Recovering from temp files

Topic

New Reply

Hi

I’ve had a Word97 crash, and have not only lost my changes, but Word has deleted my original file as well.  (Oh, Mr Gates, you sure have a lot to answer for.)

I have a backup from several hours ago, but would dearly like to retrieve a more recent copy, provided this can be done quickly.  (Otherwise I’ll just use my backup, and work forward from there.)

The most recent temp file is called “~WRD0239.doc”, but when opened it displays as gobbledegook.  Is there any way of making sense of this?

The original document was:
* Huge (10MB)
* Full of screen captures
* Made extensive use of styles

Thanks
Dale

Reply | Quote

Replies

Thanks for explaining, BAM. Must have been a corruption that caused the crash.

PS: No “Recover text from any file”, and no “Fast saves”.

Thanks for you help
Dale

Reply | Quote

It always pays to keep the Word file light by “linking” to pictures/ screen captures rather than embedding them in the document. You can work faster; updation of the images will not affect the file, and of course, it is easier to back up.

Reply | Quote

You have a point, but I have found the approach of linking (rather than embedding) to the pictures better than non-dynamic approach which involves re-working in the final application.

This is especially critical in figure-heavy files, where figures are often worked on and corrected independently of persons paginating the Word file.

Reply | Quote

Rajesh,

A fair point as well- as long as youy are aware of the problems of distribution when it’s finished.

In our situation, we have a total of 20 logos, to be used in 600 templates. Once a document has been created based on a template, it may be saved anywhere, or sent anywhere.

Even if the logo is linked to a common drive to which everybody in the org has access, people logging from laptops remotely have their network drives configured differently, so linking does not work well in our situation.

In the situation where a document and its pictures are dynamic, it may be worth while to link pictures; then when (if) it is to be distributed (in a “final” version), have a macro create a copy of the document, but with embedded pictures replacing linked pictures. That would get over problems of pictures changing and working with overlarge documents, but would also help with distribution.

Just a thought.

Reply | Quote

Hi, Geoff

A couple of thoughts to add to yours:

Embedding, I agree, is the only sensible thing to do for templates; however, for files which are to be archived after work is completed, till the time they are ready for archival, it is best to link the pictures; and just prior to archival, one may select all the links in the Edit Links Dialog Box and click save picture in document.

And just in case the pictures get lost for whatever reason within the documents, the pictures may be archived along with the documents.

This is an ideal approach for a service bureau kind of operation, as also the documentation department of large corporations.

Reply | Quote

I agree with KT on this. You can also get into troubles if someone has different network drive allocations- I’m not sure though if that happens when they’re all on the same folder.

You can make embedded pictures smaller (if you haven’t done so already) by using Gifs instead of bmps.

Reply | Quote