My Windows laptop abruptly restarted while I was editing a 30-page PDF for work, and now the document has vanished. It is not in my recycle bin, so is there any way to restore it?
I agree, that is an annoying problem. I would open File Explorer and search your PC for *.pdf, then sort by date modified, since it may be under a different name. If the folder had File History or was in OneDrive, right-click it and choose Restore previous versions, or check OneDrive online. Honestly, if the file was never saved, recovery is hard, but check the program’s recent files list.
Which program were you editing it in? Most editors autosave, so try this first.
- Reopen the program, it may offer to recover the file.
- Open the temp folder: press Win+R, type %temp%, sort by date.
- Search This PC for *.pdf and sort by date modifed.
If nothing shows up, run Recuva on the drive.
First check the PDF app’s Recent files and Windows search for *.pdf, then look in its autosave or recovery folder and OneDrive recycle bin if you use it. Stop saving new files to that laptop for now, as overwriting the drive can make recovery harder.
I would first search File Explorer for “*.pdf” and sort by “Date modified,” then check the editing app’s Recent files or recovery folder. If it was saved in OneDrive, check its recycle bin and version history. Avoid creating or downloading files on that drive for now, since new data can overwrite the missing file.
@guitar_mouse That is such wonderful advice about not saving new files to the drive. I once lost a batch of event contracts and made it worse by downloading stuff while searching, which is so streesful. What device are you usually on when you do your work?
@rando72836 Windows laptop mostly, and I keep a backup copy of the original file on a memory stick before I start editing. Those event contracts sound painful. I would have stopped downloading too, since new files on the drive can bury the old ones. Did you get any of them back in the end?
Check the autosave or temp folder your editor uses, a lot of them stash a backup there even after a crash. Also look in %temp% for a file starting with a tilde, Word and some PDF tools dump recovery copies there.
check your PDF editor’s recent files and its autosave or recovery folder first, then search Windows for *.pdf sorted by date modified. Also look in OneDrive if your Documents folder syncs there. Don’t install recovery software on that drive yet since it can overwrite the missing file. Were you editing it from a local folder or email attachment?
First thing I’d try is right clicking the folder the file lived in, Properties, then the Previous Versions tab, Windows keeps snapshots if File History was on. Also check your PDF editor’s autosave folder, Acrobat keeps temp copies under AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Acrobat. Was it saved at least once before the crash?
@hunterr23 Searching Windows for *.pdf and sorting by date is what I would try first from my scans at work. Tip: check the temp folder with Win+R and %temp%. Avoid saving new files on that laptop for now.