It’s one of the most frustrating situations you can encounter while working—spending hours crafting a document in Microsoft Word on your Mac, only to accidentally click Don’t Save when closing the file. In an instant, all that work appears to vanish without a trace. The good news is that all hope is not lost. Even in this dire situation, there are several strategies you can try to recover your unsaved Word document on a Mac.

This article will walk you through four reliable solutions to recover a Word document after clicking Don’t Save on a Mac. While success isn’t guaranteed in every case, understanding your options can improve your chances significantly.

1. Check the AutoRecovery Folder

Microsoft Word includes an AutoRecovery feature that periodically saves your progress in the background. This feature is especially useful in events like power loss, system crashes, or mistaken clicks.

To check if an AutoRecovery version of your document exists:

  1. Open Finder on your Mac.
  2. Press Command + Shift + G to open the “Go to the Folder” prompt.
  3. Type in the following path:

    ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Word/Data/Library/Preferences/AutoRecovery
  4. Look through the files for any recent AutoRecovery versions that match what you were working on.
  5. If found, open the file using Word and save it immediately.

Note: The file names in this folder may be obscure, so you may need to open several to find the right one.

2. Search for Temporary Files

In some cases, Word may create temporary files as you work on a document. These files can serve as a fallback if the primary file was never saved manually.

To search for temporary files:

  1. Open Finder and click on Macintosh HD or your primary drive.
  2. Use the search bar to search for Word Work File or .tmp.
  3. You might need to click This Mac at the top to extend the search to the entire system.
  4. Check file timestamps and open any relevant files with Word.

While this method isn’t always successful, users have occasionally located valuable remnants of their work through temporary file searches.

3. Use Time Machine Backup

If you have Time Machine enabled, you may be able to return to an earlier state of your system, before you made the mistake of clicking Don’t Save.

Here’s how to do it:

  1. Open the folder where the document is typically saved (if saved before).
  2. Click the Time Machine icon on your menu bar and choose Enter Time Machine.
  3. Navigate through the backups by date and time to a point before the file was lost.
  4. If the document appears in the backup, select it and click Restore.

Time Machine is reliable but is only helpful if you had saved the file at least once before the mistake. Otherwise, it won’t be in any backup snapshot.

4. Check Recently Closed Documents

Microsoft Word sometimes retains a list of recently closed files even if they weren’t saved. This is a built-in convenience feature that may save you in a critical moment.

Try this method:

  1. Open Microsoft Word.
  2. Click File in the top menu.
  3. Select Open Recent and see if your document appears in the list.

If it shows up, click to open it and save it immediately. This only works under certain conditions but takes just a second to check.

Preventive Measures for the Future

If you’re lucky enough to recover your lost work—or want to make sure this never happens again—consider the following tips:

  • Enable AutoSave: In Microsoft Office 365, AutoSave will save your work every few seconds if backed up to OneDrive.
  • Adjust AutoRecovery Interval: Go to Word > Preferences > Save and decrease the interval between auto-saves.
  • Use Time Machine: Make backups a habit with macOS’s built-in solution.
  • Stay Calm: Immediate actions, rather than panic, can make all the difference in successful recovery.

Final Thoughts

Accidentally clicking Don’t Save in Word on a Mac can feel like a catastrophe, but it doesn’t have to mean the end of your work. By acting quickly and following the recovery steps outlined above, you give yourself the best chance at full or partial document retrieval. While not every scenario leads to success, these methods are your most trustworthy options for getting that lost content back.