open Excel and click File → Info
  2. Click Manage Workbook → Recover Unsaved Workbooks
  3. When the file list appears, check the dates and open the one you need
  4. After confirming the contents, save it with Save As

The files shown here are automatic backups of new files that were never saved even once. If you were working on an existing file, try Method 3 instead.

Method 3: Find the AutoRecover File Directly

If the first two methods don’t turn anything up, try opening the AutoRecover folder directly.

Open the following folder in Windows File Explorer. It’s a hidden folder, so you may need to change your view settings first.

C:\Users\あなたのユーザー名\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Office\UnsavedFiles

If you see a file with the .xlsb extension, that’s an automatically saved Excel file. Double-click it to open it in Excel.

How to Recover Unsaved Word Documents

Word works almost the same way as Excel. Microsoft Learn explains the official recovery process in more detail.

Use “Recover Unsaved Documents”

  1. Open Word and click File → Info
  2. Click Manage Document → Recover Unsaved Documents
  3. Choose a file from the list, open it, then save it with “Save As”

Where Word Stores AutoRecover Files

Word’s AutoRecover files are saved in this folder:

C:\Users\あなたのユーザー名\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Word

If you find a file with the .asd extension, that’s AutoRecover data. In Word, use “Open,” change the file type to “All Files,” and open it from there.

PowerPoint Works the Same Way

PowerPoint can be recovered using a very similar process: File → Info → Manage Presentation → Recover Unsaved Presentations. Most Office apps use the same basic recovery system, so it’s worth remembering.

Restore Chrome Tabs and Browser Work

If your browser crashed along with your PC, your open tabs or form entries may have disappeared. In Chrome, there are a few ways to restore them.

Method 1: Use the “Restore Pages” Prompt

After Chrome restarts from a crash, you may see a bar near the top of the window asking “Restore pages?” Click “Restore,” and Chrome will reopen the tabs you had open right before the freeze.

Method 2: Reopen Recently Closed Tabs from History

If the restore bar doesn’t appear, press Ctrl + Shift + T a few times to reopen recently closed tabs, or go to Menu → History → “[number] tabs” and restore them from there.

Method 3: Recover Form Entries

If you were writing a long message in a contact form or webmail, unfortunately standard browser features usually can’t recover that text. These habits can help prevent that loss next time:

  • Install a Chrome extension such as Typio Form Recovery to automatically back up form entries
  • If you were using Gmail, check the Drafts folder. Gmail automatically saves drafts every few seconds
  • For long writing, draft it in Notepad or OneNote first, then paste it into the browser

Never Lose It Again: AutoSave Settings to Change Now

Once you’ve recovered your data, the next step is setting things up so the same disaster doesn’t happen again. You can do all of this in about five minutes.

Shorten the AutoRecover Interval in Excel and Word

The default interval is 10 minutes, but changing it to 1 or 2 minutes gives you much better protection.

  1. Open Excel or Word and click File → Options
  2. Select Save from the left menu
  3. Change Save AutoRecover information every to “1” or “2” minutes
  4. Make sure Keep the last AutoRecovered version if I close without saving is checked
  5. Click “OK”

If you use Microsoft 365 and save files to OneDrive, AutoSave works in real time, which is even safer than AutoRecover. Check that the toggle in the upper-left corner is turned on.

Turn On Chrome’s Tab Restore Setting

You can also make Chrome automatically reopen your tabs after a crash.

  1. Open Chrome settings by entering chrome://settings in the address bar
  2. In the On startup section, choose Continue where you left off

That’s it. After a freeze or forced shutdown, Chrome will restore the tabs you had open.

Use OneDrive Version History

Files saved to OneDrive can be restored to earlier versions. This is also useful if you accidentally overwrite important content, so it’s a smart idea to keep important files in OneDrive.

  1. Right-click the file in OneDrive
  2. Select Version history
  3. Choose the version you want and click “Restore”

FAQ

How long are AutoRecover files kept?

Excel AutoRecover files are deleted when you successfully save the file next time or when Office closes normally. After a freeze, check for them as soon as you can.

Will setting AutoRecover to 1 minute slow down my PC?

For normal files of a few MB, you probably won’t notice any impact. If you work with large Excel files over several dozen MB, setting it to 2 or 3 minutes is a better balance.

The AutoRecover pane didn’t appear after the freeze. Why?

If the freeze happened before the next AutoRecover interval, which is 10 minutes by default, there may not be a backup. The recovery pane also may not appear for a brand-new file that was never saved.

Can I recover work from apps other than Excel, like Notepad?

The classic Windows Notepad doesn’t have AutoRecover. However, Windows 11 Notepad versions released from 2023 onward added a feature that can keep unsaved content. For other text editors, check whether that specific app has AutoSave or session recovery.

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