I have recently lost two documents while working on them, one long and complicated. Theyhave disappeared completely and can't be found anywhere, although I did not use the Delete key, which would have left them in the Recycle Bin and recoverable.
One each occasion, it happened when my lefthand was over the bottom left corner of the keyboard and maybe there is some combination of keys I have inadvertently pressed that caused this.
Can anyone cast any light on this please?
|
|
What programe are you using to work on the docs? If its word or something akin, I would set up autosave on them.
|
|
It is Word 2007. How do I set up autosave please?
|
>> One each occasion, it happened when my lefthand was over the bottom left corner of the
>> keyboard and maybe there is some combination of keys I have inadvertently pressed that
>> caused this.
If when you say you deleted them you were using Windows Explorer, then if you were holding the shift key down at the same time as DELETE you will have really deleted them. They will not go into the waste basket. A file recovery program could get them back - the data is not erased on the disk just to reference in the file table.
|
From my limited experience, I'd say if you're going to attempt to get these files back, you need to do it quickly, before they are over-written.
You could try the free Recuva program, from the same people who do CCleaner:
www.piriform.com/recuva
though I have had mixed results with it. There are others.
Perhaps those more knowledgeable would correct me if I'm wrong.
Last edited by: FocalPoint on Mon 4 Feb 13 at 11:37
|
Firstly let me confirm that you cannot find the file, not that you can find the file but it is empty.
And I am assuming that Word did not suddenly exit?
Without actually exiting Word it is unlikely, although not impossible, that you have deleted these files while you were working on them. It is more likely that you have saved them somewhere unexpected.
To delete them while you're working on them then you would pretty much have to do it on purpose. - i.e. Exit from Word and when asked, "Do you wish to save....." you would then have to select "No".
Autosave is to avoid you losing a file if your computer, or Word itself, crashes. It is no protection against deletion or indeed misfiling.
When in word, what do you see when you try to use "Open"?
It should give you a list of files from whatever is your default directory. No sign of it there?
how about when you try "Recent Documents"? It should show you recent files from wherever you left them. Any sign?
Finally search the entire machine for ANY file with a modified date of the day you were last working on the file.
|
>> Finally search the entire machine for ANY file with a modified date of the day
>> you were last working on the file.
Doing that from Windows Explorer has saved my bacon more than once when I've lost or cannot find stuff at work. Sometimes using a date other times just *.doc and a timeframe.
Or searching for a keyword I know is in the document.
|
I've "lost" documents I've edited and saved that I'd received as email attachments. This was because the default save location when it's an attachment you've opened wasn't your documents folder (even if the default was set in Office). And a search might not have shown them up because the folder was excluded from those searched.
But the OP mentions the delete key which makes me wonder if he has deleted the document in Explorer. He does mention the waste basket too. If the OP hit delete with the shift key pressed, then that's deleting without putting the file in the basket. To undelete you could use software but you increase the chances of recovery if you do something straight away.
|
>> But the OP mentions the delete key which makes me wonder if he has deleted
>> the document in Explorer. He does mention the waste basket too. If the OP hit
>> delete with the shift key pressed, then that's deleting without putting the file in the
>> basket. >>
Since I never knew that, I suppose it could have happened that way if I had been really careless. Thanks for the warning. The documents had been several days in the making and saved many times. I fear none of the suggestions here, and use of the overall Search facility, have revealed them so I will just have to be more careful in future but thanks to all.
|
This is worth investigating. Because depending on the versions you have, it frequently uses a temporary directory which is NOT searched by Explorer.
This would happen if the document had been sent to you by email, and you had been opening it by clicking on the email rather than first detaching the attachment and then opening it.
EDIT: which is pretty much what Gromit said, but he was first.. So DITTO.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Tue 5 Feb 13 at 12:30
|
I know the horse has bolted, but for the future - when creating a masterpiece of a document, use some sort of versioning. That's what I do. The simplest and easiest to find, starts with yymmdd then the name of the document. So when I open it today I immediately save it with today's date. that way you always have yesterday's to go back to - and there are times when that is needed! When Iv'e got too many versions I just delete them and leave the five newest. Did a lot of that when adjusting my CV when job hunting.
btw The good thing about preceding the filename with yymmdd (rather than the more commonly used ddmmyy) is that it sorts the files neatly when you look in the folder with Explorer.
I will have a look tomorrow but I also think there are files behind Office with the extension .tmp or similar, and often with a squiggle at the start of your partial file name ( ~ ) which may be recoverable. But that would pre-suppose an abnormal end to Word while editing, which appears not be the the case. And I'm also not sure where they'd be, if I'm not dreaming.
EDIT: the other very ling shot is a disk problem has caused the loss of your files, but not even worth considering - this sounds too much like user error at this stage.
Last edited by: smokie on Tue 5 Feb 13 at 19:13
|
>> I've "lost" documents I've edited and saved that I'd received as email attachments...And a
>> search might not have shown them up because the folder [attachments save to] was
>> excluded from those searched.
Tip: if you think you've lost a document this way, STOP. First thing is to check whether you can re-open the document from among the list of recently opened files in Word (how depends on whether you have Office 2010 or an earlier version).
If not, go back to your email program. Try to open a DIFFERENT Word attachment to the one you want to find. When that one opens, go to Save As, and check what location is offered by default to save to.
In versions of Word up to 2007, at least, this will lead to a temporary file location (which is hidden when you open Explorer). Go Start > Run and type in that full path - it'll open the folder, and you MAY find the last-saved version of your document there. Its saved me more than once, but doesn't appear to work in Word 2010 :-(
Better again, try to get into the habit of always saving an attachment you want to edit BEFORE you start editing it. Easier said than done, but...
Last edited by: Gromit on Tue 5 Feb 13 at 09:12
|
|
Email was not involved. I miss WordStar. It took a copy automatically under a slightly different name, so it could not disappear if the original did. In the event of a mishap, this backup file was renamed with the original name and it was back to square one, including yet another new back-up.
|
>> Email was not involved. I miss WordStar.
WordStar? blimey there is a blast from the past.
|
To delete a word file you would need to do the following;
1) The first time you created the file, hit exit, and then say "no" to saving. Or word crashed, or the system crashed.
2) Any subsequent time you accessed the file, hit exit, then say no to saving, then manually go in and delete the previous version.
So, did the file disappear the first time you were editing it? Did word suddenly exit? Did your PC crash?
Because if it wasn't the first time, Word would at least keep the previous version, whatever you did to your current editing session.
If it was the first time and something crashed, there is sometimes a log/recovery file.
Because if not one of the above, and if you care enough to look, the file is probably there somewhere, but perhaps under a different name or file type, or in a different place.
I'm not saying its impossible, but that "lefthand ..over the bottom left corner of the keyboard" was one seriously active and driven hand to cause all this.
|
|
It suddenly disappeared. There was no crash. Yes, WordStar is old history but obviously better in this respect.
|
In that case it is still there, if you care to find it.
And Wordstar would not protect you against this error, either.
|
>> I've "lost" documents I've edited and saved that I'd received as email attachments. This was
>> because the default save location when it's an attachment you've opened wasn't your documents folder
>> (even if the default was set in Office). And a search might not have shown
>> them up because the folder was excluded from those searched.
>>
If I had a fiver for every time I've know that happen.....Spamette Minor has been there at least 3 times, has finally learned to re-open the email that had the attachment and hit 'save attachment', then noting the name of the temporary folder Outlook is pointing at and naviagting to it in explorer.
|
Accidental deletions - Zero
