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
    2011-10-30T19:58:24+00:00

    We were working off an email attachment from word. We kept hitting save and thought it was saving but after we closed it, it was gone. I have pulled up a word document but it does not have an office button. I am not sure how to get to the temporary internet files. please advise! Thank you

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  2. Charles Kenyon 170.9K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2011-10-31T00:47:59+00:00

    The instructions about the Office Button are for Word 2007. Jay Freedman gave alternative instructions for Word 2010. Did you try those?

    Have you looked at Graham Mayor's page?

    This stuff is complicated.

    No one wants to type out multipage instructions on a daily basis when they can prepare a web page with illustrations, test the instructions, and point people to those instructions. Others have been giving instructions or pointing to them in this thread. If the instructions are unclear or don't work, that becomes the time for step-by-step diagnosis. That is going to take days or weeks.

    It will start by you detailing which instructions you have followed and what happened. Saying "I followed the instructions" doesn't tell me or anyone else what you did.

    Sorry. That is reality.

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  3. Anonymous
    2012-02-08T20:07:59+00:00

    I tried this, sent an email but it didnt work the first time, i then send a different attachment and it worked but sent me the attachment i sent before to try and fix this, please say there is still a way to get this back!

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  4. Anonymous
    2012-03-01T19:17:21+00:00

    the best and perfect method is simply to download the file again, make a very little change in the file ( as small as a period) save the file by changing the name to a different name just like you did to the first file but before clicking on save button finally copy the address on the address bar and then click on save. the new file will defiantly be missing if u try looking for it. the reason you copied the address is because the location of that address is probably where  the computer saved the first file too. so open windows address bar and paste the address you copied . it will lead you to a series of temporary  folders all you need to do is to look for the first one from folder to folder and you will find it.

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