Lost Word file. Please HELP

  • Thread starter Thread starter Constantin
  • Start date Start date
C

Constantin

I opened a Word .doc file that had been attached to an e-mail. I worked
several hours on the file, prudently saving it from time to time. I did not
save it under a different name, I just clicked on File>Save.

At the end of a long day of back-breaking work, I closed Word. The next day
I try to open the file but Word doesn't seem to remember it. It is not in
the list of recently used files. I search My Documents to no avail. I go to
the original e-mail, but the attachment is still the original version,
without any of my additions. What is going on? It seems like I lost a day's
hard work.

Is there any way to retrieve this file? I kept saving it and Word went
through the motions of saving. It must be somewhere.

Sorry for the dumb question. I can't bear the thought of re-doing the whole
thing.

Constantin
 
Find an email with a Word doc attached. Open the attachment. Go to File,
Save As...

Look at the location it uses. Bet your doc is in there.

Also, you can use Start, Find Files (or Search) and look for *.doc. You may
need to change the search options to, but you'll find it.

(-:
 
Thanks for the advice, I was able to retrieve the file, thank heavens!

With Save As I was able to find the file in a subfolder of Temporary
Internet Files, named with a non-sense combinations of letters. However,
when I tried to access this subfolder, it was nowhere to be seen, even
though I asked for hidden files and folders to be visible (I was logged on
with administrative privileges). I don't know what I was doing wrong.

Your second piece of advice worked better. After checking Search Hidden
Files, my search came up with a Recent shortcut. The actual file was still
not found by the Search. Using the shortcut, though, I was able to open the
file. I don't know what the Microsoft people are thinking, depriving my of
access to my own files!

Anyway, thanks a million

Constantin
 
I'd have to agree with you there - as the only end user tech support
at my site (along with a hundred other duties), I'm constantly being
asked where in the world files went when saved from Outlook since we
upgraded to 2003 - and since they are in folders that MS has taken it
upon themselves to restrict access to, it can be quite a mess.

Do any of the Outlook guru's in the group know how (or if there is a
way) to set the default "SAVE" location back to My Documents?
Preferably a GPO or other sytem-level control - but I'd change every
profile manually if I had to, compared to the amount of time
retraining people that "EVERY TIME YOU WANT TO SAVE AN ATTACHMENT, YOU
MUST USE 'SAVE AS'...

And while we're on this topic, can someone explain if those temporary
folders EVER get emptied, or are they always growing until they are
manually cleared? If an end user doesn't have Internet Access (I've
got plenty of those), do I still have to train them to clear the
Internet cache to get rid of them?

Just my two cents. Any answers would be worth much more than that...
JeffG
 
The only way I get to the scratch folder for Save As is to open a document
directly from Outlook which is never a good idea. If I right-click on the
attachment and save it, I am taken to the default directory (or the folder I
last saved something in if Word is open). The same is true if I double-click
on the attachment and choose the Save option.
--

Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide

See also the MVP FAQ: http://www.mvps.org/word which is awesome!
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies
and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn
from my ignorance and your wisdom.
 
I've discouraged them from using Word as the email editor, so for the
most part none of the Word paths matter in my case. This
"discouragement" is for support reasons - why support two applications
for email when you only need one? Everything is easier to
troubleshoot when Word is turned off in Outlook. For the most part,
only the secretaries here use Word at all, we're definintely an
Excel-driven enterprise ;-)

And my users insist on working within Outlook - and I can't blame
them, it's much easier to open a file (generally Excel) from a
coworker in Outlook (double-click to open the attachment), add your
revisions/changes, save the changes and mail it back. Well, it's
easier if you can find the file after you save it anyway. The default
seems to be to save into the "scratch folder" if you open it in
Outlook - maybe Word is influencing your Save option path?

I'm not really sure why it's "never a good idea" to open an attachment
in Outlook? If your virus scan software has email hooks, what
difference does it make? What am I missing?

-J

_____________________

The only way I get to the scratch folder for Save As is to open a
document directly from Outlook which is never a good idea. If I
right-click on the attachment and save it, I am taken to the default
directory (or the folder I last saved something in if Word is open).
The same is true if I double-click on the attachment and choose the
Save option.
--

Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide

See also the MVP FAQ: http://www.mvps.org/word which is awesome!
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies
and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn
from my ignorance and your wisdom.
 
A big reason is this one, you lose Word files! General advice is for people
with dubious AV software implementation.
Yes, Word probably is influencing the location, since Word tends to be open
on my desktop 80% of the time.
--

Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide

See also the MVP FAQ: http://www.mvps.org/word which is awesome!
--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies
and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn
from my ignorance and your wisdom.
 
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