# Word document lost, without a trace



## PhrozenDragon (Jan 6, 2008)

Good evening, TSF members.

I just had a rough experience.
Yesterday, I was writing a document in Microsoft Word 2003, for an assignment I have, which is due Friday. Nearing my completion, I saved it and went to sleep.
Today, when I was about to continue my work, there was no document on my computer. Nowhere. Not in the temp folder, not on the desktop, not in the trash can and not in the My Documents folder -- it was all gone.

This is odd, because I'm sure I saved it (I have a tendency to save my documents every minute.) Also, if I - against all odds - *did* forget to save, then surely a dialog box would've appeared when clicking the X button to close the program, no?

Now, although I am interested in knowing *why* this happened, my highest priority now is recovering the document. I'd rather not rewrite it.

Any ideas on how to get it back? Further questions? Post away; I'll be watching this thread closely.

Thanks in advance,
Martin


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## JackGopher (Jan 30, 2008)

sometimes this happens:
Did you open this Word file from a mail (maybe from Outlook) and from then on kept saving it (without doing a "save as" and specifying a specific folder)?
If so, then it is saved with an odd name in some temp directory (maybe in a "temporary internet files" directory or something like that).

I guess you checked the "File" menu in Word for the last used files?

Try also looking to files named "Document1" or soemthing like that - sometimes we save our file, but forget renaming it....

Anyway, good luck!

Jack.

_____________________


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## Glaswegian (Sep 16, 2005)

Hi

Did you have the box checked in Tools > Options to 'always create backup copy'? If so, Word will have created a backup with the the file extension .wbk - perhaps try going to Start > Search and looking for the file.


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## PhrozenDragon (Jan 6, 2008)

No, I didn't have that box ticked. I've checked it now though, if it ever happens again.


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## Glaswegian (Sep 16, 2005)

Have you tried a Search? There are various search parameters and as long as you remember some words in the document, or even part of the title, you may be lucky.


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## PhrozenDragon (Jan 6, 2008)

I've searched numerous times out success -- I've tried searching by date, by title (I remember the whole filename) and by file type, but to no avail.


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## Glaswegian (Sep 16, 2005)

Martin

Did you happen to have another drive plugged in - a flash drive perhaps? It's not hiding as a text file somewhere?

In answer to one of your questions, yes there would have been a warning when closing Word, assuming the file had changed as compared to when it was opened.

However, I can't figure out why the file would disappear completely and without trace. If it was deleted by accident, perhaps try PC Inspector to try and see if any recovery is possible. I've had success with this programme in the past.


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## a2amali (Dec 11, 2007)

Sounds to me that the file was an attachment to an email, if you save them then they are harder to find. many people have done it,

if you open a file from email, you must SAVE AS somewhere else or any mods will be lost.


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