Downloaded a Word file and clicked only on OPEN, worked on it and saved... now I can't find it!!! Any ideas???

Question

I received a Word file as an attachment in Internet Explorer, I clicked to download it, and I just clicked on OPEN (not save)... I opened the file in word, worked on it for a while, even saved it.... I mistakenly closed Word... and now the file is nowhere to be found... I tried re-downloading the file from hotmail and I get the NAME (2).doc so where is the NAME (1).doc on which I had worked??? Tried using search in windows, tried looking in the file it downloads the (2) file, but when I go up there are no folders any more..... Any ideas?? Thanks!!!_

Neither the folder where word usually stores documents, nor the recent documents in windows or word know where it is...

Answer 1

When you open files that are sent to you as attachments, they are downloaded into a temporary file while you are working on it. Even if you hit Save, it is still saved in that temporary file and not permanently anywhere on your hard drive like you would if you created a new document. When you close Word, that temporary file goes away, as if you never dealt with it. When you open the file again, it starts over. So unfortunately it's gone. You can try to search for any files created within that time frame, but chances are that it's not going to show up anywhere.

Your best bet is to use Save As... when you click on the link that opens the document (if that's an option) or IMMEDIATELY after Word opens up, and then save it somewhere that you'll know where it is. Otherwise, it won't save anywhere and you'll be in this cycle again.

Answer 2

The file is most likely (still) in the Temporary Internet Files folder. If you are using Windows XP, the path for this folder is:

C:\Documents and Settings\\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files

Here, is the user ID for your account on the computer. So if your ID was bob, the path to the folder would be:

C:\Documents and Settings\bob\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files

To open this folder, do the following.

1. Click on Start and select Run
2. Type explorer followed by a space and the path to your Temporary Internet Files in quotation marks. An example for user bob would be:

explorer "C:\Documents and Settings\bob\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files"

3. Press Enter or click on OK
4. Once a new window has popped up to show the contents of the folder wait for it to finish listing the folder's files and then, on that window, click on the View menu title and choose the Details option.
5. Click on the View menu title again and, from Arrange Icons by, choose Name.
6. Now scroll down the list of files until you find your file.
7. Copy the file to another location (e.g. the Desktop).
8. Close the window showing you the temporary Internet files.

Now you should be able to open the file from the location you copied it to.

Answer 3

The best way to find out if it is still on the hard drive is to do a search. Search for *.doc. Make sure you've entered the Advanced Search Settings and checkmarked the boxes to search the System Folders, Search Hidden Files and Folders, and Search Subfolders. Because the temporary folder that the document gets put in is considered a system folder, you have to make sure to checkmark that box when searching, because it is not marked by default. Hope that helps.

Answer 4

You have not mentioned which windows you are using. Simply open MS Word. Go to File-open and see there is a file with $---$ sign. Word 2000 and later usually store temporary files in this format. It may not have .doc extension. You can also try using "search/ *.tmp or *.txt or *.rtf files on your hard disk. That would be quicker. If Word is closed without saving/ save as command, it mostly doesn't stores a text/ doc file though. Office XP has this provision. I hope you find your document.

Answer 5

try looking under FILE in word for recent docs. if that doesn't work. go to TOOLS > OPTIONS > FILE LOCATIONS to see the folder where it saves your files.

Answer 6

try looking at "recent documents"