How to Recover Unsaved/Deleted Notepad (TXT) Files on Any Device

6 Ways to Recover Unsaved/Deleted Notepad (TXT) Files

There are a few experiences as universally familiar as losing a TXT file. Everyone from high schoolers to business executives knows the panic of their work disappearing when it's just a few crossed-t's away from being completed.

Fortunately, there are reliable ways to recover Notepad files quickly. Whether your work was accidentally deleted, lost in a Notepad crash, or simply disappeared, here's a simple guide on how to recover unsaved/deleted Notepad documents on any device.

User Case: Accidentally Closed Notepad Without Saving

"Hi, do you know how to recover an unsaved Notepad? I accidentally closed a .txt file that I was working on without saving it. I hoped it would automatically save as a recent document or something, but I couldn't find it anywhere. Please help me out and show me how to restore unsaved Notepad. Thank you."

It is very common for us to lose text files, documents, or other files unsaved due to accidental closure, power outage, system crash, or other reasons. If you also happen to accidentally close your Notepad without saving the text and fail to find a proper way to recover unsaved Notepad files, you can find a solution here about how to recover unsaved or restore deleted Notepad files without effort. 

How to Recover Unsaved Notepad Files on Windows 10

Notepad doesn't have an auto-save function. So when you close an unsaved text document, it may be impossible for you to get it back. But you still have a chance to recover unsaved Notepad files from the temporary files since the contents of the Notepad files have been saved on your computer temporarily. 

Step 1. Click the Search button on your Windows. Type %AppData%, and press "Enter". This will open the Roaming folder. 

Step 2. Type .txt in the search bar and look for the Notepad files and see if you can recover the unsaved Notepad.  

Bonus Tips: How to Recover Unsaved Notepad++ Files

Notepad is plain text editing software and saves files in .txt file format. Notepad++ is similar to it but more powerful. Notepad++ provides a backup function that allows you to restore unsaved files caused by accidental closing or application crashes. 

How to turn on the automatic backup feature in Notepad++:

Go to "Settings > Preferences > Backup > check Enable session snapshot and periodic backup".

Steps for Notepad++ file recovery: 

Step 1. Navigate to Notepad++ unsaved files location: C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Notepad++\backup. 

Step 2. Find and preview the files you need. You can also use the search box to locate all "*.txt" files. Then, restore the Notepad++ unsaved files to a different location.

Further reading: How to recover unsaved Word documents on Windows 10/11

How to Recover Deleted Notepad Files with Free File Recovery Software

You can only use the temporary files to recover unsaved Notepad files. It won't work for restoring the lost saved document. Indeed, you can restore the lost or deleted text Notepad files within a few simple clicks using free data recovery software like Deep Data Recovery. Over the past few years, it has made every effort to help with emptied recycle bin recovery, formatted recovery, virus attack recovery, OS crash recovery, Office file recovery, and so on.

Download and use this file recovery software to recover deleted or lost Notepad files with the step-by-step guide below. 

Step 1. Launch Deep Data Recovery on your PC. Select file types and click "Next" to start.

Step 2. Choose the drive where you lost files and start scanning. This software allows you to recover lost data from all devices, including HDD, SSD, USB drive, SD card, pen drive, camera, etc.

Step 3. Browse the full scan results. You can choose the file type you need by clicking on the file type filter. Qiling data recovery software supports 1000+ file types like photos, videos, documents, emails, audio files, and many more. 

Step 4. Select the files you want to preview. Click "Recover" and set a storage location to save the recovered data. 

How to Recover Unsaved/Deleted TextEdit on Mac

If you are a Mac user, you may use TextEdit instead of Notepad. Accidentally pressing delete, closing the wrong window, or a machine shutting down suddenly can result in TXT file loss. It can be a chilling moment when you realize that the important document has suddenly disappeared. Fortunately, you can get Mac TXT files back with dependable solutions.

Method 1. How to Recover Unsaved TextEdit Files on Mac

The original TextEdit, which is present on Mac, doesn't have a recovery feature. But if you use iCloud or Time Machine, you may still be able to recover unsaved text files anyway by retrieving them from temp files.

Step 1. Open your browser and go to www.icloud.com.

Step 2. Enter your Apple ID and go to "Settings > Advanced". Here you'll see the option to Restore Files.

Step 3. Click the checkbox next to its title then click "Done".

Method 2. How to Recover Lost TextEdit Files on Mac

In this chapter, we explain how to recover a TextEdit file that can no longer be found in Recycle Bin using Qiling Mac data recovery software.

Qiling data recovery software offers a Mac version. With it, you can recover almost all lost and delete Mac files.

• Recovers Mac photos, videos, Word files, and other files from Mac
• Supports data recovery from Mac with T2 chip
• It is compatible with all Mac devices and external storage media

Follow the steps below to recover lost TextEdit files.

• Free Download
• Windows 11/10/8/7, 100% Secure

Step 1. Launch Deep Data Recovery on your PC. Select file types and click "Next" to start.

Step 2. Select the device location where you deleted files. Click the "Scan" button to find deleted TXT files. 

Step 3. Deep Data Recovery for Mac will list the files it finds on the left pane.

Step 4. Preview and click the "Recover Now" button to restore deleted files on Mac.

How to Recover Unsaved/Deleted Notes on a Phone

Unsaved Notes cannot be restored on an Andriod or iPhone. But deleted memos and notes can be recovered once they are deleted from Android/iPhone. This is very much true that once any data is deleted from Android/iPhone, it can be recovered because the files are not removed permanently. The files are still present in the device itself but invisible to the user. Here's how to recover deleted Notes on Andriod/iPhone.

Method 1. How to Recover Deleted Notes on Andriod

When you don't have any backup of all your deleted items then also there is nothing to worry about. Still, you can restore deleted memos from Android using Android data recovery Software. This is a powerful tool - Qiling MobiSaver for Andriod that recovers deleted notes from Android without any backup.

Follow the steps below to recover deleted Andriod Notes.

Step 1. Connect your Android phone to your computer. When it will show up. Click "Next" to continue.

Step 2. Now the software will quickly scan the device to find all the existing and lost data. You can easily find photos, videos, documents, and other types of files you want by choosing the correct file types.

Step 3. Select the desired notes in the scanning result. You can preview the selection with a full view. Once done, click "Recover" and choose a location to save the recovered files, and click "OK".

Method 2. How to Recover Deleted Notes on iOS Devices

You can also recover iPhone Notes with Qiling MobiSaver Free. This iOS data recovery software can easily find and retrieve whatever you have lost from your iPhone with simple steps.

Step 1.  Choose Recovery Mode

Connect iPhone to your PC and launch Qiling MobiSaver. Choose the recovery mode - "Recover from iOS Device" on the left and click "Start".

Step 2. Scan for Lost Notes/Notes Attachments

Qiling MobiSaver will automatically scan iPhone/iPad/iPod, and find present notes and even some lost one for you.

Step 3. Preview and Restore Notes and Attachments

Tick "Notes" and "Notes Attachments" on the left. Choose specific notes and attachments you want to recover. After selection, click "Recover to PC" or "Recover to Device" to decide where you are going to save them.

Conclusion

From the guide above, you can see that it's simple to recover unsaved Notepad files from the temporary folder on any device. For deleted Notepad file recovery, you can use Deep Data Recovery to make it effective. This tool is not only good at data recovery but also powerful in file repair. You can take it to repair corrupted JPEG/JPG files, as well as videos and documents.

• Free Download
• Windows 11/10/8/7, 100% Secure

How to Recover Unsaved Notepad FAQs

Here are some frequently asked questions about how to recover an unsaved Notepad. If you also have any of these problems, you can find the methods here. 

1. Where does notepad store unsaved files?

Where are notepad files saved? Once you enabled the AutoSave function, you can find the unsaved files stored in the path: C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming.

2. Can I recover a Notepad file that I didn't save?

If you want to recover a notepad file that is unsaved after a restart, you can go to C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming to find and recover an unsaved text file.

3. How do I AutoSave in Notepad?

Notepad doesn't have auto-save functionality. To auto-save your notepad, you can use a certain utility that can save working text files automatically. Run the reliable file management tool, and it will start running in the system tray. When you are working with a Notepad file, the Notepad autosave will keep monitoring it for changes.

4. How do I recover a text file?

If you want to recover a notepad file that is unsaved after a restart, you can go to C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming to find the unsaved text file. While if you want to recover a notepad file that has been deleted intentionally or unintentionally, you can use Qiling file recovery software for help.

5. How do you reopen an unsaved tab in Notepad ++?

Step 1. Go to menu "Settings" > "Preferences" > "Backup" tab to see your configuration.

Step 2. If "Enable session snapshot and periodic backup" has been checked then there will be a "Backup path" configured.

Step 3. The default "Backup path" is \backup.

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