I just accidentally 'Don't Save'd a Word document. CAn I get it back?

Question

I just inadvertently "Don't Save"ed a Word document. It had not been Save-ed or Named at any point. CAn I get it back?

Answer 1

You are correct. Time Machine can't backup a file that is not saved. And in "bopdog"s question above, I agree that her chances of getting her Word file back are slim to none. Bopdog specified that s/he never saved the Word file at all. In my experience and testing, I have never seen a Microsoft Office program create an Auto-Recover file of an open, but unsaved file, except when a program crash has occurred. I have seen Excel create an Auto-Recover file of an open document that had never been saved, when Excel crashed. So your point is well taken, and is likely correct in bopdog's case.
However, Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 programs, do save files automatically. If you have not changed the preferences, Office will automatically save an open, previously-saved, file every 10 minutes to the file location of Microsoft Office Auto-Recover documents (by default: Users > usernamehomefolder > Library > Application Support > Microsoft > Office > Office 2011 AutoRecovery). And if you use Time Machine, it will back up the Auto-Recover files every hour.
There are numerous support and forum Q&As across the internet where posters have basically said "if you click 'Don't Save' you are doomed." And there are numerous Q&As that explain where to find MS Office Auto-Recover files, and others that suggest Time Machine as a way to recover files. My post was meant to point out the fact that the combination of Auto-Recover and Time Machine can often allow you to recover a file (with at least some of your otherwise lost work) when you accidentally click "Don't Save."
The reason for my enthusiasm in the post is that I had just recovered several hours of work using the method I described. Here's what happened in my specific case:
I was working on a Word document that had been saved previously.
I spent several hours over the course of a workday bouncing between the open Word document and multitasking with other programs and files.
In the evening I went back to work on the file for a while, then I got distracted.
I went to install some new software and when my Mac asked me to Restart, I blithely shut down all my programs.
When Word asked, I accidentally clicked "Don't Save" on the file that I had been working on off-and-on all day, without saving.
I shut down Word normally and restarted the computer.
I then re-opened the Word file (opened recent documents) and realized that hours and hours of work were gone!
I went to Auto-Recover and there was no Auto-Recover file for the Word document. That is the way Auto-Recover unfortunately works. If you say "Don't Save" it assumes you mean it, and it deletes the Auto-Recover file. You can't get it back.
However, Time Machine backed up the Auto-Recover file. It was still there in my last Time Machine backup. In my case I didn't lose one minute of my work, because the Word file had been sitting there open for hours, without me working on it, and Time Machine backed up the Auto-Recover file every hour.
So yes, you can recover a Word file that YOU did not (recently) save, even if you clicked "Don't Save," because Auto-Recover saves files automatically, and Time Machine backs up the Auto-Recover files. It may not work in every case, but it sure saved my butt a couple days ago. So forgive my enthusiasm, but I was pretty stoked to get a few hours of my life back, and wanted to share this with the Mac community.