How to Recover a Word Document That Was Saved Over on Mac

Home > HowTos > File Recovery Tips on Mac Updated by Robert on August 21, 2024 | Approved by Jennifer Allen

"Last week, I was working on an important document that was very important for my business and this was already saved on my drive. I accidentally saved over another document on this and now I am really worried as the content has changed and I can’t find the original document. Can someone please guide me on how do I recover a word document that was saved over on Mac?"

Documents are very important when it comes to the information saved inside them. But one realizes the importance of documents when they need them but they are not able to find them as they were saved over. If you are in such a situation, there’s nothing to worry about the saved over word documents on mac. In this article, we will tell you how to retrieve a document that you saved over on Mac. Let’s get started.

Solved: How to Recover Saved Over Word Document on Mac

Saving over a document on Mac is like replacing an older version of your document with the newer one and it may or may not contain the data that was in the previous version. Now let’s explore the way to get back the previous one.

Method #1. Restore Saved over Word Doc with Version History

Mac OS empower their users to browse, restore, duplicate, and delete versions of their documents. If you have saved over a Word document on Mac, you can use this version history feature of Mac as well. Mac saves version of your documents automatically as a user work on them and user have the option to browser the document version. You can easily go back to a previous version and later you can save it as well. Follow the steps given below to find an old version of Word document on Mac.

  1. Open the Word document on your mac and choose File > Revert To > Browse All Versions.
  2. Along the timeline to browse versions click on the tick marks.
  3. Choose a version that you want to use and later "Restore" to restore your document to that version. There are other options as well such as duplicate, leave it as it is, delete this version etc.

Method #2. Retrieve Accidentally Saved Over a Word Document with Time Machine

Time Machine in macOS is able to back up files and documents in macOS in case of data loss. It makes recovering a Word document that was saved over on Mac possible and easily. Here are the steps for how to do it.

  1. On top of the mac, click System Preferences > Time Machine.
  2. Put a check into the option Show Time Machine in menu bar.
  3. Click Time Machine icon in the menu bar to enter it.
  4. Look for the Word document that was saved over. When find it, select it and click Restore.

How to Recover Accidentally Deleted Word Document on Mac

All the methods that are described useful only and only if you have activated these options on your Mac, otherwise you can’t recover a Word document that was saved over on Mac. Compared with restoring a word to previous version, recovering a deleted Word document is much easier. Of course, you can try Time Machine to get back a deleted Word document. What if there is no backup? LOL, data recovery is available to do the task.

iBeesoft Mac Data Recovery is strongly recommended due to its highest word recovery rate and its powerful and deep scanning algorithms. It’s the best data recovery tool available for Mac and below, you can have a look at its amazing features.

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How to Recover Deleted Word Documents on Mac Using iBeesoft Data Recovery

The good thing about iBeesoft Data Recovery for Mac is its friendly user interface which lets anyone use the tool without getting into much complexity. By following simple three steps you will be able to get back your deleted Word documents on Mac.

  1. Download and Install iBeesoft Data Recovery
  2. The downloading process is very easy as you just click the DOWNLOAD button. Follow the instructions provided to install it on your Mac and launch it once the installation process is finished.

  3. Scanning the Location Where Word Document was Deleted
  4. These steps involved the location or drive where the Word document was deleted. After launching the tool, you need to first specify the file type you are looking to recover, and later in the next step, you have to select the location which will be scanned in order to find out the deleted Word file. Once the location is selected, click on the Scan button and it will take some time to scan the drive.

  5. Preview the Recovered Word Files on Mac
  6. When the scanning process is finished, you would be able to see all the files sorted according to their file types and you can select any of them to preview in order to verify that it contains your required information or not. This feature enables you to save only those files that contain your required data or Word documents. once you found your deleted Word document, you can save it on a specified location on your Mac.

Please keep in mind that the trial version is limited to scan for files available to recover and if you want to recover unlimited files then you will have to buy a plan.

Word documents often contain valuable and sensitive information and no one can risk losing their important business or personal information. You’re supposed to do backup regularly. If you lost a Word document, try iBeesoft Data Recovery for Mac to perform the data recovery right away.