Lost .doc file in WinXP, using Office 2007

[fishmonger12]

My girlfriend did this once when she was working on a term paper. She called me at 8 am the morning it was due sobbing because she couldn't find it.

We tried everything, we never recovered it. She ended up re-writing it all day, turned it in only an hour late.

Good luck. There's some how-to's on lost document recovery you can get via google. They didn't help us much though.

 

[Shawn]

Originally posted by: dullard
When Word opens something from the internet, it creates a temporary folder and saves the file in that folder. Then, when you close the document, it deletes the temporary folder along with your document. And it is a crazy folder with random numbers and letters - nothing that you'd ever recognize.

You can hit the save button until you are blue in the face, but that file will still be deleted. Unless you have hit the "Save As" button and chosen a different folder, it'll be gone. I've heard this sob story a dozen times from coworkers and collegues.

My best advice is to stop using that drive (or your whole computer if that is your sole drive). Stop using it to prevent writing over any deleted files on the disk. Then, on a flash drive install a utility to find and recover deleted files. There are hundreds of free ones you can download from places like CNET. The flash drive is used so you download and install it on a place that won't overwrite your deleted file. Then run that utility to undelete your file.

Next time, NEVER EVER work on a document from the internet (especially from an email program) without first saving it to your own folder. It is best just to Save the file and open it manually. Clicking the Open button from internet programs is just begging for you to do this again.

Yep. I have been the victim of this. Never again.

 

[Aikouka]

If you opened the file, then it is in some random folder in your temp or temporary internet files directory. Try opening a file from an e-mail and clicking save as and you'll see some weird-ass folder.