Please help - Word document emergency

[Mon Ami Mate]

I've been researching and writing a white paper on corporate governance for a client for the last two months. I've just had a computer crash while I've been putting finishing touches to the document, restarted and found all the text missing. I'm running XP. Is there any way of going back and recovering the document? If not, I think I'm going to cry...

[egoboss]

Mon Ami Mate said:

I've been researching and writing a white paper on corporate governance for a client for the last two months. I've just had a computer crash while I've been putting finishing touches to the document, restarted and found all the text missing. I'm running XP. Is there any way of going back and recovering the document? If not, I think I'm going to cry...

yikes, been there got the t-shirt but word has always 1st prompted me re: auto-recovery option .... am sure this auto-recovery is a default setting to word for obvious reasons.

have you done a "search" on said document name (omit .doc extension so it searches for any back ups or different locations, etc)?

good luck!

[pdV6]

I presume you didn't just type the entire thing in without ever saving it? Therefore there ought to be some trace of it somewhere.

Do you have AutoRecover enabled?
If so, has a directory been specified where AutoRecover files are stored?
If your file is MalcolmsFile.doc, is there a file called ~$lcolmsFile.doc lying around?

[Mon Ami Mate]

pdV6 said:

I presume you didn't just type the entire thing in without ever saving it? Therefore there ought to be some trace of it somewhere. Do you have AutoRecover enabled? If so, has a directory been specified where AutoRecover files are stored? If your file is MalcolmsFile.doc, is there a file called ~$lcolmsFile.doc lying around?

I've been writing this steadily over the last two months, so it has been saved regularly. I don't know about AutoRecover - how do I find out?

There is beer in the successful recovery of this file. Lots of it.

[pdV6]

Tools -> Options -> Save
Check if "save autorecover info every x minutes" is set.

Then,
Tools -> Options -> File locations
And see if "Autorecover files" is set to anything.

If yes & yes then look in the folder to see what you can see.

[Plotloss]

If you havent specified a directory.

Check the directory that the document was saved in first and then C:Temp and then C:WindowsTemp

[Mon Ami Mate]

pdV6 said:

Tools -> Options -> Save Check if "save autorecover info every x minutes" is set. Then, Tools -> Options -> File locations And see if "Autorecover files" is set to anything. If yes & yes then look in the folder to see what you can see.

The autorecover is set at every 10 minutes, but the autorecover file doesn't appear to have the document listed.

[pdV6]

Plotloss said:

If you havent specified a directory. Check the directory that the document was saved in first and then C:Temp and then C:WindowsTemp

And also

C:\Documents and settings\(username)\Local settings\temp

[Big Al.]

IIRC you will only loose UNSAVED information if the PC goes tits up!

If you started with a 20 page report this morning, and you did a bit of work on it before your PC when tits up You should still have your 20 report but with none of this mornings mods.

Check your original Folder location and the Windows temporary folder. Also check to see if your file is listed in the list of saved files in Word.

[Mon Ami Mate]

Thanks for all this. How do I find the temporary folder list? Panicking big time...

[egoboss]

Mon Ami Mate said:

pdV6 said: Tools -> Options -> Save Check if "save autorecover info every x minutes" is set. Then, Tools -> Options -> File locations And see if "Autorecover files" is set to anything. If yes & yes then look in the folder to see what you can see. The autorecover is set at every 10 minutes, but the autorecover file doesn't appear to have the document listed.

hmmm, weird. have you rebooted since? i sometimes encounter such weird things with powerpoint - memory management seems to get very confused at times if doing a complex/big powerpoint/word/excel - i am xp with oodles of memory/disk, etc, but sometimes need to exit all applications & reboot for a "fresh" start - may also 1st be worth looking on microsoft.com for any help/tips. i've never heard of a lost document before.

as an aside, for these reasons i have several usb memory sticks now and save all important docs/etc to a stick, for back-up.

fingers crossed for you - i know, it's an awful feeling. else, clutching at straws, did you email it to anyone recently? they could email it back to you ...

[pdV6]

Try:

C:\Temp
C:\Windows\Temp
C:\Documents and settings\username\Local settings\Temp[/quote]

>> Edited by pdV6 on Monday 21st March 15:43

[Plotloss]

Mon Ami Mate said:

Thanks for all this. How do I find the temporary folder list? Panicking big time...

C:\Temp
C:\Windows\Temp
C:\Documents and Settings\[UserName]\Local Settings\Temp

[egoboss]

Plotloss said:

Mon Ami Mate said: Thanks for all this. How do I find the temporary folder list? Panicking big time... C:Temp C:WindowsTemp C:Documents and Settings[UserName]Local SettingsTemp

and as a final final straw, if sadly all else fails, do you have a recent print out? if so, get it scanned in, in OCR mode, and whilst it will have some buggy text it will be better than nothing ....

:-(

[scruffy]

It may have been trashed...

Point this at the drive you most likely save your word stuff to ansd see if it turns up... - you want the most recent date and the largest file size...

You get a months trail with the above, but hey, it worked for my missus (important work file on floppy).
Sod the beer, I got a blow job out of it...

[egoboss]

scruffy said:

It may have been trashed... Point this at the drive you most likely save your word stuff to ansd see if it turns up... - you want the most recent date and the largest file size... You get a months trail with the above, but hey, it worked for my missus (important work file on floppy). Sod the beer, I got a blow job out of it...

in light of the BJ recompense expectations, mon ami, if you recover your document with this tool (and i hope you do) i'd suggest you don't tell scruffy ...

:-O

[gopher]

scruffy said:

Sod the beer, I got a blow job out of it...

I don't think Mon Ami is quite that desperate but I could be wrong

[CheapShopTart]

gopher said:

I don't think Mon Ami is quite that desperate but I could be wrong

He's veeeery good...

[Mon Ami Mate]

I can't over-emphasise how desperate I now am. Just spent half an hour on the phone with PDV6 and things are not looking good. This is a 128 page white paper which has taken me two months to research and write. It has to be with the client tomorrow morning. I think I may be stopping in to slit my wrists this evening...

[Plotloss]

Even if its been overwritten there is still the data on the platter that may be able to be reconstructed.

I dont know any of the names of these tools off the top of my head but they are out there for sure.

Do any of the other techies know what I am on about?