Cannot find "saved" document editted from an email attachment

[charhager]

I opened a word (97-2003, ".doc") document from gmail.com last night and
began editting it. I keep saving the document and clicking ctrl+s
periodically. At the end of the night, I closed the document to be able to
resend it to myself via email. I had no idea that it wasn't saved on the
desktop. I have search every single temp file and temporary internet folder
on my C drive and cannot find the "saved" document ANYWHERE. I am panicing
because it is a graduate school application, that's due today. Where can I
find this document?

In addition, there is a chance I found the document but whatever it is is is
saved as a ".dat" file. I have Windows 2007 and have tried microsoft word,
notepad, word processor, adobe pdf, etc. to try to open it but when I do it
looks like computer code. If this is the document how do I get it to show up
like a regular word document? PLEASE HELP! Thank you

 

[Stefan Blom]

You should save the attachment to the hard drive before editing it. You may
still be able to find the modified file in your Temporary Internet Files
folder, though.

See also http://www.gmayor.com/outlook_attachments.htm (which of course
won't be directly applicable to your situation).

 

[Idaho Word Man]

I agree with both Stefan and Jazz, but it isn't always that easy. In Outlook,
the temporary files folder is hidden and very hard to find. I don't know if
gmail works the same way, but if it does, here's how to find it.

If you can't find the directory where gmail saves documents, open a
DIFFERENT e-mail attachment from gmail (mail yourself something if you have
to). Then do what Jazz said and use the Save As option to check where gmail
is putting temporary files. Write down the entire address, which will
probably start with something like C://Documents and Settings/ . . . . Make
sure you copy the address exactly, including any spaces.

Then type that address into a Word file. Select the entire thing,
right-click it, and create a hyperlink, with the exact text in the "Address:"
field. When it turns into a hyperlink, click on it and it should take you to
the temporary directory where the file is located.

Fred

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

You can copy/paste paths from dialogs into Word or other dialogs. Much more
accurate than writing them down.

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