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recovering unsaved documents after restart

Anonymous
2013-04-29T03:27:44+00:00

Hello,

My baby sister's computer restarted randomly while she was working on a report for school. She hadn't saved it at all when it happened so we've got nothing left. I tried the recovering saved document thing that word has but there's not there. She's using Word 2010 and she started another document right after it happened and saved it under the default name it chooses. I'm wondering if this new saved document saved over the unsaved back up or if there is something we've just missed. any help is appreciated.

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Suzanne S Barnhill 278.1K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
2013-04-29T03:39:16+00:00

Computers do not restart "randomly." They restart after installing updates, and generally they give some warning before doing so. If the document was never saved, it's unlikely there'll be anything to recover, but your sister can avoid this situation in future by changing the Windows Update setting. Most likely she has it set to the default (and recommended) setting of "Install updates automatically." She should change that to at least "Download updates but let me choose whether to install them" or, even better, "Check for updates but let me choose whether to download or install them."

I prefer the last setting because I am offered many updates I don't need; because I have several versions of Office installed, I am offered updates to the Junk E-mail Filter for three different versions of Outlook even though I'm running only one version. Since I have a painfully slow Internet connection, I don't want to download updates I don't need. With either of these settings, however, your sister will get a chance to decide when to install updates and will be prompted to restart Windows, but she will have plenty of time to save files and close running programs.

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  1. Suzanne S Barnhill 278.1K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2013-04-29T12:40:10+00:00

    There is no "auto save" feature in Word (see http://word.mvps.org/faqs/general/AutomaticSave.htm). There is an AutoRecovery feature, and AutoRecovery backups are made (provided the option is enabled) even if the document has not been saved. But it is still always advisable to save a document early and often.

    If your sister had been working on the document long enough for an AutoRecovery backup to have been saved (the default interval is 10 minutes), then she may be able to recover it by clicking on Recover Unsaved Documents in the bottom right corner of the Recent screen on the File tab.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-04-29T03:49:47+00:00

    Thank you. We learned that the restart was the computer over-heating from a dusty fan not working right. It's unfortunate about the data we can't get back though. If she were to save the document as soon as she made it would the auto save feature start working then?

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