Lost unsaved PowerPoint presentation – how to recover it?

Microsoft Office might be the most popular productivity suite in the world. It's involved in many aspects of people's work and study, so every Office file is significant to its user. What if an important Office file goes missing? Is there any way to recover it? In this article, we'll focus on unsaved PowerPoint 2016 files on Mac and introduce three methods to recover unsaved files.

• Method 1: Recover Unsaved Files from Auto-Save
• Method 2: Restore Unsaved Data on Mac from Temporary Folder
• Method 3: Recover Unsaved PowerPoint with Data Recovery Tool

Important: The methods mentioned in this article only work for documents that were previously saved on your computer. If you created a new PowerPoint presentation and didn't save it to your computer, the unsaved content can't be recovered.

Method 1: Recover an unsaved PowerPoint 2016 file from an auto-recovery save

Microsoft values your data, too, and has developed an excellent feature called AutoSave. It periodically saves a temporary copy of your PowerPoint, and it's turned on by default. So, if you lose power while editing your PowerPoint, search for the temporary copy first to see if you can recover your unsaved file. Here are the detailed steps to recover your lost PowerPoint 2016 document on a Mac.

Step 1: On your Mac, choose Go > Go to Folder from the menu bar.

Step 2. Type in the path for the Auto Save folder.

Step 3: Check if you can find unsaved PowerPoint files

Step 4: Copy the lost PowerPoint file to your desktop and rename it. Then, open the file with PowerPoint 2016.

The AutoRecover file location is different for different versions of Office for Mac:

For Office 2016 and 2019:

/Users/Library/Containers/com.Microsoft.Powerpoint/Data/Library/Preferences/AutoRecovery

For Office 2011:

This English path points to a folder location within the Mac operating system. In American English, it would be: "/Users/Username/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Office/Office 2011 AutoRecover". This path is commonly used to save auto-recovery data for Microsoft Office 2011 apps, so users can retrieve unsaved work if the program unexpectedly closes.

For Office 2008:

This path refers to a folder location on the Mac operating system where Microsoft Office 2008 stores its AutoRecovery information. The translation in English would be: "/Users/username/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Office/Office 2008 AutoRecovery"

How to Check AutoSave in PowerPoint on a Mac

Although we mentioned that autosave is typically enabled by default, some programs might disable this feature without notice. Here's how to change the preferences in PowerPoint.

Step 1: Launch PowerPoint on your Mac and go to Preferences.

Step 2: Click Save. If the box next to "Automatically save recovery information every x minutes" is checked, AutoRecover is already turned on. If it isn't, check the box to turn it on.

Step 3: You can also change other settings in this preference.

Method 2: Recover unsaved PowerPoint 2016 for Mac from the temporary folder

If you can't find the lost PowerPoint file in the AutoRecover folder, try searching for the “Temp” folder on your computer. The Temp folder stores some startup configurations and cache data for PowerPoint on your PC. Your unsaved PPT file might be saved here as cache data. Follow the guide below to recover data from the Temp folder.

Step 1: Click on “Applications” > “Utilities,” and then double-click on “Terminal.”

Enter open $TMPDIR in Terminal, and you'll be taken to the TMP folder, where the system temporarily stores files.

Step 3: Open the "TemporaryItems" folder. Inside this folder, right-click on the unsaved PowerPoint file you wish to restore and select Open with > Microsoft PowerPoint.

Step 4. Save the PPT file in another location.

Method 3: Recover Unsaved PowerPoint on Mac with Data Recovery Tool

If both of those options don't work, you can try using a third-party data recovery tool. These will scan your computer for any lost files and content, including your unsaved PPT document.

Here we recommend using the Data Recovery Wizard for Mac. It is a professional data recovery tool specializing in Mac data recovery.

Why Choose Data Recovery Wizard for Mac:

• Supports recovering unsaved Word documents on Mac, along with Excel, PowerPoint, iWork, and more.
• Enables users to recover deleted files from the Trash, even after it has been emptied.
• Allows users to preview recoverable files before actually restoring them.
• 100% safe and reliable, certified by reputable organizations.

Download and install Data Recovery for Mac, then follow the steps below to learn how to recover unsaved PPT files on Mac.

Note: You can create a backup by clicking "Disk Backup" on the left first. You can recover data from the backup image when the disk is damaged or unsaved documents on the disk are accidentally deleted or lost.

Step 1: Select the disk

Launch the “Data Recovery Wizard” on your Mac, hover the mouse over the device where you lost unsaved files, and click “Find Lost Files.”

Step 2: Choose the unsaved document

When the scan is finished, click on “Type,” then expand “Unsaved Documents.” Click on the exact file type of the unsaved file you lost – Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Keynote, Pages, or Numbers.

Step 3: Preview and recover the unsaved files

Double-click the unsaved file preview, select the correct version, and click “Recover” to save the file to another secure location on your Mac.

You may also be interested in: How to Recover a Word File After Accidentally Clicking “Don't Save” on Mac?

Don't hesitate! Recover unsaved PowerPoint 2016 right now

This article has covered all possible ways to recover an unsaved PowerPoint file. If you've lost a file, don't panic – first, check the AutoSave and Temp folders. If you can't find what you need there, Data Recovery Wizard for Mac is your last hope.