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Recently I have been running into perplexing and frustrating problem:
I have an existing letter - let's call it T (for template) - that I put together for work. Every once in a while I make a copy of the file (copy and paste), rename the "copy", open it, edit it, and save it (I already renamed it right at the start). Let's call the copy C.
When I close C and open it again right away, everything is fine.
However, when I go to open it again a few days later, the content has reverted back to that of T. All changes are gone and lost.
To clarify: I don't even open T. I just copy it, and rename the copy to C, then work in C and save it normally. I can confirm by closing and opening that the file is saved properly. Yet when I try to access the changed file C at a later time, it has reverted back to the original content of T.
If this had happened once, I would say "user error", even though I'm not sure how I would have made this error. Even if I had mistakenly opened and edited T, then at least T would still have the edited content. Instead both files are exactly the same.
In any case, this has happened on several occasions now, and is extremely frustrating.
Yes, I can print a copy and keep that as a record, but that is not a solution.
Yes, I could also create the file from scratch each time, but it took a long time to set it up, and I shouldn't have to spend hours each time recreating it, or coming up with a workaround. That's what we pay for MS products for!
Has anyone else encountered this? Any solutions?
A family of Microsoft word processing software products for creating web, email, and print documents.
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
Thank you, but this is beyond my skill level.
Plus - quite honestly - I don't think I should need to write/insert code to have Word function the way it should. I thought we paid for a completely coded software package, not something pre-baked that needs to be finished at home...
Thank you for your answer.
I understand what you are saying, but I'm not actually wanting to set any one document as a template. I have a number of files, and then I choose the one closest to the new project to modify. It's not always the same one, and in fact I've had the issue with more than one file.
I suppose I could start saving everything as a template, but that would be inconvenient. Also, I'm not so sure it would solve the issue, because using a template would open a new instance of that template that is then saved. Copying a file is also basically creating a new instance of the existing file and saving it as a different file, yet somehow the content reverts back to the original...
Thank you for your reply.
Yes, I am using the latest version.
As I explained, this has happened on a number of documents. They are not set up as template files; they are documents and then as needed I copy the one closest to the new document I want to create, rename it, and use it. Randomly, after I save the file and close it (and if I go in right away to check it's okay, it will be okay at that time) - at some later time the content reverts back to the original content of the document I copied.
Like I said, this happens randomly, so it's not an error I can just recreate at will.
Hi MFELW,
Do you have the latest updates for your Office application? To check, go to File > Accounts, and then provide a screenshot of the accounts page for us to verify.
Does this happen on a specific template you created? Can you try creating a new template and then do the same steps as you did? Verify if the content of the document will be reverted to the previous version.
A screenshot of the issue, as well as the steps you did on how you encounter it, will help us to further investigate your case.
Thanks,
Mike
I cannot account for the behavior you describe. What I can tell you is that if you save your file as an actual template (.dotx or .dotm) and then create new documents based on that template (you won't have to rename the new file because it will be Documentx and will require a filename the first time you save), you should eliminate this problem. The template remains untouched, and every new document based on it will be a brand-new document and should be saved without any confusion.