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About Suzanne S. Barnhill
Expertise
I've been using Word for Windows since version 2.0 (1992), and the more I learn
about it, the more I realize how little I know. But I may know a few things
that you don't, and I'll help if I can. I answer many questions every day in
Microsoft's peer support newsgroups and as a result have been awarded the
MVP (Most Valuable Professional) designation by Microsoft Corporation. You
may be able to find the answer to your question at the Word MVPs' FAQ site or at my own Word FAQ site, so please check those first! Please, no questions about VBA (macros), Registry editing, networks, or complex merges, as I have no experience with these aspects of Word, nor do I have any experience with Word for the Mac.
Experience
I have a master's degree in classics (Latin), which is surprisingly helpful, though I no longer teach. The things I am proudest of: Having raised two children to maturity, both Merit Scholars, both college graduates (one a philosophy major!), one Phi Beta Kappa (from Harvard!); having been made a Paul Harris Fellow by my Rotary club; having been designated a Microsoft MVP.
Education/Credentials
B.A. (Latin), Agnes Scott College, 1966; M.A. (Classics), Emory University, 1972.
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You are here: Experts > Computing/Technology > Microsoft Software > Microsoft Word > urgent and desperate! to recover my word 2007 file...
Microsoft Word - urgent and desperate! to recover my word 2007 file...
Expert: Suzanne S. Barnhill - 11/4/2009
Question
QUESTION: Hi! A few days ago I lost a word 2007 file, I had been working on that essay for three days, and now I'm desperate...
I said: 'download file' to a word attachment from my yahoo e-mail account, and when it asked me "do you want to open or save this file", instead of saying 'save', (I guess) I said 'open', and continued working on that opened version hours and hours.
The thing is that I was not aware of that I did not save the file to the computer, so while I was writing on the file, in order to not to lose the changes sometimes I used to make ctrl+s to save the changes, and it did not warn me (saying sth like I could not save the changes because the file was not stored on the computer, etc.) so I did not doubt that I was working on an unsaved file...
I finished writing my essay, and wanted to close the word document and it did not ask me "do you want to save the changes? etc" and after closing it I realized I lost it!
The other thing is that I'm working on a shared computer in my school and I cannot access to all the files because I'm not the administrator, so I cannot see directly all the temporary files. I have been searching with the search companion the files with extension *.TMP and ~*.* , and I found nothing useful.
Do you think there may be a way to recover my essay?!!!!!
I would be soo happy if this miracle occurs... if not, I have to write it again..
Looking forward to hear from you,
Muge Yildirim
ANSWER: Under the circumstances, I'm afraid the file is almost certainly irretrievable. This is a painful lesson that too many people learn. From something I read recently, I thought that Word 2007 handled this differently but perhaps that is only if the attachment is opened within Outlook 2007 or some other mail client that resides on the computer. Since you were using a shared computer, the likelihood of finding the temp file intact is even less, but you might see the article at http://www.gmayor.com/outlook_attachments.htm to see if it has any relevance at all. I rather think, though, that this would be a "miracle."
I know in future you'll be very careful to either choose "Save" rather than "Open" or at least to remember to use "Save As" the first time you save. I *think* that if you had chosen to email the file back to yourself, you might have received the edited version, but I'm not sure of this, especially in the context of a Web mail account versus a resident mail client.
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word) 1999-2009
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Thanks a lot for your answer, possibly my document is lost, but...
I manage to see some temporary word files which are last modified in the same day with my document, but they appear with really weird names like ~DF750B and when I move them to the desktop and try to open them, there is an error like: "This file is in use by another application or user". Is there a way to solve this problem?
Sometimes, it seems like it will open, but it asks me the encoding and when I choose some code like "estern european windows", for example, it opens the document with totally irrelevant and illegible characters. Is there a way to convert those files to normal word format?
again, many many thanks for your time!
Answer
If your document were retrievable at all, it would have the filename under which you opened it, but it would be in a temporary folder. For example, I opened a random attachment in my email named "rotary 09-3.docx." It opens with that name on the title bar; if I attempt to Save As, the same filename is offered, but the folder in which it would be saved by default is KC9D34WT. It would appear that this folder is created on the fly because if I go up one level to view this folder, it is not present, but there are four other folders with equally random names. These are subfolders of a folder that shows up as Content.IE5 in the "Save in" box, and if I go up a level from there, I'm in Temporary Internet Files, which (not surprisingly) shows no such folder. That despite the fact that I *am* displaying hidden and system files and folders.
Using Windows Explorer (My Computer) I can find C:\WINDOWS\Temp\Temporary Internet Files, which does contain the Content.IE5 folder, which in turn does contain the previously mentioned cryptically named folders (but not the folder my document would be saved in, because I haven't actually saved it yet). In any case, if your document is anywhere, that is where it is.
The bottom line is that the other files you found are NOT your file and needn't be bothered with further.
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word) 1999-2009
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