How do I link a save ~$ file to the original document in Word?

B

Brett Bender

I was working on a document named (for example) Bob Was Here.doc in Word.
When as I'm working a hidden file was created in the same directory as the
file working file but with the name: ~$b Was Here.doc

I'm assuming this file contains metadata about all the changes that were
made during my session and each time I Save or it Auto Saves, more data get's
written to this file.

Problem is, my machine was restarted without my knowledge when I opened the
file after the restart none of my changes during my last session were
present. I still have the ~$ file but I'm assuming that it's not linked to
my orignal document anymore.

Is there a way to recover these changes?

Thanks,
-brett

Is there a way to link this file.
 
J

Jay Freedman

Hi Brett,

Sorry, you assume wrongly. The ~$ file is the "owner" file that tells
Word that the document is in use, so that any other user who tries to
open it at the same time will be told that it's read-only. There is no
information in that file that's of any use to you now, and you can
safely delete it. Your changes have vaporized.

The article at http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=211632 explains
Word's temporary files. The article at
http://www.gmayor.com/what_to_do_when_word_crashes.htm tells you how
to clean up the debris.

If you had saved the file before walking away from the computer, the
changes would be present. Probably you should look at
http://www.gmayor.com/automatically_backup.htm as well.

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

On Wed, 1 Mar 2006 08:18:27 -0800, Brett Bender <Brett
 
B

Beth Melton

$*.doc files are called Owner Files and they only contain the user
info of the individual that currently has the document open. It's this
file that triggers the "file is in use" message.

If you are trying to recover a document then take a look at this
article for the various temp files Word creates and see if you can
locate them:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;q211632

Although based on my experience, ~wrd*.tmp is the only temp file that
you can successfully recover the entire document, including
formatting, from. The others may contain only portions of your
document.

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/
 
S

Suzanne S. Barnhill

I find that I often get multiple ~wrl*.tmp files (one each time I save), and
I find that each is a copy of the previous .wbk file (that is, the version
before the current saved version becomes the .wbk file, and the .wbk file is
saved as a new .tmp file). I can open each one, and it is a copy of the
document at that stage. They are all deleted when the document is closed.
 
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