Download Microsoft Word for macOS 10.13 or later and enjoy it on your Mac. A qualifying Office 365 subscription is required for Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook. The trusted Word app lets you create, edit, view, and share your files with others quickly and easily. Version History Hi, I have an office for Mac family subscription and there are a couple of things that I have been unable to find answers to online and/or in the forums, that I am hoping someone will be able to help me with please?
Alongside the slew of the productivity features, Microsoft Office also includes the ability to keep track of the changes you make to a document and save them as versions automatically. This version history allows you to go back in time and restore a previous version of a document created using Word, Excel, or PowerPoint using the Windows 10 or web version of the app.
In addition, using version history, you can also view and compare the different versions to have a better understanding of the progress of the document.
While this is a useful feature to work without having to worry about changes that you or someone may make to a document, it's a feature limited to those files you save in OneDrive, OneDrive for Business, and SharePoint, and depending on the platform, the steps to use version history will be different.
In this Windows 10 guide, we'll walk you through the steps to use the version history feature in Office to restore previous content of documents.
How to use Office version history (app)
The ability to view and restore previous versions of Office documents is only available when files are saved to OneDrive, as such before you can start using this feature, you have to make sure that your copy of Office 365, Office 2019, or Office 2016 is connected to the cloud storage service.
Enabling version history in Office
To connect the desktop version of Office to OneDrive, use these steps:
Open an Office app. (For example, Microsoft Word.)
Create a blank document.
Quick Tip: You can save the extra steps to create a blank document using this tip to skip the start screen in Office.
Click the Sign in button in the top-right.
Use your Office 365 or Microsoft account credentials to link Office with OneDrive.
After completing the steps, you can use steps below to allow Office to record multiple versions of your Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents.
Using version history in Office
To start using version history with the desktop version of the Office apps, use these steps:
Open an Office app. (For example, Microsoft Word.)
Create a blank document.
Click on File.
Click on Save.
Save the file inside the OneDrive folder. (If you use a different location, version history will not work.)
Click the Version History button in the top-right.
Click the version that you want to view and restore.
(Optional) If you're not sure whether the version you selected has the correct changes, click the Compare button.
Click the Restore button.
Once you've completed the steps, the version of the document will be restored with the original content.
If you restored the wrong version, Office always creates a backup of every version, which means that you can use the above instructions to restore the correct version.
Alternatively, you can also access the 'Version History' pane from File > Info, and clicking the View and restore previous version link.
How to use Office version history (online)
If you use the online version of Office, you can also view and restore the previous version of a document, but for some odd reason, the steps are different, even whether you're using OneDrive or OneDrive for Business.
Office version history with OneDrive
To view and restore a previous version of an Office document online, use these steps:
Open OneDrive on the web.
Browse to the location of the document that you want to see its history.
Right-click the file and select the Version history option.
The browser will open a new tab with a pane on the right with all the available versions for the document.
Select and review the version.
Click the Restore option.
After completing the steps, you can start working with the earlier version of the document.
Office version history with OneDrive for Business
If you use OneDrive for Business, the steps to use version history with Office documents is slightly different:
Open OneDrive for Business on the web.
Browse to the location of the document that you want to see its version history.
Right-click the file and select the Version history option.
In the right pane, click the three-dotted button for the version, and choose one of the options, including:
Restore -- restores the version of the document to its original OneDrive folder.
Open File -- launches the file with the desktop application on your computer.
Delete version -- removes the version from OneDrive.
If you use the Restore option, then you can start working with the previous version by opening the document again using the online or desktop version of the app. However, if you select the Open File option, the older file will download and open the desktop app. Then you'll need to click the Restore button to start working with the previous version.
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like these Disasters happen every day! If you’re looking for how to recover a Word document on Mac, you’re in the right place. This article covers all the detailed guide to recover the previous version of Word document on Mac with Office history versions, restore unsaved Word document on Mac from AutoRecover folder and use the professional software to retrieve deleted/lost Word documents on Mac. You just need to skip to the right part you’re looking for and follow the steps there to achieve your goal. Let’s start to recover Word document on Mac now!
Version History Microsoft Word
Part 1. How to Recover Previous Version of Word Document on Mac for Free
To be honest, the theory for how to recover the previous version of Word document on Mac is similar to the autoSave/autoRecover in Microsoft Word. In fact, whenever you edit , duplicate, delete or make a change of a Word document, Microsoft Word will automatically save the previous version there for you, in case you need the previous version. Here are the steps for how to find previous version of Word Doc on Mac:
A: Recover an old version of Word document on Mac from Office 365
Office 365 is the latest version of Microsoft's Office software. It provides a web service that allows multiple people to collaborate on a task. Therefore, it can better manage the historical version of the Word document. If you're using it and want to Mac Word restore the previous version. You just click the name of the file on the title bar, then select 'Browse Version History' to view all the previous version of Word Doc.
B: Recover previous of Word document on Mac from Office 2011/2016/2018/2020
The old version of Microsoft Office is a native program that allows only one user to use it, and different versions have different ways of finding the previous version of the Word document on Mac.
Open the current Word document, If you're using Office 2016 or 2020 for Mac, please click 'File' > 'Browse Version History'.
If you use another version, please click 'File' > 'Restore' > 'Browse Version History'.
Note: Compared with the previous version, if you haven’t done many changes for the current Word document, you can back to it by pressing the Command & Z buttons at the same time. It helps you undo the changes and recover previous version of Word document on Mac.
Part 2. How to Recover Unsaved Word Document on Mac
There are many scenarios that caused the issue of unsaved Word document: shut down Mac without saving the Word document; the Microsoft Word program crashed and not responsive so that you have to quit it without saving the document; the computer crashed, and you haven’t had time to save the word document at all. Please calm down. It is not a big deal for not being able to save Word document, because solutions available for you to recover unsaved Word document on Mac. First, please note that Microsoft Office has arranged the Word document recovery Mac solution in case of any the up-mentioned scenarios happen. It comes with 2 built-in features: AutoRecover and AutoSave.
AutoRecover allows you to recover an unsaved Word document on Mac which you have edited for more than once. It refers to recover the unsaved Word files which you haven’t saved after making changes on it more than once. This feature appears the next time open the Word document, popping up a reminder, asking you whether you’d like to restore the current Word to the last saved version or not. It’s up to you for restoring to which version.
AutoSave is a built-in tool that automatically saves a new document that you have created but not saved yet. It is enabled by default on your Microsoft Word on Mac. Here are the steps for how to use AutoSave to recover unsaved Word document on Mac.
1. Select 'Go' > 'Go to Folder' in the top menu. Then input '/Users/(username)/Library/Containers/com.Microsoft.Word/Data/Library/Preferences/AutoRecovery' to view the unsaved files.
2. Select the auto-saved Word document, copy it to a location on your Mac. At this point, you have successfully recover Word document not saved on Mac.
If you unexpected close other Office applications without saving files on Mac? Don't worry, You can also use the above method to recover unsaved excel file on Mac and recover PowerPoint on Mac.
Part 3. How to Recover Deleted/Lost Word Document on Mac
If you haven’t done any Word document deletion, then you can try Part 1 or Part 2 to lost Word document recovery on Mac. However, if you have lost the Word documents on Mac due to deleted, formatted drive, or emptied the trash, etc, then you should try the following ways to recover deleted Word document on Mac.
Ways 1: Recover Deleted Word Document on Mac from Trash
If you have deleted the Word document, you should know that it is first put into Trash Can. And the validated period for it to stay is 30 days. You can open the trash can, find and select it, and click 'Restore' to save it to the original place. You can also try the spotlight on the very top right if you have remembered its name, search there, find it and drag it to the desktop. If you empty the Mac trash or permanently delete, formatted drive or other reasons due to a lost word file on Mac, you can free try the tool to recover Word document on Mac.
Ways 2: Recover Permanently Deleted Word Document on Mac
To restore lost Word Document on Mac with software. It is the most efficient way to recover Word document on Mac for lost or delete files are invisible, you can’t do anything to them without a tool. iBeesoft Data Recovery for Mac is such a tool that allows you to scan and recover deleted or lost photos, documents, emails, videos and more from Mac or removable drives. Here are the simple steps for how to recover Word document on Mac.
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Method #1 - Video guide to recover deleted Word Document on Mac
Method #2 - Text Tutorial for How to Recover Word Doc on Mac
First of all, please download the latest version of the Word document recovery Mac Tool by clicking the download button below. Install it as the way you install other software on your Mac.
Step 1. Select the type of file you want to restore
Run the best Mac data recovery software on your Mac. From the main window, you can see all the supported files are selected, the recover word document Mac tool is ready to scan for them. You need to uncheck them, only keep the 'Documents' option selected and click 'Start' to select your drive.
Step 3. Select hard disk/removable drive to scan
All storage devices, as well as external hard drives connected to your Mac, are listed there. Please select the one where you have deleted or lost the Word files and click 'Scan'. A recover Word documents Mac progress bar will tell you how it goes on with the scanning process.
Microsoft Word For Mac
Step 4. Preview and recover Word document on Mac
Microsoft Word Version History Mac Book
It only takes a few minutes for this program to scan for the deleted or lost files. After then, you can see the found Word Doc in the result window. Find the one you need and click 'Recover' to save Word documents on your Mac or other drives.