Autorecover File I.D. question in Word '97

[Don]

I have my Word '97 autorecover set for 1 per minute. My autorecover folder
contains the autorecover files, but they are very seldom the .asd files
everyone talks about (I do get the occasional one, maybe one in a hundred).
For the most part my autorecover file types that I cannot identify.
Examining their properties, one type of file is simply labeled "system file"
and has no file extension at all, but nearly all of them are simply labeled
"file" and these also do not have any extension. I've reinstalled my Word
'97 several times and it makes not difference. Oh where have my old .asd
files gone?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Word deletes .asd files when you shut the program down normally. There would
be .asd files present in the folder only after a crash.

 

[Don]

Thanks for responding Suzanne.

I think I understand what you've said, but while I'm working on word (not
closing it) my autorecover files (which are saved once a minute) are never
..asd files, as I stated in my initial post. I can't identify the file types.
It's important because I'm a writer and I have these autorecover files
automatically saved on a separate drive by my 12 ghosts backup software.
It's designed to open .asd autorecover files, but the files I get are not
..asd, nor any recognizable type....no extensions at all and just labeled
"file" when you examine their properties. So I don't know what's going on.

Regards, Don.
--

Word deletes .asd files when you shut the program down normally. There would
be .asd files present in the folder only after a crash.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I assume you have file extensions displayed. Do you also have hidden and
system files and folders displayed? That might make a difference. Are you
using Word's default folder for the AutoRecovery backups, or have you
changed it in Tools | Options | File Locations.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Thanks for responding Suzanne.

I think I understand what you've said, but while I'm working on word (not
closing it) my autorecover files (which are saved once a minute) are never
.asd files, as I stated in my initial post. I can't identify the file
types.
It's important because I'm a writer and I have these autorecover files
automatically saved on a separate drive by my 12 ghosts backup software.
It's designed to open .asd autorecover files, but the files I get are not
.asd, nor any recognizable type....no extensions at all and just labeled
"file" when you examine their properties. So I don't know what's going
on.

Regards, Don.

 

[Don]

Hi Suzanne:

In "Files and Folders" I have "Show Hidden Files and Folders" checked, and
"Hide File Extensions for Known Types" is unchecked.

As mentioned, I am getting some kind of autorecover files, it's just that
they're not idenified and my backup (12 ghosts) can't open them. (It can
open .asd files, so these mysterious, unnamed files don't appear to be the
..asd type.

Perhaps I should mention that I use the Vista OS.

A long time ago I've went to tools/options/save and had the autorecover
backup files directed to a newly created folder in my Documents section which
I labeled "Word Temp Backup". If you could let me know what the default
folder is, I'll change it back. Perhaps that might help. And speaking of
help, thanks for yours.

Regards, Don

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Since I don't believe I have changed the AutoRecovery backup folder, in Word
2003 under Windows XP it appears to be C:\Documents and Settings\<profile
name>\Application Data\Microsoft\Word. In Vista this may be quite different.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

 

[Don]

Hi Suzanne:

I don't have that folder anywhere, but I'll track down the correct one for
Vista and set it up. A final note. Although I don't know what kind of files
I'm getting in autorecover, I went to my backup drive where my 12 ghosts
backup stores the autorecover copies and I was able to open these nameless
files using my word '97. (I couldn't the other day, when I had a frozen file
with a couple of days work on it. [recovered work, with difficulty, by
opening file with wordpad as .txt .)

Well, there are still lots of mysteries for science to explore, it would
seem. Anyway, thanks for your generous help. I can take it from here.