Accidentally closed file without saving

[Bronwyn]

I accidentally closed my excel file without saving it but I had automatic
recovery switched on. Is there any chance that it will be in a temporary
file. And if so, where would it be?

 

[Gord Dibben]

Not much chance.

If you close the file normally, the autorecovery temp file file is generally
deleted.

But check this out anyway.

Try going to C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Microsoft\Excel

Look for a file similar to ~ar123.xar file with a recent time.

Change name to hopeful.xls and see if it opens and what's in it.

You might get lucky.


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP

 

[Dave Peterson]

If that file isn't deleted (I bet it was), then the next time the user opens
excel, excel will notice it and offer to open this recovered file.

It doesn't hurt to look for it manually, but excel should find it on its own,
too.

 

[Gord Dibben]

Why would user be presented with a file to recover if the file was closed by
user and Excel did not crash?

Gord

 

[Dave Peterson]

I thought that excel would do its work based on whether there was a file by that
name in the autorecovery file. If the file wasn't deleted, then excel would see
it and offer to recover it.

But there must be other things at work. I put a couple of files in that folder
using that naming convention and xl didn't see them as files that should be
recovered.

 

[Andrew S]

I was able to recover a file, even after making an additional mistake. I did
see the file in auto recovery, but as a newbie to this feature, I did not
choose it properly. I no longer had the option to recover. Following the
thread, I copied the XAR file, changed the extension, and was able to get my
work back. Excel had not deleted the auto recovery file.

 

[Dave Peterson]

Glad it worked for you.

But I wouldn't depend on the .xar file being there when/if you need it.