excel issues

excel issues, files disappear

Hello Robert Sattan

Welcome To Microsoft Q&A Forum

I understand how frustrating it can be to lose your Excel files.

Here are some steps that you can kindly follow to resolve this issue:

1. Find the temporary file and recover it: Unsaved documents and files are usually saved in a hidden sub-folder in the AppData folder. You can find your unsaved Excel document here: C:\Users[username]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Office\UnsavedFiles. Or you can follow the steps below.
   • Open Excel and click on "File" in the menu bar.
   • Go to Info >> Manage Versions >> "Recover Unsaved Workbooks".
   
   • Select the unsaved spreadsheet and click the "Open" button.
   • Press F12 or click "Save As" and save the file.
2. Change the AutoRecover Settings
   • Open Excel, click on "File," "Info," and then "Recover Unsaved Workbooks" (seen at the bottom).
   • All unsaved Excel files will be available here; double-click on each one to recover them, and then resave.
   • To change the AutoRecover Settings:
   
3. Use Document Recovery feature:
   • Sometimes, if Excel closes unexpectedly, you will find a "Document Recovery" pane on the left side of the screen when you restart the program. Simply click on the "auto-recovered" document on the left pane, and the unsaved file will display again. Now, you can properly save the file to your preferred folder/storage disk.
   
4. Recover lost Excel files with software:
   • If you properly saved the Excel file, but can’t find it anymore on your computer, then you should use data recovery software to retrieve the Excel files. DiskInternals Excel Recovery helps to recover deleted or corrupted spreadsheets for Microsoft Excel, OpenOffice, and LibreOffice. It is an advanced data recovery solution with support for all Windows file systems. This software is free to download and features an intuitive interface that is easy to understand.

Note: Microsoft is providing this information as a convenience to you. The sites are not controlled by Microsoft. Microsoft cannot make any representations regarding the quality, safety, or suitability of any software or information found there. Please make sure that you completely understand the risk before retrieving any suggestions from the above link 

I hope it helps, please feel free to let me know if you need any further assistance.

Best regards,

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".  

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.