Saved Word File Not Saved

[ginger213]

Hi,

Is there any way to recover a Word file after the program is closed? I was working on a Word document and saving every few minutes by clicking on the floppy disk. Then I inserted the document into an email and sent it, but when I checked the file it was missing a substantial part, and when I looked at the "modified date" it showed last night, although I modified it this morning and hit "save" more than once.

Any hope of recovery ... and why would this happen?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

ginger

 

[kjv1611]

Well, given that you were hitting the save button, and not choosing "save as", you don't really know where the last file is.

If there is any possible way you had already attached the document to your email, and THEN opened it from the email, then you saved it to a temp folder, and not to where you THINK you saved it.

Regardless of where it is, you can try some various searches. You can use Windows built-in search, or you can try a 3rd party. If it were me, I'd first look for any files changed today. If that ends up being too big to sort through, or not return anything, then you can try searching wild cards, the doc/docx extensions, wild cards of those extensions, etc.

My personal favorite searching tool is SearchMyFiles - if the file is anywhere, and you give it the right critieria, it'll find it, guaranteed! ;0)

 

[ginger213]

Thanks for that info kjv. I opened the file, worked on it, then hit the save button so I thought that it would be saving it to the file that I opened.

I actually closed Word before attaching it to the email because lately it seems I've been getting a popup asking if I want to merge file.doc with file1.doc or something similar. Since I didn't know what file1.doc was, I always said "no" since I didn't want to overwrite anything unintentionally.

I think I might be out of luck, but I'll try your suggestions.

ginger

 

[kjv1611]

It sounds JUST like what I'm talking about may very well be your issue. Try searching for any files modified today, and see if it pops up.

Otherwise, lesson learned - Always make sure you open files from your folders rather than direct from email if there is any way you'll be changing them.. or you can force yourself to do that as a normal rule to avoid such problems in the future.

 

[cmeagan656]

Open Word and see if the document that you were working on is listed in your "recent documents". You "may" be able to open it from there.

You say that you were saving it by clicking on the "floppy disk". Is that where the original file was, on a floppy disk? Or did you open it from within an e-mail?

Another option is to search your computer for any doc (or docx if using Word 2007) files with a modified date of today. Be sure that you search hidden files and folders and system files in case it is in a temp folder.

Hope this helps.

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[fumei]

And do not EVER use a floppy disk (or any other non-HD device) to save original files. EVER.

"I opened the file, "

Opened from where? The floppy?

The big question (unanswered) is if you opened the file from an email. In other words, did you attach the file to an email, and then used THAT source to "open" it? If you did, the the file you opened is NOT the one on the floopy. Yes, you can open it, yes you can save things to it, but it is NOT the file on the floppy.

Gerry

 

[ginger213]

I think you misunderstood what I was saying.

I opened the file from the folder where it was originally saved (a directory in my documents folder). I worked on it for 30 minutes or so and hit the save (floppy disk) icon every 5 or 10 minutes.

Then I closed out of Word before sending the email.

I created the email, then browsed to my documents folder and inserted the file from the original folder where I had saved it.

Then, because of a popup I get now and then about merging changes, I decided I would look at the file that was sent. I opened the "sent" message and opened the attached document. It had none of the changes that I had just made today.

I did a search for all files dated yesterday or today with *.doc. I got several with a squiggle in front of a file name, but they were only 1 or 2k, should have been around 550k. I also saw one that was around 520k ... which was the one without today's edits.

I guess I'll have to do a Save As with a different name every time I save from now on. (This is Word 2002 by the way, so maybe I need to update.)

Thanks again.

 

[ginger213]

I'm not using any floppy disk nor did I edit anything in an email.

What I meant was that I clicked on the disk icon to "Save" rather than go to "File|Save". If I browse to a directory and open a document, I should be able to edit and just click that "Save" icon, right?

The only thing I said about email was that I opened the message that was sent to see what had been sent and it did NOT include the changes I made today to the original file in the original location.

 

[fumei]

I opened the file from the folder where it was originally saved (a directory in my documents folder). I worked on it for 30 minutes or so and hit the save (floppy disk) icon every 5 or 10 minutes. "

It seems I was not understanding (as are others). You are calling the Save icon a "floppy disk"? Oh. I can see why, as it does indeed look like one. Ok.

I am still not following.

"The only thing I said about email was that I opened the message that was sent to see what had been sent and it did NOT include the changes I made today to the original file in the original location. "

"I decided I would look at the file that was sent. I opened the "sent" message and opened the attached document. It had none of the changes that I had just made today."


Why would it???? You sent it. Then made changes after. How could it have those changes???

Gerry

 

[ginger213]

I'm not expressing myself very well today.

I did not make changes after I emailed the message. I just opened the email (and the file that I attached to that email) that was in my "sent messages" folder, just to see what was actually sent ... because I've had problems before.

 

[hawkdaddy]

First open <start><my recent documents> if it is not there cross your fingers and try the suggestions here

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316950

 

[kjv1611]

Has the problem gone away today? If so, perhaps it was an April Fools joke played on you by your computer?

 

[ginger213]

Hi,

I tried all of the suggestions for searching for copies of the file, but did not find the one with the entire contents, so I must have inadvertently overwritten it (merged changes from one to another), although I never saved the file under any other name, in any other location.

I might have thought it was an April Fools trojan or virus, but it seems that I had this problem at least once before, so I must be doing something wrong, though I'm not sure what.

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions.

ginger

 

[Madawc]

If you didn't save from within Word, I'm not surprised something went wrong.

There is also an Auto-Recovery function available under Tools > Options > Save. Well worth setting.

Madawc Williams (East Anglia, UK). Using Crystal 10 & 11.5 with Windows XP

 

[ginger213]

If you didn't save from within Word, I'm not surprised something went wrong.

I don't know how I can make it any more clear. I DID save from within Word. You must not have read my posts. Do you mean because I didn't do "File|Save As"?

There is also an Auto-Recovery function available under Tools > Options > Save. Well worth setting.

It wass checked and set for every 10 minutes. I did a search for *.wbk files and found none.

However, according to the Microsoft article referenced above, apparently you also need to have the option checked for "Always Create Backup Copy", which I didn't. I guess I'll check that now.

Thanks anyway.

ginger

 

[hawkdaddy]

Could a thumb drive be involved?

 

[fumei]

No, you are not expressing very well.

""The only thing I said about email was that I opened the message that was sent to see what had been sent and it did NOT include the changes I made today to the original file in the original location. "

This is not making sense, so please tell us EXACTLY when, and what, you have done.

IF the email was sent - and it was - then I will repeat:

How could it????

"what had been sent and it did NOT include the changes I made today "

No changes made whatsoever (today, or any other time) to the original file will show up in the sent document. Once it is sent, then that is what is in the sent file.

Anything you do afterwords will NOT be in the file you can open from the sent email.

Gerry

 

[ginger213]

Could a thumb drive be involved?

Good question, but I did not have any thumb drives connected.

Once it is sent, then that is what is in the sent file.Anything you do afterwords will NOT be in the file you can open from the sent email.

Really? Have you read my posts in this thread?

I created the file last Wednesday and went to Save As | committee-info.doc in: My Documents/Committee/committee-info.doc.

Thursday morning I opened Word, selected committee-info.doc from the recent documents list. I worked on the file again for 20-30 minutes, saving by clicking the Save icon every 5-10 minutes. File is finished being edited, so ....

I closed Word and opened Outlook. I created a message in Outlook, then went to Insert | File | My Documents/Committee/committee-info.doc. I sent the email.

Then I went to Outlook | Sent Messages | and opened this email that I just sent. I opened the attached file to (VIEW ...NOT TO EDIT), and the contents were what was in the file on Wednesday. It did not contain the updates I made on Thursday, BEFORE I ever created the email.

I can't explain it any better than that.

Okay, I think this thread is starting to look like an April Fools joke. I bit, but it's not April Fools Day anymore. (-:

 

[fumei]

I am not sure why you wrote: "Really? Have you read my posts in this thread?"

I wrote that any changes you make afterwards will not show...and they do not.

OK, you are saying you did not make changes after. You:

1. wrote a file on Wednesday

2. edited (and saved) that file on Thursday

3. sent the file on Thursday (after the edit/save)

4. immediately after sending the file, opened the Sent message and viewed what was sent....and it was the file as of Wednesday, not Thursday.

Correct?

OK, if that is accurate, then one thing, and only one thing happened. You did not open and edit/save the same file.

The fact that you got the merge file question also indicates this.

Gerry

 

[ginger213]

Yes, I get that. I just don't know what other file there could have been, thus the reason for this entire thread. I never saved it anywhere else (knowingly), nor did I edit it after I emailed it.

The only possibility that I can think of is that maybe the computer restarted without my doing it, maybe overnight after a Windows update or something, and the file was saved with a different name to a temp folder or something, and then I opened it from the recent file list.

I did get the message asking if I wanted to merge some docs, but I wasn't aware of any other files for this document.

We can move on. Thanks everyone for your input.