Help me find my thesis; lost in microsoft word?

[Alex]

I am going nuts. I just spent a few hours updating my thesis after downloading it from my email. I was sure I saved it, but when I went to email myself the updated file, it was just not there.

I've searched like crazy, and it's nowhere! WTF!!!!

Is it possible that microsoft would really let me edit a file for two hours that was "read only," or just delete it without a trace afterwords?

What should I do? (please don't say get a mac. that's not helpful)

[darylbowden]

Are you sure you didn't choose open file instead of download file?  Re-download the file now from your email and see if the changes are there.  This exact thing happened to my gf a few weeks back and I was shocked, but it actually worked. 

If that doesn't work, try doing open recent -> your file.  Then save to desktop or wherever.

Hope that helps you.

[55Spy]

I assume you did a search with the filename.  and that you opened Word up and went to recent files to check for it

[roy-nexus-6]

searched 'recently modified files'?

[the_Journeyman]

Do a search for all files & folders.  Make sure you're searching all drives.  In search string, put:  *.doc

That will pull ANY file with the .doc extension which is the Word extension ~

JM

[mihama01]

Open the Run... from the start menu and type the command %temp%

Two % with the word temp in between. That will open your temporary folder, look for it there.

Thats where Outlook saves attachments before they are opened by Word etc. there is good chance it is still there.

Alternatively, look at the recent items from the MS Word File menu.

[Sause]

what version of windows? If XP then go to

C:\Documents and Settings\"Your Profile Name"\Application Data\Microsoft\Word

if it's not in there then its gone more than likely

You may need to allow the viewing of hidden files.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/learnmore/tips/hiddenfiles.mspx

Good Luck!

[mitt]

Try opening the original attachment again from email.

In word, go up to 'save as'

That will show you the default temp directory word will save it to.

Now go to that directory in file explorer, and find the file you modified by date or size or something.  The name will probably be something completely arbitrary, like " ~7001291.doc "

You may need to copy the file out of the temp directory and rename it for word to open it.

mitt

[Alex]

I think I did just hit open by accident instead of downloading it. Still though, I would think it should save when I hit save...

This is in Vista, on word 2007. I don't use outlook, the file came from my gmail account.

The *.doc search did not find it

The %temp% search did not find it

hidden files are shown

as far as I can tell, the temp directory is empty... Maybe I looked in the wrong place? When I hit save from a file I open out of email it offers me my default save directory, not some secret temp place. Like I said though, the %temp% area I found did not have it.

[Agir]

Try the same thing again....open it from E-Mail (just don't waste time on editing) and then hit "save as" - see where this is pointing to...

[derby]

I think I did just hit open by accident instead of downloading it. Still though, I would think it should save when I hit save...

This is in Vista, on word 2007. I don't use outlook, the file came from my gmail account.

The *.doc search did not find it

The %temp% search did not find it

hidden files are shown

as far as I can tell, the temp directory is empty... Maybe I looked in the wrong place? When I hit save from a file I open out of email it offers me my default save directory, not some secret temp place. Like I said though, the %temp% area I found did not have it.

if it's not in the normal temp directory, it may be in the temporary internet files.

look in %userprofile%\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files

look for a folder name that begins with OLK.

[darylbowden]

I think I did just hit open by accident instead of downloading it. Still though, I would think it should save when I hit save...

This is in Vista, on word 2007. I don't use outlook, the file came from my gmail account.

The *.doc search did not find it

The %temp% search did not find it

hidden files are shown

as far as I can tell, the temp directory is empty... Maybe I looked in the wrong place? When I hit save from a file I open out of email it offers me my default save directory, not some secret temp place. Like I said though, the %temp% area I found did not have it.

Word 2007 uses .docx no?  Do a global search for *.docx as well.

[somegirl]

How about a search for all files modified in the last day, and make sure View Hidden Files and Folders is turned on.

[mitt]

Try the same thing again....open it from E-Mail (just don't waste time on editing) and then hit "save as" - see where this is pointing to...

+1 - that is what I said above.

mitt

[Alex]

DocX was no help, and like I said above, when I download it again and hit save as, it just points towards my regular documents directory.

I've done every sort of search I can think of, hidden files are unhidden, searched in file contents of all drives. This is crazy. Why would it say it was saving, then just lose it?

One thing I should mention: I tried the re-downloading the file and saving it thing last night (one of the first thing I thought of), and the first time I tried to save a file, it said "Error, windows cannot save this file normally. Would you like to save it to your rescued document directory?"

I said no, since I thought it was talking about the new file. Maybe word had realized the old file never saved and ran across it, and was offering me a chance to retrieve it. Unfortunately, if that was the case, there was no way for me to know that it might have been my old file.