10 Ways to Find a Lost Word Document (.doc)
Wednesday, October 17, 2007 by Rosario Doriott 
Accidentally delete your work? Or save it somewhere and you can't find it? Or the power went out? Before you start frantically emailing your professor, follow these steps:
- Send out a search party.
In Windows, clickStart,Search,All files and folders.
Type what you remember of the name or simply*.docto get all your Word documents.
SelectMy ComputerunderLook in, and then underMore advanced options, make sureSearch hidden files and foldersis checked.
Then hitSearch. - Still no luck? Check your Recycle Bin.
Open it up and look through whatever files you've got. Did you find it? If so, right-click and chooseRestore. Then if you're not sure where it actually restored to, perform a search for it. - Or you can pray for AutoRecover.
Sometimes if Word crashes or closes unexpectedly, it'll still save what you had. Re-open Word. If a Document Recovery task pane comes up, double-click your document to open it and immediatelySave As. - Search for AutoRecover files, yourself.
In Word, go toTools, thenOptions.
Under theFile Locationstab, double-clickAutoRecover filesand make a note of that path location.
ClickCancelandClose.
Open up that folder in My Computer or Windows Explorer and search for any.asdfiles. (Or another way to do this would be to run a search similar to step one but with*.asdinstead of *.doc) - If you have Word set to automatically back-up your documents, there's still a chance here. Check the original folder for any .wbk file.
In Word, clickFile, thenOpen.
Navigate to the folder you think the file used to be located in and make sureAll Files *.*is selected.
Is there any .wbk file there? Select it and see if it's what you're looking for. - Still no dice? Send out a *.wbk search party.
This step is the same as the first search party step, but now search for*.wbkfiles. You might find a few. Open them up, one by one. - Or search your temporary files.
Again, this is like step one. But search for*.TMPfiles this time. You'll come up with a lot, so change theWhen was it modified?to the last week or so. - Or search even more of your temporary files.
Some temporary files like to be unique. Search for those with~*.*this time. - Open up C:\Documents and Settings\*USERNAME*\Local Settings\Temp
This is a hidden folder, so you'll probably have to use Windows Explorer. HitStart, thenAll Programs.
Go toAccessories, thenWindows Explorer. Navigate to that folder, where *USERNAME* is whatever your computer calls you. Do you see your document in that folder?
If none of those steps work, there are also programs that will help you recover deleted files. So this is the 10th and final option.
What's important to understand here is that if you delete something, it doesn't actually get deleted. Rather, it sits in a pile waiting to be overwritten. So the best way to recover a deleted file would be to try to find it right away --before it's overwritten.
If you'd like to use a program, I'd recommend: Restoration, Undelete +, or Recuva. All are free. [There's also a newcomer to the scene for Windows, UndeleteMyFiles. Thanks Lifehacker! ~Kelly, 6/25/08]
I hope this helps. And remember: Jesus saves, but Buddha does incremental back-ups.
So, to turn on the automatic back-up feature in Word, check out Tools, Options, and the Save tab.
Reader Comments (122)
One could also try using Recuva (pronounced "recover") if the document was accidentally (or purposely) deleted. It's a freeware app, from the creators of CCleaner. It can also restore files from bugs, viruses, or crashes. It's a pretty handy app that you hope you never have to use.
http://www.recuva.com/
Or you can just write in Google Docs... okay, okay I'll stop.
@Jason: From the post:
"If you’d like to use a program, I’d recommend: Restoration, Undelete +, or Recuva. All are free."
Did you mean a different program?
[...] recovery, too.) If not, turn it on in the Tools menu’s Options dialog’s Save tab. 10 Ways to Find a Lost Word .doc [...]
very windowsish-tipps ... if you use linux, you have all your backups where you want them. At first, backup-files (if configured) of the last version als filename.odf~ in the same dir, or backups on your backup-medium, where you backup your files each (day|week|...)
@foo: Good luck finding "Word .doc"s (per article title) on your linux system ...
[...] 10 Ways to Find a Lost Word .doc [HackCollege] [...]
I rely on Google DeskTop.
This app works marvels. It searches way better than the normal search feature, and also stored cached copies of your document, once deleted.
Frankly, what else would you need ?
Useful post, thanks.
[...] Check it out! While looking through the blogosphere we stumbled on an interesting post today.Here’s a quick excerpt [...]
Also, if you lose the document at work, your IT department may have a recent backup handy. But doing it yourself is so much more fun.
[...] Check it out! While looking through the blogosphere we stumbled on an interesting post today.Here’s a quick excerpt [...]
What about other operating systems?
@Rosario
Whoops must have overlooked that part. Sorry! Great post btw!
great article ... hope all of these tips come to mind when i'm frantically searching for a .doc ...
anyways ... it would be nice if you could tell how to perform the same search on a mac ...
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