5 pages of text went missing in my word document and it is missing from version history as well

Stop editing the document and duplicate the current file in Finder before using Word again, because manually saving in Word can remove earlier AutoRecover files that might still contain the missing pages.^1^

1. Check hidden content using the Mac menus

The File > Options instructions found online are for Windows. In the desktop Word app for Mac:

1. Open the document.
2. Select Word > Preferences > View.
3. Under Show Non-Printing Characters, enable the available formatting marks.
4. Also select Home > Show/Hide ¶ to expose paragraph marks and section breaks.^2^
5. Look around the point where the pages disappeared for hidden text, section breaks, or unexpected formatting.

If Word is running only as a browser extension or in Word for the web, it will not have the Mac application’s Word > Preferences menu. Open the document in the installed Word for Mac application for this check.

2. Search the hidden AutoRecovery folder

Do this before manually saving the open document:

1. Open Finder.
2. Press Shift + Command + G.
3. Paste this path, replacing <username> with your Mac username: /Users/<username>/Library/Containers/com.Microsoft.Word/Data/Library/Preferences/AutoRecovery
4. Look for a file named AutoRecovery save of [document name] or a similarly named file.
5. If found, copy it to another folder such as the Desktop, open the copy in Word, and inspect it for the missing pages.
6. If it contains the text, save it under a new filename immediately.

AutoRecover is primarily intended for recovery after Word or macOS closes unexpectedly. It saves periodically—every 10 minutes by default—but a manual save removes the previous AutoRecover files. Selecting Don’t Save when closing can also delete the recovery file.^1^

3. Check history from the storage service

Since the versions already checked do not contain the pages, do not restore them blindly. Open each version first and inspect it.

If the document is in OneDrive or SharePoint:

1. Open it in Word for Mac.
2. Select the document name in the title bar.
3. Select Browse Version History.
4. Open each candidate version in a separate window.^3^
5. Also check the file directly in OneDrive on the web: right-click it, select Version history, and open or download each version before restoring anything.

Version History only applies to files stored in OneDrive or SharePoint. With a work or school account, available versions can also depend on the institution’s library configuration.^3^

4. Try extracting text from the document

Use this only on the duplicate, because it is intended for a possibly damaged file and may lose formatting:

1. In Word, select Word > Preferences > General.
2. Enable Confirm file format conversion at Open.
3. Select File > Open.
4. From the Open menu near the bottom-right, select Recover Text.
5. Open the duplicated document and check whether the missing text is extracted.^1^

If none of these finds the pages

• If Time Machine was enabled, open the folder containing the document, enter Time Machine, and restore a copy from before the loss.
• Check email attachments, downloaded copies, shared drafts, and any other device where the document was opened.
• For a university OneDrive account, contact the school’s IT/help desk. Provide the filename, OneDrive path, approximate time the pages disappeared, device used, and whether the document was shared. The institution controls its retention and versioning policies and may have restoration options unavailable to students.^4^

If no AutoRecovery file, cloud version, Time Machine backup, or separate copy contains those pages, Word has no remaining copy from which to reconstruct the missing text.

References

1. Recover files in Office for Mac | Microsoft Support
2. Show or hide tab marks in Word | Microsoft Support
3. [Microsoft 365](https://support.microsoft.com/office/collab-files/view-previous-versions-of-office-files)
4. Please help me with restoring my previous Word Document version - Microsoft Q&A