How to retrieve days of work that I was writing and was lost when I tried to copy work by pressing "command and C"?

@Cynthia Velasco Wright

You will not get anyone from Microsoft Support to contact you by posting here. You will need to contact support thru one of the normal channels.

If you have a MS 365 Subscription, use this link https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/support

If not, your only choice is Chat Support:

• Open a browser to https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/home/contact
• Tell us your problem: {Short description of your issue}
• [Get Help] {Scroll down to the bottom of the page} [Sign in to Contact Support]
• Sign in with any Microsoft account
• Products and services: "Microsoft 365 and Office"
• Category: "Outlook"
• [Confirm]
• Choose a support option -> "Chat with a support agent in your web browser"

In Outlook for Mac, text typed in a message draft is not stored in the same AutoRecover locations as Word/Excel documents, so recovery options are limited. However, a few checks can be done:

1. Check the Drafts folder
   • In Outlook for Mac, look in the Drafts folder for any autosaved or earlier versions of the email.
   • Also check Deleted Items/Trash in case the draft was accidentally deleted.
2. Check if the text was in a Word document
   • If the work was actually being written in Word and then copied into an email, AutoRecover may have a copy.
   • On macOS, open Finder and select Go > Go to Folder (or press SHIFT+COMMAND+G).
   • Enter this path, replacing <username> with the macOS account name:
     • /Users/<username>/Library/Containers/com.Microsoft/Data/Library/Preferences/AutoRecovery
   • Look for recent Word AutoRecovery files and open them in Word. If the needed content appears, save the file immediately.
   • Note: If a file was closed and Don't Save was selected, the AutoRecover file is deleted and cannot be recovered.
3. If the file was in another Office app (Excel/PowerPoint)
   • Use Go > Go To Folder and check the app-specific AutoRecover locations:
     • PowerPoint: /Users/<username>/Library/Containers/com.Microsoft.Powerpoint/Data/Library/Preferences/AutoRecovery
     • Word: /Users/<username>/Library/Containers/com.Microsoft/Data/Library/Preferences/AutoRecovery
   • Open any recent AutoRecovered files and save them if they contain the lost work.
4. Use Document Recovery if an Office app crashed
   • If Word, Excel, or PowerPoint crashed while editing, reopening the app may show the Document Recovery pane.
   • Select the most recent version of the file and choose Open or Save As, then save it with a new name.
5. If nothing appears in Drafts, Deleted Items, or AutoRecover
   • When text is typed directly into an Outlook message and then replaced or cleared (for example by an accidental key sequence), and no draft or autosave exists, the lost text usually cannot be recovered.

To reduce future data loss, consider drafting long messages in Word first so AutoRecover can protect the content, then copy the final text into Outlook.

References:

• Recover your Word files and documents
• Recover files in Office for Mac
• Video: Recover Office files
• Help protect your files in case of a crash