A perennial doc file I edit often, utterly lost after program cras

O

Only Ork

I had a (rare for me on this XP system) Word program crash when I did a
"selet all" and "copy" intending for a new blank page. Can't now remember
whether I restarted my system or only Word, but...
I hoped that, upon restarting Word, then Document Recovery would save me
with its usual array alongside the left margin. But no. So, a file I've
kept (and updated) for a year or so seems utterly gone from my system. I
even have "Save Autorecover info every:" set for 9 minutes, and "Allow
background saves" enabled (under Tools /Options) and they've apparently not
saved my bacon here.
Help! There's just no trace of the familiar filename to be found on my
system! What'm I gonna do?? I suppose the sooner a suggestion arrives, the
more likely it can help me, so thanks much!
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

As long as you just copied and didn't cut, the content should still be
there, and I don't see how the document could have been even damaged, much
less lost, if you didn't save it. FWIW, neither AutoRecover nor background
save has anything to do with backups; saving backup copies would provide a
copy of the last-but-one saved version, but I repeat that the current one
should be intact.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org
 
O

Only Ork

BTW if it should matter, it was not a doc file but an rtf.
As to the idea"As long as you just copied and didn't cut, the content
should still be there, and I don't see how the document could have been even
damaged, much less lost, if you didn't save it"...I can only say "TELL me
about it!" This has never happened before or since. I'm completely
mystified. Only hoping there's some way to dig for a still-readable remnant
of the lost rtf file that supreme geeks might know.
 
T

Terry Farrell

Was the RTF doc on your local HDD? If so, try using advanced search in
Windows Explorer and search for files on the whole disk dated for a period
of time around the crash. I'd especially concentrate in the local temp file
where there may still be a temp file holding all of the data.
 
J

Jay Freedman

It may also be useful to search for files containing a phrase that's likely to
be unique to the document you're seeking.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so all
may benefit.
 
O

Only Ork

As to "concentrate in the local temp file," please tell me how to find the
folder, because my efforts have failed. I'm grateful for your suggestion and
the others here, but none have helped. This event is still the biggest
mystery in my own history using Word.
 
O

Only Ork

I've continued efforting on this "temp" file (or is it FOLDER?) possibility
you mention. And so far I'm getting NO WHERE. Is the following, from the
Word application embedded Help, of any relevance?
It says: "Specify a location for automatically recovered files
On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the File Locations tab.
In the File types box, click AutoRecover files.
Click Modify.
If you want to store automatically recovered files in a different folder,
locate and open the folder." I worked with this procedure some, but found no
trace of my lost file.
 
O

Only Ork

THANKS FOR YOUR EFFORTS ON MY QUESTION HERE, FOLKS, BUT DON'T WORRY BE HAPPY,
I'M REINVENTING THE LOST FILE TO NO REAL AWFUL HARM. I'D STILL LOVE TO
RECOVER THE ONE LOST, BUT TERRY F'S LINK HAS GIVEN ME THE IMPRESSION IT'S WAY
UNKLIKELY, ESPECIALLY AFTER OTHER ACTIVITY HAS CONTINUED WITH WORD. (WHICH
BEHAVES WELL AS EVER)
TERRY, DOING A WINDOWS FILE SEARCH FOR "~$*.do?" AS THE ARTICLE INSTRUCTS
GOT ME A SLEW OF HITS, YET NONE MORE RECENTLY MODIFIED (I DID LEAVE THE
DEFAULT "DON'T REMEMBER") THAN 11/12/2008. BAFFLING, I'D SAY!
 
O

Only Ork

FINALLY DID FIND THE LOST WORD FILE...MAYBE !
It's a cluttered sort of personal notes page, and my only idea of its exact
contents is my own memory, but I've found what I think is the lost file;
however...
It's properties indicate it was created two days after my first posting
about the problem here! ITS LOCATION IS: C: \Documents and Settings
\Administrator \Local Settings \Temp. The filename is exactly as before I
lost it, except underscores have now replaced spaces between words. I've
been editing and saving a new file with identical name most every day since
then; so I presume the file now found has stayed unchanged due to its
different name (containing those underscores), and yet no other filename
similar to the one I've been daily editing appears in the folder location I
cite above. My ignorance of the theory and function of temp folders and
files sorta rules me here!
THANKS FOR YOUR INTEREST
-- DON
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

Whatever the explanation, move it out of the Temp folder into a document
folder for safekeeping.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org
 
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