How to recover overwritten excel file on mac？

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Level 1

4 points

How to recover overwritten excel file on mac？

Today, I accidentally overwrote an important Excel file that contains crucial data for a project I'm working on. This file was saved locally on my Mac Mini M2 running macOS Sequoia 15.2, and I use Microsoft Excel for my spreadsheets.

I was updating the spreadsheet and inadvertently saved over the original file instead of creating a new version. I realized the mistake shortly after and closed Excel to prevent further changes. I checked Excel's AutoRecover feature, but unfortunately, it didn't have a version of the file prior to the overwrite.

I'm hoping it is still possible to recover overwritten excel file on mac. If anyone has experience with data recovery on Mac, specifically for overwritten files, or knows of any reliable software/tools that could help retrieve previous versions of Excel documents, your guidance would be greatly appreciated. Additionally, if there are any best practices to prevent this kind of issue in the future, I'd love to hear those as well.

Mac mini (M2, 2023)

Posted on Dec 19, 2024 01:23 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Wadofy

Level 1

32 points

Dec 19, 2024 02:30 AM in response to neoreep

If you're using Time Machine, here's where it shines. I once saved a major project by rolling back to an earlier version using Time Machine. Just follow these steps to recover overwritten excel file on Mac:

Open Finder and go to the folder where your Excel file was last saved.
Click on the Time Machine icon in the menu bar and select “Enter Time Machine.”
Browse through the backups until you find the version of your file before it was overwritten. Restore it, and you’re golden!

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Answer 2

Stanword

Level 1

26 points

Dec 19, 2024 02:21 AM in response to neoreep

To recover overwritten Excel file on Mac. Excel has this incredibly useful AutoRecovery feature that can sometimes save you. I’ve forgotten about it a few times and just jumped straight to recovery software. Just go to File > Open Recent to see if there’s an earlier version hanging around. You might find what you’re looking for without needing to dive deeper!

Sometimes Excel stores temporary files, and I learned this the hard way. If you want to check for temp files, go to this path in Finder:

/Users/YourUsername/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Excel/Data/Library/Preferences/AutoRecovery

I once found a version of my document here that I thought was lost forever!

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Answer 3

rkaufmann87

Level 10

148,080 points

Dec 19, 2024 09:10 PM in response to neoreep

+1 use Time Machine, if you don't use Time Machine you are about to learn why its critical that you do. If you are not familiar with Time Machine it requires an External Hard Disk such as the OWC Mercury Elite Pro and you can learn how to set it up and use Time Machine in Back up your Mac with Time Machine.

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How to recover overwritten excel file on mac？

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