[Solved] How to Restore MS Excel Content from Temp Files?

Microsoft Office is packed with a useful AutoSave and Auto Recovery options that allow you to retrieve your data in the incident that it is misplaced due to accidental system shutdown, system power failure, PC crash or any other human mistake. In this blog you will learn how to use these features to get back your all saved work.

How to Find and use the temporary and auto save files

By default this feature is not enabled in Excel so you have to turn it on by yourself. In order to enable and do an experiment with a spreadsheet, create a copy then of excel file that so that the AutoSave doesn’t overwrite the original.

Enable the AutoSave option: Navigate to the “Tools” “Add ins” and select “AutoSave”.

MS Excel automatically saves every 10 minutes to the default location of “C: Documents and Settings\Local SettingsTemp” or “C:Users\AppDataLocalTemp” on Windows 7/Vista.

Office 2010 and Higher

If you are Office 2010 user then you have an additional built in to the product option also known as Recover Unsaved Spreadsheets

Step 1: Click on the File tab present at the upper left corner.

Step 2: Select Recent

Step 3: In the bottom left corner you will see Recover Unsaved Spreadsheets option

Open the Saved Drafts folder. Find your file and open it by double clicking. Then save the file.

You can also see this file at:

Windows 8/Windows 7/Windows Vista
C:Users\AppDataLocalMicrosoftOfficeUnsavedFiles

Windows XP
C:Documents and Settings\Local SettingsApplication DataMicrosoftOfficeUnsavedFiles

Common Reasons of Excel Corruption

MS Excel is one of the powerful tools of MS Office but still it is very much prone to corruption. Minor mistake can lead to excel file corruption and hence data loss situation appears. However some of the common reasons which cause excel file to corrupt are mentioned below:

Improper closing of system– Generally the size of Excel file is very large and if there is any type of mishandling in its operation then the complete file gets damage. Sometimes you shutdown the system without closing the application including excel file. This may damage the excel file as it closes all files improperly while system shutdown.

Virus infection– If your system is infected with virus then it can damage the entire data. Virus attack is much dangerous and when it infects your system then chances are high of losing Excel data.

Large size of MS Excel file– Excel file does not have the ability to manage large amount of data or information, therefore when the size of file increased then the chances are high of losing Excel file.

Bad sector in hard drive– When your system shutdowns improperly then hard drive develops bad sector. After that whatever data stores in that bad sector becomes inaccessible.

Steps to repair MS Excel file:

Step 1: First download Stellar Phoenix Excel Recovery. Here you have the initial screen of this software with will guide you. Now hit on “OK” button to start the process.

Step 2: To recover you corrupted files (.xls or .xlsx), just hit on “select file” button or if you want to search an excel file click on “search file(s)”. By using “look in” you can search from the particular logical drive.

Step 3: With the help of check box you can select the corrupted file from the search list. To select all corrupted file for scanning click on “select all” box and now to begin the scanning process click on “start” icon.

Step 4: After the scanning process is complete, you have the option to view your corrupt file from right panel.

Step 5: Click on “Start Repair” button to start the repairing process, select the location to save your repaired excel file and at last click on “OK” button.

Tips to remember

When your MS Excel file gets damage or gets corrupt then it needs to be repaired so that the inaccessible data can be accessed easily. However some of the tips which one should remember are as follows:

• Always use “Delete” key while deleting excel sheets because if you find it important, you can easily restore it from Recycle Bin
• Make use of any good antivirus software so that you can eliminate the virus
• Take the backup of files before deleting
• Stop using your system after data loss
• Do not add recovered files on the original location from where you lost xlsx files

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