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EXCEL FILE CONTENTS DISAPPEARED!

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mamarockstar

Technical User
Aug 24, 2005
18
US
I have Excel 2003. I was working on a file and Excel stopped responding. I CTRL+ALT+DEL, went back into Excel and there was no auto recovered document. I opened my file and there is nothing in it. All my data is gone!

I went to Microsoft's site and tried some troubleshooting:

-File, Open-Open & Repair, Repair
-Start, All Programs, MO Tools, MO Application Recovery
-I checked the Auto Recovery settings and it was on

Still nothing.

2 things:

1. I'll try these steps the next time before doing CTRL+ALT+DEL, but I want to know why I can't recover anything!?

2. Is there any way possible to recover my data???

Thanks!
 
1) Open Excel.
2) Go to Tools.
3) Click Options.
4)Click on the Save tab.
5) Set the Auto Recovery time to something fairly short.
6) Set your AutoRecovery location.

Note: Before you make the above changes, note where autorecover currently resides. Go to that location and see if your spreadsheet exists there.

And lastly. Save, Save, Save. ESPECIALLY IF THE SPREADSHEET IS IMPORTANT.
 
That's the thing - this document was updated on a daily basis. It's been saved everyday since July 1. I go in, type in my numbers, save, and close out of it.

I did go to the autorecovery place. There was a spreadsheet there that was blank when I opened it.

That's what is really strange - it wasn't a new document. This doc is one we use every day - I can't imagine why it did not auto recover...

Thanks for your help.
 
Every office application has (tools > options > write options tab) access to auto recover settings (enabled/disabled) and frequency. What are they in your case?
There's location of recovery files too, you can try here, however it is probably empty (except of excel(x).xlb file, that stores toolbars settings).

combo
 
Auto recovery is enabled - every 10 minutes.

The real problem here is that the whole entire spreadsheet is gone. The filename is there, I open it, and it is blank. This document is updated and saved on a daily basis.

It does not make sense as to why when Excel stopped responding, I got out, went back in, and my file is empty. Everything that has been inputted and saved daily since July 1 is gone. All my data was there when Excel stopped responding. I could see losing anything I had just typed. Why would I lose everything?
 
Possible file corruption?

Have you tried restoring the file from the previous day's backup?

Cheers.
 
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