Help me restore a lost file! Please!
September 17, 2012 4:25 PM Subscribe
I accidentally saved in dropbox an old version of a paper I'm writing in Word. Now I can't find the updated version, either in Word or in dropbox. HELP HELP please.
I tried to restore the previous version via dropbox, but it's not finding the updated doc. I searched computer for the updated file, but again, not there. I am not tech savvy, but I did know enough not to close any programs. Undo won't help me here, as I closed the file before saving it to dropbox.
Please help! Many thanks in advance.
I tried to restore the previous version via dropbox, but it's not finding the updated doc. I searched computer for the updated file, but again, not there. I am not tech savvy, but I did know enough not to close any programs. Undo won't help me here, as I closed the file before saving it to dropbox.
Please help! Many thanks in advance.
Response by poster: It's not there. I think what I did was overwrite my word doc with the older version stored in dropbox. The newer version never made it to dropbox.
Is there any way to recover it from Word?
posted by goofyfoot at 4:52 PM on September 17, 2012
Is there any way to recover it from Word?
posted by goofyfoot at 4:52 PM on September 17, 2012
This doesn't sound good, unfortunately.
One thing you can try is checking the directory where the file is for "temp" files- files that kind of look like word docs but with weird extensions and/or kind of greyed out. If you get lucky your text may be in one of those.
posted by drjimmy11 at 4:58 PM on September 17, 2012
One thing you can try is checking the directory where the file is for "temp" files- files that kind of look like word docs but with weird extensions and/or kind of greyed out. If you get lucky your text may be in one of those.
posted by drjimmy11 at 4:58 PM on September 17, 2012
And I know the horse is already out of the barn here, but in the future I strongly recommend working on a doc directly inside a Dropbox folder. Then every single time you save, it gets sync-ed without you having to do anything.
posted by drjimmy11 at 5:08 PM on September 17, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by drjimmy11 at 5:08 PM on September 17, 2012 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: I went into computer and looked at temp files in Windows for anything with a modification date of today, and found nothing. Is that what you mean?
posted by goofyfoot at 5:09 PM on September 17, 2012
posted by goofyfoot at 5:09 PM on September 17, 2012
I went into computer and looked at temp files in Windows for anything with a modification date of today, and found nothing. Is that what you mean?
I think so. I'm not an expert in this area so someone might know better than me. I just know I sometimes see those weird "ghost" files in the folders with my Word docs.
posted by drjimmy11 at 5:13 PM on September 17, 2012
I think so. I'm not an expert in this area so someone might know better than me. I just know I sometimes see those weird "ghost" files in the folders with my Word docs.
posted by drjimmy11 at 5:13 PM on September 17, 2012
When you say "I tried to restore the previous version via dropbox" does that mean you followed the procedure in Dropbox Help: How do I recover old versions of files?
posted by grouse at 5:17 PM on September 17, 2012
posted by grouse at 5:17 PM on September 17, 2012
Yeah, dropbox keeps a copy of about everything. If it was there last night, you can get it back today.
posted by shothotbot at 5:37 PM on September 17, 2012
posted by shothotbot at 5:37 PM on September 17, 2012
Description of how Word creates temporary files
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/211632
The easiest way to get to your Temp folder is to type %temp% in the Start Run box.
If you wish to navigate to...C:\Users\(username)\AppData\Local\Temp... you will have to show BOTH hidden and system files in Control Panel/ Folder Options/ View.
posted by srboisvert at 5:41 PM on September 17, 2012
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/211632
The easiest way to get to your Temp folder is to type %temp% in the Start Run box.
If you wish to navigate to...C:\Users\(username)\AppData\Local\Temp... you will have to show BOTH hidden and system files in Control Panel/ Folder Options/ View.
posted by srboisvert at 5:41 PM on September 17, 2012
Response by poster: Re "how do I recover old versions of files?" yeah. There are no versions dated today in dropbox, and none of the other versions are the one I was working on today. I think instead of saving the new file to dropbox, I replaced the updated file in Word with the older, dropbox file. So the updated version didn't make it to dropbox.
What confused me was the dialog box dropbox offered me when I made the save.
Normally, before I save a new version of a doc to dropbox, I save and close the current version, then open dropbox. I copy the file from the library in my desktop folders, then paste to dropbox, which asks me if I want to replace an existing file. Always, the existing file is an older version. I say yes to the topmost option, which has always been replacing the old version with the new. [I say "always," but I've been using dropbox for two months at the most.] I did that this time, and when I clicked yes, noticed that the dialog box was asking if I should replace the 9/9 version with 9/17 version. The dialog box was exactly the opposite of what I expected.
Since I'd closed the word doc I was saving, (tho not the entire program - I had [and have] open docs I was working from) I couldn't go back to my precious doc and simply undo.
posted by goofyfoot at 5:43 PM on September 17, 2012
What confused me was the dialog box dropbox offered me when I made the save.
Normally, before I save a new version of a doc to dropbox, I save and close the current version, then open dropbox. I copy the file from the library in my desktop folders, then paste to dropbox, which asks me if I want to replace an existing file. Always, the existing file is an older version. I say yes to the topmost option, which has always been replacing the old version with the new. [I say "always," but I've been using dropbox for two months at the most.] I did that this time, and when I clicked yes, noticed that the dialog box was asking if I should replace the 9/9 version with 9/17 version. The dialog box was exactly the opposite of what I expected.
Since I'd closed the word doc I was saving, (tho not the entire program - I had [and have] open docs I was working from) I couldn't go back to my precious doc and simply undo.
posted by goofyfoot at 5:43 PM on September 17, 2012
Have you tried submitting your problem to Dropbox's help? (I've heard that Dropbox will do extra digging in their servers for enterprise clients...but I don't know if this helpfulness extends to us regular folks.)
posted by tinymegalo at 5:46 PM on September 17, 2012
posted by tinymegalo at 5:46 PM on September 17, 2012
Response by poster: Am definitely regular folk! Thanks for the suggestion, but I think I'll have to suck it up and rewrite my revisions. Dangit. But here's to the human powers of recovery (if not those of computers) - what seemed a calamity two hours ago is now just an annoyance.
Still, if anyone has a magic solution for me or for anyone with a similar problem, current or future - please post!
posted by goofyfoot at 5:56 PM on September 17, 2012
Still, if anyone has a magic solution for me or for anyone with a similar problem, current or future - please post!
posted by goofyfoot at 5:56 PM on September 17, 2012
Response by poster: srboisvert, thanks. I downloaded a file viewer and checked everything %temp% dated today. If it's there, it's encoded in such a way that I can't figure it out. Oh well. Thank you!
posted by goofyfoot at 6:09 PM on September 17, 2012
posted by goofyfoot at 6:09 PM on September 17, 2012
goofyfoot, is there a reason you're not working directly on the file in the dropbox folder? It would prevent this from happening in the first place.
posted by crankylex at 7:21 PM on September 17, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by crankylex at 7:21 PM on September 17, 2012 [1 favorite]
Sounds like you mostly recovered, but I'll third the advice given above: just work on the file directly in the dropbox folder. Everytime you hit Save (which will be early and often, right?) Dropbox will iterate your file online.
posted by griffey at 7:26 PM on September 17, 2012
posted by griffey at 7:26 PM on September 17, 2012
Response by poster: I didn't think to work directly from the dropbox folder. It just didn't occur to me. As I said above, I am not tech savvy in the least. Aside from library software, which I can manipulate with confidence, I know little. So I've learned, today. Possibly the arrogance of competence that's served me with integrated library software for the past decade is why I didn't examine the particulars of dropbox. I lost my updated file to hubris!
posted by goofyfoot at 9:06 PM on September 17, 2012
posted by goofyfoot at 9:06 PM on September 17, 2012
If you're using a recent version of Windows goofyfoot, it stores previous versions of files for you, although I'm not sure how often it does it: it doesn't store every single update IIRC. If you right click on the directory where the file is, you should be able to click on "Restore Previous Versions".
(This little godsend of a feature let me restore my broken Batman Arkham Asylum save games earlier in the year. On the other hand, it was Microsoft's Games for Windows Live system that broke them in the first place, so on the whole I'm not sure that MS came out ahead in my personal accounting.)
posted by pharm at 2:48 AM on September 18, 2012
(This little godsend of a feature let me restore my broken Batman Arkham Asylum save games earlier in the year. On the other hand, it was Microsoft's Games for Windows Live system that broke them in the first place, so on the whole I'm not sure that MS came out ahead in my personal accounting.)
posted by pharm at 2:48 AM on September 18, 2012
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Fortran at 4:41 PM on September 17, 2012 [2 favorites]