Cannot open .asd/.wbk file with Word 2007

[Andrew O.]

I've studied this:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/107686

And this:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/827099

It did not help. What happened:

My Windows XP decided that a security update that it just installed is
more important than the documents I've been working all - so, it
rebooted my system without permission while I was away from the
computer (BTW, where should I report this?).

I was working on a few files, some of them were temporary and I did
not save them at all. When I started Word, I had no recovery pane. In
my "...\Application Data\Microsoft\Word\.." folder I have .asd files
for the two documents that I did not save ("AutoRecovery save of
Document3.asd", etc.) and the .asd file for one document that I had a
previously saved copy of.

According to the docs above, I renamed each of these files to .wbk and
tried to open them. Word said it cannot open it because it is of an
unsupported file type.

I wonder if this is somehow related to the special super reboot
feature that XP does when having installed a crucial security update
that probably couldn't wait until I save my files... sorry for the
emotions... or it is a problem with Word 2007 (I have always trusted
the autorecover feature in previous versions of Word).

BTW, the same problem occured with my Excel 2007 - no autorecovery
pane, new data in a saved file was lost.

Thanks in advance for any ideas.

 

[Andrew O.]

Just an update. Read this in one of the MS docs:

"Manually saving your file is the surest way to preserve the work you
have done."

This is a good advice. A better one is to use pen and paper.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

The best advice is never to leave an unsaved document open when you leave
the computer unattended. If you have any control over Windows Automatic
Updates, set updates to be semi-automatic (Notify rather than full Auto),
and Windows will not be able to restart your computer without your
permission.

 

[Andrew O.]

Hi Suzanne,


Thank you for your comments. Not to leave unsaved documents is a great
advice - but I'm never going to be able to follow it all times, simply
because I'm human and sometimes I just forget. Computers are to help
me out, not to create problems. Another reason is that in some
versions of Word Ctrl+S does not work (replaced with Shift+F12 or
something).

I have re-set the updates to semi-automatic, thanks.

Getting back to the problem, I would still like to point out the Word
2007 does not behave according to the documentation:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/107686

"When you start Word, it searches for any .asd files. If Word finds
any, it does the following..."

It should rename these files into .wbk and "start with the Document
Recovery Task Pane listing the available files that Word recovered" -
just as it always used to do in good old versions of Office. In my
case Word 2007 does nothing. The .asd files from the previous crash
are still there. Today, I had another crash - I found a new .asd file
in the "...\Application Data\Microsoft\Word\.." folder and, this time,
I was able to restore my document.

From log of my crash (contains info on Word version):

ID: 0, Application Name: Microsoft Office Word, Application Version:
12.0.4518.1014, Microsoft Office Version: 12.0.4518.1014. This session
lasted 1133639 seconds with 25140 seconds of active time. This
session ended with a crash.

I'm not sure if today's crash was caused by the auto updates system -
I found logs about some updates in the system's event log, but there
was no notification (i.e. "Windows has installed very critical updates
on your system...") when I logged on to my system.

Thanks,
Andrew

 

[Terry Farrell]

I'm not aware that any Windows version of Word ever excluded Ctrl+S for
saving as a default. This is a Windows-wide command along with Ctrl+C,V,X
for copy/paste,cut.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

In addition, if you have Automatic Updates set to "notify," you should not
be getting any updates installed without your permission.

 

[Steve R]

I encountered the same precise problem today, but with different facts.
My WORD 2007 document was not closed without my permission.
Rather, after editing, I attempted as CTRL+S save, and WORD 2007 responded
that there was some "problem" encountered and then asked if I wished to save
my work as a Rescue.asd file.

I responded "Yes."

When I went to open up the Rescue.asd file, however, WORD 2007 responded
that the "asd" format was not supported by WORD 2007.

I closed WORD 2007, reopened it and attempted to access both of the
documents anew and encountered the same response.

I rebooted; reopened WORD 2007 and the original document, which DID reopen,
without any of the edits I had done previously.

On the other hand, WORD 2007 will not recognize the Rescue.asd document at
all, still indicating that it is not a supported format.

HELP!!!

Should I transfer the Rescue.asd file to another computer with 2003 on it
and attempt that open? (document was originally saved as a docx file).



Steve R in San Diego on June 26, 2007 Tuesday 1:38 PM Pacific Time