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If you undo the creation of a folder, what happens to files that were in it?

Anonymous
2020-04-14T20:18:01+00:00

Sorry this is kind of an emergency.

I accidentally undid (ctrl+z) the creation of a folder than had an important Word file in it that I had been working on. When that folder's creation was undone, it took the file I had been working on with it, and now I cannot find a trace of the folder or the file. The closest thing I have is when I open Word, I can click the file name from the Recent Documents list, but it fails to open because it says the Directory Name is invalid, which makes sense because the folder it was in is gone.

Even worse, I have made edits in Explorer since undoing it, so I cannot "redo" to place that folder back (I didn't know what I had done for a few days). I have no idea where the folder could have gone, it seems like it poofed out of existence. Is this true?

If the folder is gone, how was it able to take my file with it?

• I checked my recycle bin, the folder or file didn't end up there.

• I don't think I have Word autosave backup working, so there are no separate recovery files that exist it seems.

• Explorer "File History" where that folder is yields nothing; it has always been turned off.

If it's actually gone forever, there NEEDS to be a warning in place when you try to Undo a folder that says "hey you're about to undo a folder that is now carrying new content. We need to place this content somewhere else before undoing it."

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Files, folders, and storage

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  1. Anonymous
    2020-04-17T20:53:37+00:00

    Just tried Recuva. It's supposed to also be able to detect files that are too late to recover, but it couldn't even do that. Tried a few different deep scans, couldn't find a single trace of it of my document.

    I wonder if it's because I took too long to try this (very possible) or because the manner it was wiped wasn't a normal deletion, it was just undo'd out of existence.

    I don't understand what's going on but it's looking like it's impossible to get that file back. I wish there were systems in place to let you know when you are undo'ing a folder that has contained new files, and it can ask you what you'd like to do with those files. Really sad, lost a lot of work.

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-04-15T12:19:57+00:00

    You are explaining what Ctrl+Z does---this is not the problem.

    I am looking for a way to retrieve the Word doc file that disappeared with the folder. There are ways to retrieve files that have been hard-deleted permanently from your system...is there no way to retrieve something that has been Ctrl+Z'd? Do those files enter a different realm of unreachable nothingness? Is the computer literally going back in time making it impossible to bring back something that has never yet been created?

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-04-15T14:53:29+00:00

    Since the "undo" memory gets cleared during a reboot, this suggests that you kept the machine running overnight.

    The only chance of recovery is to use one of the many file recovery tools you will find with a Google search. The more you work on your machine, the slimmer the chances of recovery, because the missing file might get overwritten by new data.

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  4. Anonymous
    2020-04-15T12:53:22+00:00
    1. Create folder in any existing folder you have in C drive.
    2. Rename folder
    3. Open a Word Document and "Save As" it within the new folder you have created.
    4. Make edits to Word document and continue saving it so the edits are being updated.
    5. Save and close out of Word completely.
    6. With Word closed, in ANY Explorer Window, press "Ctrl+Z" for as many times as necessary until you have not only undone the renaming of your folder, but also the creation of the folder. The folder should now no longer be there.
    7. Make any edit anywhere within explorer (doesn't even have to be on the C drive). For example, make a new folder, move a file, rename something, etc.

    Final step: Now try and retrieve the Word doc that disappeared with the folder that was undone.

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  5. Anonymous
    2020-04-14T20:42:56+00:00

    Ctrl+Z will undo the latest action. You would have to press Ctrl+Z several times in order to delete a folder with its contents:

    • First Ctrl+Z: The file inside the folder gets deteted (assuming you just created it)
    • Second Ctrl+Z: The folder's name is changed from its current name to "New Folder"
    • Third Ctrl+Z: The folder gets deleted.

    For a limited time each of these actions could be reversed with Ctrl+Y.

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