Microsoft Word has made the process of tracking and recovering changes that occurred to documents easier than ever before. In this guide we will walk you through the steps to view previous versions of Word documents and restore them easily.
This approach requires a Microsoft 365 subscription. Because Only OneDrive saves version history, this is crucial. Fortunately, Microsoft 365 subscribers may access 1TB of OneDrive storage.
Before proceeding, make sure you save your documents to OneDrive, as this will enable automatic storage. Once your documents are saved, Microsoft Word will automatically store your files.
How to View Previous Versions of Word Document
Here’s how to view previous versions of word document. You can click the file name in the top Microsoft Word bar or click on the “Files” button in the menu bar, select “Information” and then click the “Version History” button.
The version history panel will appear on the right side of your screen, showing the latest version of the document at the top. Word handles changes by date conveniently, making it easier to find older versions of larger documents.
- To view a specific version of the document. Just click on “Open Version”, you can specify an older version by selecting the “Previous Version” label in the document
- Click “compare” in the same line to observe changes. Creating a new document will show the differences between the selected and previous versions.
- Click the up arrow below “Edit” for modification details. This will detail modifications to this document.
- The Edit pane shows document changes in detail. Scroll down the left bar to see all the changes.
- There is a vertical red line on the right. Change is indicated there. From the “Review” menu, click the down arrow symbol on the “Easy Mark” side and pick “Show all markings” to see the change more clearly. This shows red additions with white accent and shooting erasure.
- Once you have checked the changes, do not forget to save the required updates.
5 ways to restore previous versions of Word documents:
Method 1: Upgrade previous versions of Word documents with Word AutoSave
If the file is already saved:
- Open your Word document
- Click on the file button in the upper left corner.
- Go to Information > Manage Document. On the right you will see a list of Word files called “Autosave”, which makes it easy to find the desired version.
- Select a Word document and open it.
- Click the reset button on the tape to save to a secure location.
If the file has not been saved:
- Open your Word document
- Go to File > Information > Manage Document
- Select “Recover unsaved documents”
- Open the version you want to recover.
- After recovery, save the file as a new document using the save option.
Method 2: Upgrade previous versions of Word documents with file recovery software.
Your computer generates.tmp and.asd backups when you work with Word files. If the above methods don’t work, you can use recovery software such as WinfrGUI word recovery freeware to recover these files.
Download and install WinfrGUI from the official website.
- Open the program and select the drive or folder where you lost.tmp or.asd files. Press the Start button.
- WinfrGUI will start the scanning process and display recoverable files. All unsaved files will be sorted so that they are easily accessible.
- Use the search or filter function to quickly find the desired file type.
- Click Recover to restore backup of your Word document.
Method 3: Upgrade your Word document through an earlier version of Windows.
Windows will automatically save previous versions of files as “recovery points” in Windows 10. You can access these versions through file surveys.
- Go to the location of the Word document you want to recover.
- Right-click on the file and select properties
- In the previous version tab, you will find a list of previous versions. Select the version you want to download.
- Click Open. If you only want to view files or copy text, click Reset if you want to replace an existing version. Click Reset.
Method 4: Upgrade previous version from backup
If you have a backup of your files, recovering previous versions of your Word documents is easy.
- Find your backup, whether it’s an external hard drive or a cloud storage service.
- Move to a folder containing a backup of your Word document
- Select the desired version of the document, which may be labeled with a time or model number.
- Copy the version and place it where you want it on your computer or download it from a cloud storage service.
Method 5: Upgrade previous versions of Word documents using MS Word file history
Microsoft 365 automatically saves files to OneDrive, allowing version history access.
- Word document open
- Select the top-left file.
- Info > Version History
- Right-hand tab “Generation History” will be added.
- Choose a version and click Open.
- Click Restore to confirm the open version is what you want. Use Comparison to show changes from the previous version.
Bonus Tip: Enable automatic backup in Microsoft Word
- Set up automatic Word document backup to avoid issues.
- Word document open
- Choose File > Options.
- In the new window’s Advanced section, select “Always create backup” under Log.
- Save changes by clicking OK.
These methods are reliable for viewing and restoring Word documents. Safeguarding your valuable work lets you handle any document recovery issue. Do not let rewriting errors or unsaved changes slow you down. Get control over recovering previous Word documents with this detailed instruction.