Where are powerpoint autosave files stored mac

Read on to learn about the most effective data recovery solutions that can recover PowerPoint on Mac.

Table of Contents

• How to Find a PowerPoint File on a Mac
• How to Recover PowerPoint Files on a Mac
  • Method #1: Open Recent Files
  • Method #2: Use PowerPoint Autosave Feature
  • Method #3: Recover From the Temporary Folder
  • Method #4: Use Data Recovery Software
  • Method#5: Recover From a Time Machine Backup
  • Method #6: Restore From OneDrive

Before you start the recovery process of a PPT file, it’s a great idea to double-check whether the presentation is actually gone from your computer or not. There is a possibility that the file is still present on your Mac, you just need to look for it more thoroughly.

There are two main ways you can look for a PowerPoint presentation on your Mac: either via Finder or Spotlight (to open it, press Command + Space). Then all you need to do is type in the name of the file in the search field, or if you don’t remember the name, simply type in PPT to view all of the files with such an extension.

Also, depending on how you saved your PPT presentations and whether you’ve been using OneDrive with your Microsoft applications, you might be able to find the file in your OneDrive account.

How to Recover PowerPoint Files on a Mac

Still no luck finding your PowerPoint presentation on your Mac? Then try these data recovery solutions to recover a lost PowerPoint on Mac or a deleted PPT file.

Method #1: Open Recent Files

If the PowerPoint application froze, crashed, or some other events happened that didn’t let you save the presentation that you were working on, you can use the Open Recent feature to recover the unsaved PPT on Mac.

Follow these steps to recover an unsaved PowerPoint on a Mac using the Open Recent feature:

1. Launch the PowerPoint application on your Mac.
2. Using the menu bar at the top of the screen, click File and choose Open Recent from the drop-down menu.
   
3. Click the needed file to open it in PowerPoint.
4. Click File > Save as and choose a preferred location for the file.

Method #2: Use PowerPoint Autosave Feature

Another way to recover a PowerPoint file is with the help of the AutoSave feature. But you should be able to restore a presentation with this feature only if you’ve saved the file at least once and if AutoSave was enabled for the specific file.

To enable AutoSave, you need to click the AutoSave toggle at the top-left of the PowerPoint screen. Once you do that, you’ll be asked to save your presentation, name it, and choose a preferred location. So if anything happens when you’re working on that presentation (for example, if PowerPoint unexpectedly quits), all you’ll need to do is go to the chosen folder to find that file there.

But where are PowerPoint AutoSave files stored? If you want to quickly navigate to the PowerPoint AutoSave location on your Mac, go to Finder and click Go > Go to Folder. Then copy and paste the following folder path in the search field and click Go (make sure to replace username with your own one):

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

Then once you’ve found the needed file, either drag and drop it into a different folder or open the PPT presentation and click File > Save as.

Method #3: Recover From the Temporary Folder

Temporary Files folder is a hidden folder on your Mac that stores certain operating system and application files that get automatically deleted in some time. There is a tiny chance that the PowerPoint presentation file that you’re looking for ended up in the Temp folder.

Follow these steps to open the Temporary Folder and recover a PowerPoint file that was not saved on your Mac:

Method #4: Use Data Recovery Software

If you’re sure that the PPT file that you’re searching for has actually been deleted, your best option would be to use a data recovery application to recover the presentation. When it comes to choosing such a tool, we recommend Disk Drill since it’s intuitive, easy to navigate, and has proven to be quite effective in recovering deleted or lost files.

Disk Drill is compatible with all major file systems (HFS/HFS+, APFS, NTFS, FAT, etc.) and can recover over 400 different file types, including MP3 files, JPG photos, RAW images, Excel spreadsheets, DOCX documents, and many more. Also, this software has a free trial version that lets you scan your drive and preview the found files.

Important: To prevent your Mac from overwriting the deleted PowerPoint file and increase your chances of successfully recovering the presentation, stop using your computer or the drive containing the file as soon as you’ve noticed the data loss.

Follow these steps to recover a deleted PowerPoint on your Mac:

Method#5: Recover From a Time Machine Backup

Time Machine is a built-in backup tool found in all Macs. If you’ve been regularly using this application to back up your data, you should be able to use one of those backup versions to recover a deleted PowerPoint presentation.

Follow these steps to restore a PPT file on your Mac with Time Machine:

The recovered PowerPoint presentation will be immediately placed back into the same folder where it used to be stored before deletion.

Method #6: Restore From OneDrive

OneDrive is a cloud storage solution available to all Microsoft 365 subscribers. If you’ve been using it to save your PowerPoint presentations, you should be able to use it to restore deleted ones.

Follow these steps to restore a deleted PPT file from OneDrive:

1. Using any browser, go to onedrive.live.com and sign in to your OneDrive account.
2. Navigate to the Recycle bin folder.
3. Look for the deleted PPT file.
4. Click the file you wish to recover and then click the Restore button at the top.
   

FAQ:

Where does PowerPoint AutoSave Mac?

Where are AutoSave files stored on Mac?

Where are my Autosaved PowerPoint files stored?