Recover Overwritten Excel File: It is quite common for people to save over the Excel file when making edits to the content. You might end up saving the changes you had made previously. This is the most common reason why people end up losing important data and crucial information.
Data overwriting could also occur when you save a new file on your device when you have another file stored on your PC with the same name.
The question is how do you restore the previous version of your excel file? or what to do when Excel file gets overwritten or replaced?
Well, Microsoft Office comes with a Manage Workbook feature that will help you to recover overwritten Excel files. Of course, you can also use third-party software to do the same.
Here you can find complete guide on how to recover overwritten Excel file.
Sound’s good? Let’s get started.
How to Recover Overwritten Excel File
1. Recover Overwritten File Within Excel
Microsoft Office and Excel create the backup of all the files you have not saved on your computer after editing. These saved changed will not overwrite the previous files.
However, if you save the changes and overwrite these files, there is always an option for finding them in the Manage Versions section.
Here’s how you can recover the overwritten file on Excel:
- Open Microsoft Excel, click File > Info > Manage Versions.
- Click “Recover Unsaved or Overwritten Workbooks”.
- Select the file you’d like to work on and open it.
- Tap on the “Save As” to recover it.
2. Excel Data Recovery Software
Your ultimate option for recovering the Excel file is by using the data recovery software. Each tool works in a different way, but they all offer the same results. All you have to do is pick a location where you had stored the Excel files before overwriting. Start scanning for the file using the data recovery software.
How to Avoid Losing or Overwriting the Excel File?
While the above steps will help protect your excel file, you must take the necessary steps to ensure that you don’t lose your file. Make sure you have the autosave function enabled on MS Excel to protect your data. Here’s how you can enable this option:
- Open Excel, click on Files, Options, Save, and enable the “Save AutoRecover” button. You can select the frequency for this feature.
- Every time you save a file on your computer, double-check the file to make sure that the name of the file is unique and doesn’t match any document you have saved in the particular location. Overwriting occurs mainly when you save the document with the same name as other files.
- Always have antivirus software installed on your device to ensure that the malware or any form of the virus causes no harm to your files.
- Have a backup option ready! Save a copy of your files on Google Drive
- Close your Excel file properly
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