How to Recover Unsaved, Deleted, or the Previous Version of PowerPoint on Mac for Free

Updated to macOS Data Recovery Tips by Robert on Mar 8, 2024 | Approved by Daryl Baxter

"Can I recover unsaved PowerPoint on Mac or how to restore a PowerPoint on Mac? While I was doing some changes to the PowerPoint on Mac, it suddenly crashed, unresponsive, so I had to quit it. After then, it seems I have to start from scratch again."

Nobody can 100% ensure that there will be no issues while creating or editing a presentation file, PowerPoint on Mac. You’re lucky enough if you haven’t encountered any problems. However, if you’re not that lucky, then you should learn the PowerPoint recovery Mac solutions to the issues:

Quick Navigation
Method #1. How to Retrieve Previous Version of PowerPoint File on Mac
Method #2. How to Recover Unsaved PowerPoint on Mac
Method #3. How to Restore Deleted/Lost PowerPoint File on Mac for Free

Method #1. How to Retrieve Previous Version of PowerPoint File on Mac

The Microsoft PowerPoint software for Mac is able to save all the versions of the PowerPoint automatically whenever you open, duplicate, close or even delete it. In this case, if you need to get back the previous version of PowerPoint file on Mac, please follow the steps below:

  1. Open the latest version of the PowerPoint file. Next, click the "File" menu on the very top left, select "Browse Version History". If you are an old version, please go to "File > Restore" and choose it.
  2. After then, you should browse all the version of the PowerPoint file. If you have edited it many times, then it should be a long list.
  3. Find the previous version of the PowerPoint file you want to recover or restore. After then, you have 2 choices: first, copy the previous version of PowerPoint to your Mac and name it with a new name without overwritten the latest version by clicking "Restore a Copy". Second, restore previous version PowerPoint on Mac by selecting and clicking "Restore".

Method #2. How to Recover Unsaved PowerPoint on Mac

Ways 1: PowerPoint Autorecover on Mac

It would happen that PowerPoint crashed, macOS crashed, or any other system errors caused the PowerPoint file unsaved. Luckily, Microsoft has developed a built-in feature or program for you to get back unsaved PowerPoint on Mac. Office AutoSave is a tool to save newly created PowerPoint you haven’t saved it but lost it when your computer shut down or PowerPoint crashed unexpectedly. To retrieve the unsaved first version of PowerPoint, then try the AutoSave to recover PowerPoint file not saved on Mac:

  1. Click "Finder" on Mac. Want to find the unsaved PowerPoint file, please check your Office version and go to a different directory.
  2. Office 365 and 2016 go to: /Users/(username)/Library/Containers/com.Microsoft.Powerpoint
    /Data/Library/Preferences/AutoRecovery.

    Office other versions go to: /Users/username/Library/Application Support/Micirosoft/Office/Office X AutoRecovery.

  3. Select the autosaved PowerPoint files on Mac and copy it to another location. If it is the PowerPoint file you have saved more than once while editing it, then the AutoRecover would be helpful. To restore unsaved PowerPoint on Mac, open the current one, then you’ll get the option: Available Files. You can select the one you need by clicking it.
  4. AutoSave of Microsoft Office is a great feature that can save your important files. You can also use the above method to recover excel file on Mac and restore unsaved word document on Mac.

Ways 2: Recover Unsaved Powerpoint on Mac from TemporaryItems

In Apple's macOS, applications use will temporary files to speed up the response time when performing tasks such as editing, creating and more. If unsaved the PowerPoint files on Mac due to sudden power-off, software/drive crash. You can get back PowerPoint on Mac with temp files.

  1. Hold down the "Command + Space" key and enter the "ter". After then select the "Terminal.app". When opening this system built-in tool is, please enter "open $TMPDIR" and clikc "OK".
  2. Click on the "TemporaryItems" folder in the open directory. Finally, you will see the "~PowerPoint Work File" and modify the file format to ".ppt". At this point, you can open it and successfully completed the recover unsaved PPT on Mac.

Method #3. How to Restore Deleted/Lost PowerPoint File on Mac for Free

The above-mentioned ways are for how to recover unsaved PowerPoint on Mac and retrieve previous version of PowerPoint file on Mac. If you have deleted or lost the PPT intentionally or unintentionally, you should try a professional PowerPoint recovery tool for Mac to get it back. Here, you can free try iBeesoft Data Recovery for Mac. It is reliable a solution for free PowerPoint recovery to help you easily and quickly get back graphics, documents, videos, audio files, emails and more on Mac or other devices. Here are the simple steps for how to recover deleted PowerPoint files on Mac for free.

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Tutorial for how to Free Get Back PowerPoint on Mac

  1. Install PowerPoint Recovery Mac tool
  2. Download the installation package of iBeesoft Data Recovery for Mac on your computer. It is fully compatible with almost all the macOS version. Install the best free Mac data recovery software on your Mac like the way you usually do. It is standalone and virus-free.

  3. Select "Documents" to Scan
  4. Launch this program, it is ready to scan for all the supported file types by default. You need to uncheck the unwanted file types, only keeping the "Documents" option selected and click "Start" to recover deleted PowerPoint on Mac.

  5. Select Drive to Scan
  6. All the drive will be listed in the main window. Please select the one from where you have deleted or lost the PowerPoint files. And then, click "Scan" to scanning and find PowerPoint on Mac. After then, it will begin to looking for lost files automatically.

  7. Restore PowerPoint on Mac
  8. After scanning, you can preview the PowerPoint file to check it, then select the one you need and click "Recover" to save PowerPoint files to your Mac again.

You can see the "Deep Scan" feature in the result window as well. It is a feature letting you scan deeper and get back the lost or deleted PowerPoint files on Mac. You can try it if you haven’t found the wanted PPT on this page. After completion of the deep scan, if you still can’t find the deleted or lost data. Please go to the XXX (RAW files) directory to view them by file type. At this time, you can also select the PPT/PPTX folder in this directory, save them to your Mac or other drivers, and then check them later. Try the software to recovr PowerPoint files on Mac for free now!!!