Recovering deleted data within a document?

My apologies for probably the wrong terminology.  My uncle called in a panic.  I don't know what actually happened, but the result was his 80,000 word MS Word Document appears to have had all of the words deleted and then been saved in that empty state.  Is there any way to recover those lost words in the way a deleted file can be recovered if the sectors have not been overwritten?  I'm not optimistic.

Of course, he uses no backup software or cloud drives and has never bothered to attach his backup drive to his system.  

If it helps it's Windows 10 Home edition and the drive is 90% empty and I shut down the system after confirming the above (to make sure it wasn't just hidden text, or the wrong file, or something that was tracked by "track changes."  

THANKS.

1st thing to do is right click the Document. Select Restore Previous Versions in the context menu. If a previous version is available it show one or more files.

Download Shadow Explorer. If a Restore Point is available it can open it and allow you to explore the Restore Point. Browse to the location of the Word Document on the HDD. It would be in Users<user name>

https://www.shadowexplorer.com/downloads.html

Read the Documentation first

https://www.shadowexplorer.com/downloads.html

Thanks so much for your input. There is no previous version of the file.  I have not yet tried shadowexplorer, but I did look for Restore Points and there were none.  I'll try Shadowexplorer now.

JohnC_21 you are our hero!!!  That Shadowexplorer was amazing and recovered the file!  I am more of a Mac guy, but can usually find my way around Windows; however, that seemed a lot like magic.  Thanks again!!!!!

You're Welcome,

Glad you were able to recover the file. Always best to have a backup of important personal data either on a USB HDD or in the cloud. 

In future, Word can make backups

Microsoft Learn:Save, back up, and recover a file in Microsoft Office

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/save-back-up-and-recover-a-file-in-microsoft-office-a7f0a209-ad22-4212-bb53-6cd8e801a6fb

Microsoft Learn: Recover an earlier version of a Word File (using Autorecover)

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/recover-an-earlier-version-of-a-word-file-439d91d7-fe33-4edf-aa94-4b631c7ac380

Tips.net Making (WORD) Backup Copies

https://wordribbon.tips.net/T009768_Making_Backup_Copies.html

NOTE: Some of these methods MS promotes only work if you enable them before you delete your file/data. They don't work after the fact if you haven't previously enabled them.