How do i recover a document saved directly from download?

Anonymous
2010-04-22T22:35:08+00:00

Hi,

I sent my university coursework to a friend to proof read it. He sent it back with amendments, and i clicked on the attached file in hotmail, and continued working on it, clicking save every few minutes.

However i did not click SAVE AS, and so when i closed the document just now, my entire days work was lost, as it appears to have saved no where. Where had it been saving for the whole day? Can i recover it?

Im currently on windows vista and word 2007.

Thanks

John

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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Anonymous
2010-04-22T23:59:43+00:00

You may or may not be able to recover this document since the changes are saved in your Temporary Internet files folder. Note that you can't just open your Temporary Internet Files folder directly and find it due to the way Windows handles your Temporary Internet files but if it's still available, here's how you can get it back:

  1. Open another Word document sent to you as an attachment from an email. If you don't have one, send an email with an

attachment to yourself. (While you should be able to open the same email attachement since another copy of the file is created in your Temporary Internet Files folder, I don't like taking a chance like that.) 2. Click the Office Button, point at Prepare, and then click Properties. The Properties pane will display below the Ribbon. 3. On the far right of the Properties pane you'll see a file path and the document name. Select only the file path and press Ctrl + C to copy it. 4. Press the WinKey + E to open the Windows Explorer. (Or use an alternate method to open it) 5. Paste the copied file path in the Address bar and press Enter.

These steps should put you either in the same location as your revised file or near it. You may need to dig around in other folders to locate it.

Good luck and I'll keep my fingers crossed for you. :-)

~Beth Melton Microsoft Office MVP

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  1. Anonymous
    2011-08-10T20:04:32+00:00

    Could you explain how someone might "dig around" to find the file? I end up in a subfolder of the Content.IE5 folder, but I can't see the other subfolders, and when I search the Content.IE5 folder, the attachment I've downloaded most recently is there, but I can't find my original file.

    Thanks!

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  2. Anonymous
    2011-08-10T20:28:19+00:00

    This step was a Godsend!  After spending almost 2 hours trying to recover, decided to look at the Answers area.  And I found it!  Thank you so much!

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  3. Anonymous
    2011-10-29T20:52:11+00:00

    I can't recover my document, I don't have a office button for properties. What do I do now? Thanks

    Shawn

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  4. Jay Freedman 208.3K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2011-10-29T23:47:22+00:00

    If you're using Word 2010 instead of Word 2007 (which was what Beth's steps described), then steps 2 and 3 are a little different.

    Once the document is open, click the File tab (top left of the ribbon) and click Info on the left side. At the top of the center column, where it says "E-mail attachment:", right-click the path and choose Copy.

    In Windows Explorer, paste into the address bar. Press the End key to move the cursor to the end of the address, and use the backspace key to delete the name of the file, leaving just the path to the folder. Then press Enter.

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