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
    2010-05-28T16:23:26+00:00

    You can still open attachments from an email in Outlook 2010 without saving it first. It should open initially in a new uneditable view called Protected View (so you can preview the file before enabling it -- this option is for virus protection rather than preventing lost files) and, like Outlook 2007, the file should be set to read-only and default to your My Documents folder if you save the file. However, also like Outlook 2007, I've opened several attachments and both Protected View and read-only failed. Note that I have days in which I'm opening 10-15 file attachments each of which are important documents. I'm a firm believer in "the more important the document and the greater the deadline, the more your odds of something going wrong increases." LOL It'sdefinitely better than previous versions, but still not fail-proof.

    ~Beth Melton Microsoft Office MVP

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  2. Anonymous
    2010-05-28T16:11:49+00:00

    If you copy/pasted the path (C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\JZ15H8YB) in the Address bar of the Windows Explorer and pressed Enter to navigate to it and it wasn't found then the next thing you can try is doing the same with C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5. View the contents of that folder and any subfolders that are available. If your file isn't found then sadly, there's nothing to recover. The only other steps you can take are found here:

    "How to recover a lost file in Word 2007 or in Word 2003"

    http://support.microsoft.com/kb/827099

    But I'd be amazed if you find any of the methods listed to be successful. You're best bet in this situation is the method already provided. :-(

    ~Beth Melton Microsoft Office MVP

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  3. Anonymous
    2010-05-28T15:59:53+00:00

    Almost certainly the doc is lost. As pointed, the doc is only part of the Internet Temp folders and attachments get cleaned out. IN OL 2010, you can no longer open an attachment without first saving it to the local HDD and I believe that the registry has been patched for OL 2007 to make users do the same.

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  4. Anonymous
    2010-05-28T15:42:55+00:00

    Sharon,

    I have already followed the instructions suggested above, hence why I am able to indicate the path in my post.  The instructions however do not work.  Are the any other methods someone can offer?

    Thanks

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