What to do right now
- Reopen PowerPoint and check the Document Recovery pane on the left first.
- Open File, Info, Manage Presentation, Recover Unsaved Presentations.
- If nothing is there, look in the AutoRecover and UnsavedFiles folders directly.
Where to look
Document Recovery pane
After a crash, PowerPoint shows a Document Recovery pane on the left when it reopens. Open the listed files, check them and save them under a new name straight away.
Recover Unsaved Presentations
Open a new presentation and choose File, Info, Manage Presentation, Recover Unsaved Presentations. Copies of files that were never saved are kept here.
AutoRecover folder
Check the AutoRecover file location under File, Options, Save. It is usually the Roaming\Microsoft\PowerPoint folder in AppData. Copy any file with an unusual extension and open the copy in PowerPoint.
Find them all with FileFix Ultimate
The unsaved file finder checks Office AutoRecover, UnsavedFiles and temporary folders in one go and copies what it finds to a folder you choose. Copies that will not open can be repaired right away.
Settings for next time
Under File, Options, Save, set AutoRecover to every 1 to 5 minutes, and save to OneDrive with AutoSave turned on to avoid this in future.
When a copy exists and when it does not
AutoRecover copies are made at the interval you set. If you closed the file within a few minutes of opening it, no copy may have been made yet. After a long session, the content up to the last automatic save remains.
Clicking Don't Save deletes some copies straight away. Even then, on a hard drive the deleted temporary file may still be there, so deleted file recovery can search for PPTX and temporary files.
When recovery will not work
- AutoRecover was off, or the file was closed before the first automatic save.
- The copies have been cleaned up and drive C: is an SSD with TRIM.
- The original pictures you meant to insert were already deleted.
How FileFix Ultimate helps
- Finds and copies PowerPoint copies from Office AutoRecover, UnsavedFiles and temporary folders.
- Previews the copies and repairs ones that will not open into a new PPTX.
- Can also search for deleted temporary files with deleted file recovery.
- Everything is read-only and works offline.
FileFix Ultimate is free, works offline and never writes to the drive you are recovering from. Check the signature before you run it.
Frequently asked questions
I clicked Don't Save. Can the presentation be recovered?
A copy is sometimes left in Recover Unsaved Presentations or the AutoRecover folder. Check right away.
Where are PowerPoint AutoRecover files?
At the AutoRecover file location shown under File, Options, Save. Files that were never saved are often in the UnsavedFiles folder.
PowerPoint stopped responding and closed.
It usually shows the Document Recovery pane when reopened. If not, check the AutoRecover folder.
Can I get back the pictures I had inserted?
If the presentation copy is recovered, the pictures inside it come back too. If only the original picture files were deleted, recover them separately with deleted file recovery.