My Word files are unaccessibe. All in Trash

Follow these steps on macOS to get Word documents back and make them accessible again:

1. Restore documents from Mac Trash
   • Open Trash from the Dock.
   • Look for files with extensions like .doc or .docx.
   • For each document that should be kept, right‑click it and select Put Back to restore it to its original location.
2. Check OneDrive online Recycle Bin (if files were synced)
   • If the documents were stored in a OneDrive‑synced folder (such as Desktop or Documents), sign in to OneDrive in a browser and check the Recycle Bin there.
   • If the files appear, restore them from the OneDrive Recycle Bin so they sync back to the Mac.
3. Use Word’s AutoRecover on Mac (for unsaved or recently lost work)
   • Open Word.
   • If Word closed unexpectedly, it may automatically open the Document Recovery pane with recovered versions. Open the needed file and immediately save it.
   • To manually look for AutoRecovered files:
     1. In Finder, select Go > Go to Folder… (or press SHIFT+COMMAND+G).
     2. Enter this path, replacing <username> with the Mac username: /Users/<username>/Library/Containers/com.Microsoft/Data/Library/Preferences/AutoRecovery
     3. Open any Word AutoRecover files found there and save them to a safe folder.
4. Important note about “Don’t Save”
   • If a file was closed and Don’t Save was selected, the AutoRecover copy is deleted and cannot be recovered by Word.
5. Prevent future loss
   • Store important documents in OneDrive or SharePoint and keep AutoSave turned on so changes are continuously saved to the cloud.

References:

• Recover your Word files and documents
• How to recover unsaved Word documents