Can't open doc - says moved, renamed or deleted

Anonymous
2013-10-03T06:02:23+00:00

I am trying to open a document in Word but a dialogue box keeps telling me:

"Sorry, we couldn't find your file.  Is it possible it was moved, renamed or deleted?"

It then states the correct name of the document and where I filed it.

I am using Windows 8

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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  1. Stefan Blom 352.4K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2016-07-06T14:30:45+00:00

    Accessing files directly from removable media exposes them to corruption. See Doug's reply.

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  2. Doug Robbins - MVP - Office Apps and Services 323.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2016-07-06T05:45:14+00:00

    Have you looked at the contents of the flash drive using Windows Explorer or the File Explorer. 

    If you can see the files in that way, copy them from the flash drive to a folder on your local (C:) drive and then use File>Open in Word and navigate to that folder and select the file that you want to open.

    Do NOT try and open the files when they are located on the flash drive as corruption of the document is an almost certain result.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-07-06T04:48:27+00:00

    I had faced a similar issue. And realized this happened only on files which were open when i had put the laptop to hibernate...

    once the pc was restarted the files were ok...

    Where were these problem files stored? Locally on the computer or on removable media such as a flash drive?

     problem files stored on removable media such as a flash drive?

    disappeared says cant locate file  either, moved, renamed or deleted?

    is there any way to locate or retrieve this?

    please help   thank you Brenda,

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-06-14T19:31:04+00:00

    This is the issue I'm dealing with. Word freezes. Try to open last saved version through Recent Documents, and get the can't find file error. What's worse, I navigate to the file's location in Explorer, and it's no longer there! It does not exist anywhere on my server, not even in a Recycle Bin. Where did it go?

    Word 2013 on Windows Server 2012

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  5. Anonymous
    2016-02-02T15:35:48+00:00

    I am having a similar problem.  Word locked up, and after restarting word the file that I could not reopen the file I had been working on.  The file was listed in recent files opened, however when I clicked on it I received an error message "Sorry we couldn't file your file, was it moved, renamed or deleted."

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