Lost Word files?

[Dean]

Forgive me once more, as I have posted this on other newsgroups that have no activity whatsoever since earlier yesterday, so it looks like this is the place to be seen! Even though my computer may be overloaded and should be rebooted, I am afraid to shut it down, lest I lose what temporary background-save fragments I need to recover what I seem to have lost - that is why I have this sense of urgency. Here is what I posted elsewhere yesterday, please help! :

I was working on a few MS Word documents today, documents that I update daily and, I took a couple of hours off and when I came back, MS Word was closed and, when I reopened Word, the documents had none of the changes I had made today.

My settings are to allow "background saves" and to do autorecover every 10 minutes. When, I did a search for Word docs modified in the last day, my files (which I update and resave daily) showed up, but none of them had any updates I've done in the last 24 hours in them, even though I think they showed today's date (not sure on that). Some of the temporary hushed files (same name with a tilde in front) seem to show up, but if you open them by themselves, it's garbage. Now, I did the search again, 15 minutes later, and far fewer files show up.

I don't understand this. Can someone tell me the best way to integrate whatever background saved files I have, in order to try to resurrect what I did today?

Thanks so much, Dean

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I fear you have misunderstood the purpose of "background" saves. This
setting is relevant only when you save manually. See
http://word.mvps.org/faqs/general/AutomaticSave.htm.

You have learned the folly of leaving an unsaved document open unattended.
If your computer is set to allow entirely automatic updates (Control Panel |
Automatic Updates), you have given Windows permission to shut down any
running programs (without saving open files) in order to restart the
computer when necessary after installing updates. If you have any control
over the process, you would be wise to set Automatic Updates to notify
instead; this gives you control of the process: you can decide when (or
whether) to download the updates, when (or whether) to install them, and
when to restart the computer after installing.

--
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.

Forgive me once more, as I have posted this on other newsgroups that have no
activity whatsoever since earlier yesterday, so it looks like this is the
place to be seen! Even though my computer may be overloaded and should be
rebooted, I am afraid to shut it down, lest I lose what temporary
background-save fragments I need to recover what I seem to have lost - that
is why I have this sense of urgency. Here is what I posted elsewhere
yesterday, please help! :

I was working on a few MS Word documents today, documents that I update
daily and, I took a couple of hours off and when I came back, MS Word was
closed and, when I reopened Word, the documents had none of the changes I
had made today.

My settings are to allow "background saves" and to do autorecover every 10
minutes. When, I did a search for Word docs modified in the last day, my
files (which I update and resave daily) showed up, but none of them had any
updates I've done in the last 24 hours in them, even though I think they
showed today's date (not sure on that). Some of the temporary hushed files
(same name with a tilde in front) seem to show up, but if you open them by
themselves, it's garbage. Now, I did the search again, 15 minutes later,
and far fewer files show up.

I don't understand this. Can someone tell me the best way to integrate
whatever background saved files I have, in order to try to resurrect what I
did today?

Thanks so much, Dean

 

[Bill Ridgeway]

Suzanne S. Barnhill wrote << I fear you have misunderstood the purpose of
"background" saves>> To take this one step further background saves allow
other 'work' to take priority over saving so that it is not slowed down by
the process of saving. This is especially useful for slow or under
resourced computers. Creating a backup copy (which I think is what you
want) <Tools><Options><Save><Always create a backup copy> creates a backup
file every time the file is saved. You could also auto save a file every
'n' minutes <Tools><Options><Save><Save auto recovery info every> and the
time interval.

Regards.

Bill Ridgeway
Computer Solutions

 

[Dean]

Ouch, but thank you. I thought that windows usually warned me that it was
going to install the updates, but I guess, if you're not there to tell it to
wait, sooner or later, it goes forward. Is it Ok to let it automatically
download them but not install them without permission - or does it still
install them, in that mode, if you are away from your computer too long?

What are these little hushed tilde (~filename.doc) things that show up on a
search, with more recent dates/times? Are they of any use?

Thanks!
Dean

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

The ~$lename.doc file is the "owner" file (see “Description of how Word
creates temporary files” at http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=211632). It
won't help you at all; it just locks the document for editing by any other
user. If you see ~$xxxwrl.tmp files, then they may be useful, as they are
created every time you save (but if you didn't save, you won't have any).

I have Windows (2000--it may be different in XP) set to notify, and it tells
me when updates are available. I can then choose to download them (as in
fact I did yesterday), and then it tells me again when they're ready to be
installed (I haven't gotten this notification yet--haven't yet figured out
why it takes longer to download updates over DSL, which is always on then it
did during the few unused cycles of dialup). In both cases, I don't get the
notice till I click on the icon in the Systray.

Once I've been notified that they're ready to install, I can choose not to
install them, and I think there's a Later button that perhaps delays till
the next day, but I'm not sure about that. My experience with the Later
button wrt restarting after the install is that it keeps prompting again
every few minutes until you're ready to throw in the towel. I usually tell
it Later and then restart manually because my earlier experience with
saying, "Yes, restart my computer now" was that it went off into
Neverneverland and required a hard shutdown (turning off the power button)
to get out of the loop.

--
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.

 

[Dean]

Looks like I'm out of luck. I have put auto updates on manual.

Any idea what Bill Ridgeway was trying to tell me in this thread?

Thanks!
Dean

 

[Dean]

sorry, I missed the transition between her quote and your comments, Bill

Thanks much,
Dean

 

[Graham Mayor]

Word XP works in much the same way with respect to updates. It will warn (by
means of that icon in the systray) that they are available and then you can
choose whether to download them or not.

The OP may want to see
http://www.gmayor.com/what_to_do_when_word_crashes.htm also.

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com

<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I'm now totally confused, because I okayed download of at least half a dozen
updates, and this morning I was notified that ONE was ready to be installed.
I also got a notice about the August Malicious Software Removal Tool, which
I'd already okayed several days ago. Huh?

--
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.

 

[Dean]

Thanks, I will read that linked document soon. I guess if I had not
restarted WORD, I might have had a chance to find something - right?

Dean

 

[Graham Mayor]

I don't even check them any more. I install my updates from Technet when
someone else has found the bugs

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com

<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>

 

[Graham Mayor]

I thought we had decided it was the update tool that had closed Word? Your
better plan is to get into the habit of saving documents frequently. Press
CTRL+S every time you pause for breath - and have the backup option set in
tools > options > save.

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com

<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>

 

[Dean]

Well, that is what Suzanne assumed. Regardless, what I meant is that, if I
had looked for these files before re-opening WORD, perhaps I could have
found something?

Or is that wrong?

 

[Graham Mayor]

Word doesn't close on its own, so Suzanne's submission was the most likely
explanation. If the application was shut down correctly, there would be no
crash condition, so playing with temporary files would not have helped.
Word's lock files do not contain a copy of the document.

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com

<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>

 

[Dean]

thx all!

Word doesn't close on its own, so Suzanne's submission was the most likely
explanation. If the application was shut down correctly, there would be no
crash condition, so playing with temporary files would not have helped.
Word's lock files do not contain a copy of the document.

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com

<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>