Lost document opened from email

[Rob]

My wife opened a document from Gmail (working in Internet Explorer 8) and
made significant changes to it. She told me that she periodically pressed
Save, but when she closed Word she could not find the document! I have been
thus far unable to locate this file. I have performed the following:

*Browsed c:\users\username\appdata\local\windows\temporary internet files
for any text files
*Browsed c:\users\username\local settings\temp for any text files
*Searched the computer for ~*.*, *.tmp, and *.asd modified on the date in
question (NOTE: all files that turned up on these searches had a 'read lock'
on them)
*Opened the Word button, selected Open, and Open and Repair (NOTE: all I get
when I do this is the 'thinking' cursor for an indefinite period)

Any suggestions?

 

[Doug Robbins - Word MVP]

Only suggestion is to tell her not to do it again and then RVVF.

Unfortunately, when a document is opened from an email message, it is opened
in a temporary folder and unless Save As is used to save it to a specific
location, saving the document only saves it in that temporary folder and
when the document is closed, the folder along with the document are deleted.

The problem that this causes have been overcome to a large extent with Word
2010 in which a document opened from an email message is initially displayed
in an un-editable format.

--
Hope this helps.

Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.

Doug Robbins - Word MVP, originally posted via msnews.microsoft.com

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

As Doug indicates, the document and changes are probably gone... but it's
also possible that the temporary folder is hidden and not coming up in your
search of temporary internet files. It's also possible that the saved
changes still reside in the email itself. I would first try re-opening the
email, then re-opening the attachment in the identical way she did before to
see if she has access to the version she worked on.

If it's not the same version, I would choose Save As (but don't actually
save the file) and use the Save dialog box to see where the file resides
initially. Note that location, cancel the Save As, then press Ctrl+O (Open),
and browse the noted location to see if the lost document is there.

This recovery method often works from Outlook, but I'm less optimistic about
its working from a browser. Still, it's worth a try if she invested a lot of
time in the editing.