Recovering hidden Mac Word file with shadow-like appearance

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Level 1

4 points

Recovering hidden Mac Word file with shadow-like appearance

I want some help. I have a user who has a Mac Word file she needs to recover. She is stating that the file is hidden; she worked on the file, and then her computer restarted and lost the document. I told her to check the recycle bin to see if its in there. She said she created the file, modifying it from a previous file, and now it won't let her open the file. She then said this I found the missing text. The hidden document is visible in a shadow-like form. When she went to rename the document, there was no dot at the beginning of the file name. The renaming process did not result in the document being made visible?

Can I get some help please?

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: Mac word issue

iMac (M4)

Posted on Oct 2, 2025 6:59 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Benjaminy55

Level 1

12 points

Oct 9, 2025 4:16 AM in response to alex2718

Sounds like the file got corrupted or partially hidden after the restart. Have her open Finder → press Command + Shift + . (dot) to show hidden files, then check the same folder. If it’s still dimmed or “ghosted,” copy it to another location and try opening it from Word → File → Open → Recover Unsaved Documents. If that fails, look in ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Word/Data/Library/Preferences/AutoRecovery — her latest draft might still be there.

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Answer 2

Tasjoun

Level 1

8 points

Oct 9, 2025 1:21 AM in response to alex2718

Have her open Word and go to:

Word → Preferences → File Locations → AutoRecover files
Note the folder path, then navigate there in Finder

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Answer 3

Ladybang

Level 1

20 points

Oct 13, 2025 2:56 AM in response to alex2718

Check if the file is hidden in Finder

Open Terminal.
Navigate to the folder where the file is located, or just stay in the current directory.
Run this command to list all files, including hidden ones: ls -la
Look for the file in question. If it appears with a dot (.) at the start, it's hidden.

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Answer 4

HWTech

Level 9

68,444 points

Oct 13, 2025 7:23 AM in response to Ladybang

Ladybang wrote:

• Check if the file is hidden in Finder

Open Terminal.

• Navigate to the folder where the file is located, or just stay in the current directory.

These instructions are incomplete. You are assuming the person understands the command line.....most people asking for assistance on this forum have no clue how to use the command line. So that means they will have no way of knowing how to change to a different folder/directory using the command line, or how to provide a proper path to the commands. Providing a path is not simple especially if spaces are involved.

FYI, a simpler & more user friendly option is to have the user toggle the showing of hidden items off & on within the Finder itself using the following keys (the Finder must be in focus):

Shift  +  Command  +  Period/Dot

Not all folders contain hidden items so pressing these keys may not make any noticeable change until the user navigates to a folder containing hidden items such as the user's home user folder (the one with the house icon). This folder can be accesses by clicking the Finder's "Go" menu and select "Home" which contains a hidden Library folder that will appear ghosted, and perhaps one or two other hidden files with names beginning with a dot.

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