Keynote Recovery - How to Recover a Keynote File on Mac

Updated to macOS Data Recovery Tips by Robert on Feb 1, 2024 | Approved by Cesar C

Ever used Keynote for your presentation? If you have always been a Mac user and have not tried installing MS Office, you definitely have used it before in creating presentations. It is really bothersome if the Keynote presentations disappeared or if you accidentally deleted a Keynote presentation. Some situations that you may encounter are unable to save a Keynote presentation or cannot recover Keynote file due to accidental deletion, unsaved, Keynote crashing, emptying the recycle bin or other reasons.

This is really a big deal especially if you are in the middle of creating presentations. Good thing there are ways to get lost Keynote presentations. So you may ask now; how to recover unsaved Keynote presentation, how to recover a deleted keynote presentation, how to recover lost keynote presentation. I’ll introduce you 3 ways to recover keynote presentation on Mac, and both are very easy to do.

Quick Navigation
Method #1. Easiest to Recover Delted Keynote Files on Mac
Method #2. Restore Keynotes from Time Machine Backup Manually
Method #3. How to Restore an Earlier Version of Keynote File on Mac

Method #1. Easiest to Recover Delted Keynote Files on Mac

It’s amazing how you can use data rescue tool for Mac to recover keynote presentation without saving. Here, we recommend you try - iBeesoft Data recovery for Mac helps you to recover lost Keynote file even if it’s unsaved, deleted, formatted, emptying the recycle bin, improper operation or other file loss scenarios. There’s are just simple steps to follow since this program made it very user-friendly and efficient to use. It is a best Mac data recovery software, that helps you recover a keynote file on Mac, powerpoint, excel, word, PDF, photo, music, video and more files. It can recover deleted/lost keynote file from Mac hard disk, SD card, USB drive, digital camera, etc.

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Simply follow the steps below to find out how to recover keynote presentation

Step 1. Download and Install Keynote Recovery Software

The free Mac data recovery tool has a free trial and it will allow you to test it’s functionality prior to recover Keynote presentation files on Mac or external storage devices. It even has a preview of the files so you will not retrieve an incorrect presentation.

Step 2. Filter out the file types to recover.

Yes, it has an option to let you choose specific file types so you will not need to scan for your whole drive. It will save you a lot of time by simply unchecking the unnecessary file types that are checked by default. Once done selecting the file types for scanning, you can now proceed with a Quick Scan on your Mac by clicking on "Start" to scanning and recover lost keynote presentation.

Tip: if you don't know the types of the file, you can directly click the big "Start" button to next.

Step 3. Select the Directory.

You will see the available directories on your Mac in this Window. Select the location where you saved your lost Keynote presentation and start the scanning process by clicking on the "Scan" button to analysis the drive.

Step 4. Recover Keynote presentation

Since by default the Keynote recovery software runs a Quick Scan. This will only take a few minutes to look for your accidentally deleted or lost keynote presentation within the directory that you chose earlier. The tool will allow you to filter the file types, if you selected multiple on step 1, then it will let you preview on the right part of the window. Once you see the missing Keynote presentation, you can now select it then click on the "Recover" button to recover Keynote file in your Mac.

NOTE: If you saved it on an external hard drive make sure that you save the files this time around on your Mac to avoid losing them again. Also, if a Quick Scan does not locate the missing Keynote presentation you can always perform a Deep Scan recovery Keynote on Mac. This is going to take a lot more time since it will scan the whole system for your file.

Method #2. Restore Keynotes from Time Machine Backup Manually

Have you ever used the Time Machine? I hope you have. If you are a Mac user, this is very important as the Time Machine backs-up your files and it will make your life easier in the event that you are in this unfortunate situation. This is the long way of doing it and requires familiarity with your Mac. How to restore keynote presentation after the crash using Time Machine is relatively easy, as long as you follow these steps (assuming you already have done a previous backup with it).

1. Open the folder where the Keynote file was saved or where it disappeared.

2. Open the Time Machine menu, select Enter Time Machine. You can also find Time Machine on the dock then click it.

3. Locate the Keynote presentation that you want to restore.

4. To restore keynote file, click on the "Restore button. You can also check other options for the file by Control-click on the file.

Method #3. How to Restore an Earlier Version of Keynote File on Mac.

Did you know that whenever you save that Keynote presentation it does not overwrite it but instead creates a new version of the file? That’s why you can always go back in time and restore a previous version or save a copy of the older version of the file you created. You even have an option to copy-paste from the old version to the new one.

1. With your current Keynote presentation open, go to File then Revert To. Choose Browse All Versions. It will show thumbnails of the older versions on the right side and your current version on the left. It will also show a vertical timeline located on the right part of your screen.

2. Click on the timeline on the right side or click the up and down arrow beside the thumbnails to preview the file or you can view it in full size by clicking on the thumbnail instead.

3. To recover keynote presentation file, click on the Restore button underneath the thumbnail.

It replaces the current version with the restored version, so be very careful. You always have an option to save a copy instead of restoring by holding down the Option key and selecting Restore a Copy. Both of the saved copy and the current version remains open in two separate windows.

So there you have it. You can now recover keynote file without saving and you also know now how to recover keynote presentation after the crash. Just make sure you make it a habit to back up your files using Time Machine to make sure you can always go back in time.