Unable to locate Office 2011 Autorecovery folder in Application support folder

Dear all,

I am in desperate need for your help. I closed an excel file I worked on for hours and am unable to locate it. I know it is in the Office 2011 Autorecovery Folder, since I can see it in shaded when I try to "save as" another excel file which was also recovered and is in this folder.

I've searched answers on this forum and see that you can supposedly find auto-recovered documents using this path

Click Finder > Go > Hold down the Option key and choose Library > Application Support > Microsoft > Office > Office 2011 AutoRecovery.

However, in my situation, I get stuck in the last step: I am not able to see Office 2011 AutoRecovery in the Office folder. Can somebody save me?

Thanks so much,

Lucile

iMac, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5)

Posted on Oct 3, 2014 6:28 AM

Top-ranking reply

MLnash

Level 1

9 points

Posted on Jan 31, 2015 6:26 PM

I am a novice but I had a version of this problem and found the information at this link incredibly helpful in dealing with how office 2011 AutoRecovery is hidden in the current version of OSX. Hope this helps you.

http://macmanus.nl/2014/09/15/fixed-where-are-my-office-2011-autorecovery-files/

Nowadays, the AutoRecovery-folder is located in an entirely different location on your Mac. The correct path is this :

~/Users/username/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Office/Office 2011 AutoRecovery

But there is yet another tiny hurdle to get to it : in the current version of OSX, the user’s Library-folder is a hidden folder. So if you want to access it, the easiest way to do so is :

– in the Finder, click on “Go” in the top menu bar

– when the pulldown menu appears, press the ALT-key on your keyboard (a.k.a. OPTION-key) and an extra option named “Library” will appear in the pulldown menu

– while holding the ALT-key, click on “Library” and your personal (hidden) Library-folder will open in the Finder

– there you can navigate to Application Support–>Microsoft–>Office to find the “Office 2011 AutoRecovery”-folder you are looking for

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32 replies

raidah

Level 1

0 points

Mar 31, 2015 2:14 PM in response to MLnash

Lifesaver! Thankyou so much the Alt button is the way to go! Older forums show the "Office 2011 AutoRecovery Folder" which does not work now 😟Thankyou!!

Indi HJ

Level 1

8 points

Apr 1, 2015 4:35 AM in response to MLnash

You, good Mac user, just saved my bacon. Thanks so much!!

Apr 17, 2015 6:37 AM in response to MLnash

Thank you so much for this advice. I thought I'd lost a whole morning of work until I followed your instructions. Phew!!

Cheers,

Jenni S.

Apr 22, 2015 10:27 AM in response to MLnash

This was a life saver! Thank you so much🙂

jfmatias

Level 1

0 points

Aug 22, 2015 6:49 AM in response to Kirstenineight

this was way helpful, saved me another three hours of work. thank you again!!!!

Aug 27, 2015 4:10 PM in response to MLnash

Many thanks MLnash! Finder could not locate a file that was saved multiple times. This worked. 8 solid hours of work in Excel recovered.

Sep 4, 2015 2:10 PM in response to lulugingembre

MLnash really helped me--but I can't figure out how to tell MLnash and express my huge gratitude. Saved my syllabus.

AW1980

Level 1

0 points

Nov 14, 2015 2:57 PM in response to MLnash

Joining in on the love to MLnash!! Thanks for being in the right place at the right time with the right info! You saved me hours of rewriting a paper, and I love you.

cgainor

Level 1

0 points

Mar 1, 2016 9:45 AM in response to MLnash

OH MY GOODNESS THANK YOU

eddyL1

Level 1

4 points

Mar 25, 2016 1:40 AM in response to MLnash

YOU HAVE JUST SAVED ME! If I knew who you were personally I would take you out to dinner or something to repay you!

tguy188

Level 1

4 points

Mar 30, 2016 5:22 PM in response to MLnash

Can I buy you dinner? You saved my life!!!!!!!!! 😢

May 16, 2016 4:56 AM in response to MLnash

Saved me THANK YOU!!!!!

BeccaMN

Level 1

4 points

Jun 10, 2016 9:07 AM in response to MLnash

This reply just saved me! THANK YOU THANK YOU 100 TIMES

Nov 20, 2017 4:16 PM in response to lulugingembre

Three years late to this thread, but finding this question and answer has just saved my bacon big time. Thanks so much for posting!

zeynepbk

Level 1

4 points

Jan 5, 2017 3:00 AM in response to lulugingembre

Hi all,

For me Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Office/Office 2011 Autorecovery does not work.

But the other option Users/username/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Office/Office 2011 AutoRecovery also does not work. I will go crazy. The file is in neither of the two locations. Where can it be?

Any tip is much appreciated.

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Unable to locate Office 2011 Autorecovery folder in Application support folder