auto backup

[Ron Patterson]

Re Office XP - Word 2002
Where is the default switch so that whenever I create a new document and
save it one (or twice?)
it will automatically make a backup copy?
And how do I control the number of backups I can make. I can't find it in
this version. In my old Word 97 I could make a backup and a backup of a
backup.
Any way to do this?

Thanks
The A. Baba
Blue Master

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

To understand "automatic saves" and "automatic backups" in Word, see
http://word.mvps.org/faqs/general/AutomaticSave.htm

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

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all may benefit.

 

[Ron Patterson]

Thanks Suzanne, nice article. Best I have seen on this subject. And I have
been fooling
with this for 3 hours now, scoured the internet, clicked all the right boxes
in Tools/Options/Save and I still can't come up
with a *.wbk file. I create new test files, and save them 3 or 4 times,
close them, open them, save them, etc and never come up with a .wbk backup
file. In my old Office I could even end up with a backup of a backup. What
am I doing wrong?
Ron
ps The web page says "How can I make Word backup or save my document
automatically? - You can’t! You may have heard that Word can automatically
save your document at specified intervals or create a backup copy for
security. Do not believe this!" Well, how is it that on the one hand,
"Word can not backup my document automatically", and then proceed to tell us
how to create a backup copy via the "Always create backup copy" button?
(which doesn't work for me per the above). What am I missing?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

You will not see the .wbk file unless you have All Files selected in File
Open, and you will not see the .wbk extension unless you have told Windows
NOT to "Hide file extensions for known file types," in Windows Explorer's
Tools | Folder Options | Advanced.

What most people mean when they say "backup" is a second, security copy of a
file in another location. The .wbk file is not that. It is a copy of the
previously saved version of a file, and it is stored in the same folder with
the file. If you want a security copy of the file, you have to copy it
yourself--to a different folder or to some form of removable media.

What I wanted to get across in the article is that, although there are
settings in Word that allow you to automatically save a more-or-less current
copy of the file in case of disaster (the AutoRecovery backup) and to
automatically save a copy of the previous version to fall back on (the .wbk
file), there is no provision in Word for saving a copy of the latest version
of the file. Graham's utility (to which I included a link) will do this for
you if you like.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

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all may benefit.

 

[Ron Patterson]

Thanks Suzanne.
Yes, have selected all files *.*.
Yes, I never "Hide file extensions for known file types"
And still no .wbk files.
Yes, I understand what a security copy is and that is not what I want. I
just want the extra backup file
in My Docs as I often use the original to start a new file hit Save by
mistake instead of save As
and thereby lose my original.
Gonna give up on me or can you find some other reason I am either not
creating .wbk files
or can't find them?

Thanks,
Ron
ps - Both Excel and Word are configured the same and while both my Excel
..xls and .xlk files all show
my Word .wbk files will either not create or display.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I can't think of any explanation for this, but you are taking into
consideration that all the .wbk filenames begin with "Backup of...," so they
sort near the top of the file list?

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Ron Patterson]

Well, I like an honest answer. And yes, I understand top of the list.
This is so strange, because some time ago, I spent a long time figuring out
how to do it in Excel
by formatting Book1.xls file and Save As, with an 'always make backup" and
saving it it
Docs and Settings/User Name/Application Data/Microsoft/Excel/Start as
Book.xlt
and that solved that problem. Now any new file is opened to this
configuration and
the backup works like it should. No luck applying the same concept to Word.
I just hate to give up on these anomalies. I do appreciate your help and if
something
occurs to you, or you can refer me to someone, that would be great.

Thanks Suzanne,
Ron

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Just to clarify: you should not be needing to edit the Registry or create
any type of file to enable this option in Word. All you have to do is check
the box on the Save tab of Tools | Options. If you're asked to save
Normal.dot when you quit Word, say yes (the setting isn't really stored in
Normal.dot, but I'm convinced you sometimes get this prompt even when
settings are stored in the Registry). If your settings are not being saved,
then it could be that you need to rebuild the Data key in the Registry; see
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/AppErrors/MissngMenusEtc.htm. But I confess I'm
still perplexed as to why you would not immediately start seeing the backup
files. Naturally there is not one the first time you save a document, but
the second time you save, you should see both the doc file and the .wbk file
(in addition, as long as you have the file open, if you have All Files
displayed, you're likely to see a lot of ~wrlxxxx.tmp files, one more each
time you save after the .wbk file is created).

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.