Recovering a file sent by email and saved by me

[Guest]

I was sent a file via email, opened it and added a few pages of work, and was
saving it every few minutes. I never specified where it should be saved, and
now I can't find it. I can find a version without any changes. I have looked
EVERYWHERE and am afraid it is gone forever. Is this possible? Shouldn't it
be somewhere in it's most recent form since I saved it?

 

[Charles Kenyon]

This is one reason, of several reasons, for not opening attachments directly
from email. They are saved in a temporary directory or folder. Since this is
a system folder, it may not be visible on your hard drive unless you set
your viewing and search preferences to allow you to see such folders. Even
then, your file may be gone; that is the idea of temporary folders. Better
practice is to always save attachments to disk from the email and then open
them from the disk copy.
--
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




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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.

 

[Guest]

Firstly, I must stress that if you only opened the file at first, not saving
it to disk straight away from your email, then it will not be on your
computer. You will have to open the email again and SAVE it to your computer.
Only then can it be edited and stored properly on your computer.

If you did however save the work before editing it, please read on.

Basically, your file will never completely be gone without you doing a hell
of a lot of work to get rid of it.

First thing I recommend is just running a Search for the file. You can do
this by going on the Start Menu and running a search through your entire C:\
Drive (or equivelent hard drive, or all of your computer if you have more
than one HDD).

If your computer still turns up no results, try looking in your Recycle Bin,
it may well of been accidently deleted, and as long as no one has removed
items from your Recycle Bin, you will be able to recover any deleted work
from there.

If the Recycle Bin still cant find anything, just confirm that you didnt do
what I said in my first paragraph (saving the work before editing).

If your 100% certain of saving, please read this more complex solution.

It turns out someone has deleted the work from the Recycle Bin on your
computer.
Now its a rough business, but it MAY be possible to recover your work still.
It all depends on how much you've been doing since the loss of the work.

If this occured weeks ago, forget it pal, you've lost your work (most likely)
Otherwise, continue..

I recommend searching into Google "File recovery software", and looking
around for a freeware program that searches the traces of your recycle bin.
There are numerous versions around that can find traces and recover the
original file. Just follow the read-me to that Freeware software and try and
find your file.

If you still cant find the file, its likely you've either just done too much
stuff on your computer, so the trace of the file has been deleted to make
space on your Hard Drive, or, its still somewhere, in a hidden folder maybe,
on your computer. It'll take a long time to find it if this is the case.

I hope this helps
Matt Kneale.

 

[Tony Jollans]

If you are using Outlook for e-mail AND you have not yet closed it, your
file MAY BE lurking out of sight.

Open a Command Prompt Window (Start > All Programs > Accessories > Command
Prompt). If you know what you're doing you may be able to short cut this but
...

(assuming your documents and settings is on your C drive) Enter C: (that's
C, colon)

Enter cd \documents and settings\(userid)\local settings\temporary internet
files (putting your own userid in place of "(userid)")

Enter dir /ad

If there is a folder listed beginning with OLK, note the name of it - if not
you're out of luck

Now go to My Computer (or Windows Explorer) and type into the address bar:

c:\documents and settings\(userid)\local settings\temporary internet
files\OLKnn (whatever the name of the OLK folder is)

If your document still exists you may find it here. If there is more than
one folder beginning OLK, look in all of them. It may be a long shot but
it's worth a look.

 

[Graham Mayor]

If the file is still present in the temporary internet cache area of the
hard drive, then if you open it again from the e-mail into Word. Select File

Save As, and the dialog will open at the correct temporary location. If

the file is present in the list, select, right click and copy it to the
clipboard. Move focus to your documents folder and paste the file. Cancel
the Save As, close the file without saving and open the copied file.

In future save attachments to the hard drive *before* opening in Word!

--
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Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com

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