3 Proven Ways to Recover Unsaved PowerPoint [2023]

Can you recover a PowerPoint you didn't save?

♦ Quick Navigation

• Turn to the “Recover Unsaved PowerPoint”
• Recover unsaved PPT using the AutoRecover feature
• Recover deleted PowerPoint effortlessly via MyRecover

You might have been working on a presentation for several minutes, even hours, and suddenly you found the PowerPoint app crashed without any warning. And you don't know how to recover crashed PowerPoint files.

What’s even worse, you realized that you hadn’t saved it!

Don’t panic. A couple of proven methods in this article will cover you. Now follow the detailed instructions below to recover unsaved PPT files.

In addition, precautions to prevent PPT files from being lost again will be given in the Bonus tip section.

How to recover unsaved PowerPoint in Windows 10?

How to recover an unsaved PowerPoint file? Turning to an inbuilt tool is a good idea.

PowerPoint application has an inbuilt backup/AutoSave feature to deal with unexpected situations like software crashes, system crashes, shutdown without saving, power outages, etc.

Method 1. Recover unsaved PPT files after an unexpected crash

If you were going through an unexpected crash without clicking “Save”, the first attempt could be to check the “Recover unsaved presentations” feature. 

Notes:✎...

If you cannot find the button Recover unsaved presentations, it means the PowerPoint didn’t save your file, please head over to the next method.

Step 1. Start PowerPoint > come to the Welcome page > click Recover unsaved presentations.

Step 2. Then it prompts you to the unsaved files path in File Explorer. You could also navigate to the directory manually. All recoverable PPT files will be listed. Choose the latest version to restore.

Don’t forget to save your recovered PPT file in a safe place; saving a copy is preferable. Excel is also inbuilt with this function, which could help you recover unsaved Excel files.

Method 2. Recover unsaved PPT using the AutoRecover feature

If no files can be found using the first method, you could also turn to the AutoSave file and temporary files folder.

Some users may ask: does PowerPoint autosave? Yes, PowerPoint is embedded with this tool to record your changes automatically.

But this feature only works when it is enabled. That is to say, you have to activate it in advance before any crashes happen.

Notes:✎...

If you cannot find any auto-saved files, please follow the precaution to enable this feature as a file backup.

Step 1. Click File > Options > Save > find AutoRecover file location > copy the path.

If you haven’t modified it manually, the auto-recovered files will be stored in this path by default. You could also visit it in File Explorer directly.

Tab on Win+E to open File Explorer > input the path.

Step 2. Locate the unsaved file you need > copy it to a safe place > change its extension to pptx/ppt > see if you can open it > save your files to another place.

In this way, you could recover unsaved PowerPoint files. Similarly, temp Word documents are stored in the Roaming path as well. You could hear over to there and recover deleted word documents.

Method 3. Recover deleted PowerPoint effortlessly via MyRecover

The success rate of recovering unsaved PowerPoint files will not be as high as you think. PowerPoint's inbuilt tool is quite limited but still worth a try.

Except for closing the app without saving the presentation files, users are also fairly prone to accidentally deleting the PPT files.

Then, how to recover deleted PowerPoint files? You may have deleted them with Shift delete or emptied the Recycle Bin, thus getting nowhere to retrieve them back.

No matter how you have gotten the PPT files deleted, you could easily restore them with this professional Windows data recovery tool – MyRecover.

As a reliable tool, it quickly scans the hard disk with advanced scanning methods to locate the deleted and missing files you need.

The free version allows users to recover 30 MB of data free every time; if you need, you could also upgrade MyRecover to enjoy unlimited file recovery. As a cost-effective tool, it allows users to perform data recovery at a decent price.

Notes:✎...

It is not suggested to store your recovered files in their original location. Saving to an external hard drive is preferable.

Step 1. Install and run the data recovery tool > select the drive where you have stored the PPT files > Start Scan.

Step 2. While scanning, you could view/check, and also target your wanted files using the filters: Size, Type, Path, etc.

Step 3. Go to Deleted files > locate the deleted PowerPoint files > select the PPT files you need > click Recover x files. If failed to find the files, go to Other missing files > Documents > PowerPoint > recover all PPT files.

Thus you could recover accidentally deleted PowerPoint with ease. What’s more, you could restore data from formatted hard drives as well using this application.

Prevent PowerPoint files from being lost again

Except for unexpected crashes, sometimes, users may also face problems like accidentally saving over a document. They might need to recover overwritten PowerPoint files.

To prevent the PPT files from being lost again, it is suggested to turn on the AutoSave feature. Using this function, all created PPT files will be saved regularly following the periodical saving settings.

Step 1. Start PowerPoint > lick File > Info > Options.

Step 2. Click Save > toggle the option Keep the last AutoRecovered version if I close without saving. And shorten the AutoSave interval to 10, 5, etc., according to your preferences.

This feature can help you recover closed PowerPoint files.

Let it automatically saves your PPT files, and you won’t be bothered by the same problem anymore.

What’s more, to enhance the security of your precious data, it is sincerely recommended to back up your data using professional data backup software. AOMEI Backupper could be a good choice due to its amazing features.

FAQ

This article provides users with detailed info and instructions to settle the problem “How to recover unsaved PowerPoint files”. In addition, some frequently asked questions are prepared with simple answers to help you.