Files changes lost - recovery?

[mlh]

I spent several hours last week working on 2 Word documents (Word 2004 for
Mac on an iBook). The changes made to both files disappeared. The easiest
explanation is that I closed the program without saving them, but that
usually causes a dialog box to pop up and ask if I want to save. It's
possible that I clicked no to both, but that seems odd to me. Any ideas on
what might have happened? More importantly, is there any hope of recovery
now?

I'm so used to the AutoSave feature in Word for PCs that I no longer save
regularly and I'm surprised that I can't find this option in Word for Mac. Am
I missing something? (I have it set to do AutoRecover every 10 minutes, so it
should have done that, but I can't find any autorecovered files either.)

Thanks!!
mlh

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

AutoRecover is NOT a substitute for saving; see
http://word.mvps.org/faqs/general/AutomaticSave.htm. AutoRecovery backups
are deleted when you close a file normally; they come into play only if Word
hangs. If you can close a modified file without being prompted to save (in
any version of Word), then there is something wrong.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I would investigate the possibility of a virus, but it's remotely possible
that this is the result of an unusually inept add-in. Do you see the same
problem if you start Word in Safe Mode (using the /a switch or holding down
Ctrl while Word loads)?

Any thoughts on what the "something wrong" might be?

By the way, since posting this, I hunted around some more and found one of
the two documents saved in my Trash as a Word Work File. Unfortunately, the
other one wasn't there.

Thanks,
Maggie

 

[Helene F.]

I've lost hours of work because of this in the past 10 yrs, although several
versions of MS Office were released in the meantime. When will Microsoft
solve this issue? We are overwhelmed by dialog boxes asking us to confirm
actions that are reversible! And by temp files that pile up and are never
deleted automatically. The minimum for a paid business software would be to
address this!

Where could I voice this concern?

HF

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Let me state again that if you have temp files piling up and not being
deleted, the problem is outside Word. If you can close an unsaved document
without being prompted to save, the problem is outside Word. Neither of
these is normal. If you are prompted to save and say no, then the data loss
is your own fault, period.

 

[Helene F.]

Thank you for this clarification. And I am very much aware that saying no
when prompted to save a file looses the data irreversibly. Too bad if it's a
mistake. I was just trying to say that it would be a great Microsoft feature
to be able to reverse such a mistake, just as many mistakes can be reversed.
Is this something to provide at the Windows level?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Building reversibility into this would just result in even more temp files
that would *not* be deleted. In order to allow for a user's change of heart
about closing without saving, Word would have to keep a copy of the latest
AutoRecovery backup pretty much indefinitely.