Here's one for you..

JaMarcus Hustle

...and apologies if this is not in the correct forum, I though this might be the best place but feel free to move if necessary!

A colleague was sent an excel file as an attachment to an e-mail in outlook. She opened the excel file, and was inputting her own data into it, and hitting save changes as she went along. She hadn't specified anywhere to save it, but it didn't prompt her to either. It was a simple as - for example - opening a blank excel document that you were sent, typing "ABCD" in Cell A1, click Save (not Save As) and closing it.

Is this file hiding somewhere on her computer now? We've tried looking for it but can't find it - the default location where these things seem to be (i.e. if you opened it and clicked Save As...) is C:/Docs and Settings/Username/Local Settings/Temp and then a couple of other folders that look like randomly generated numbers.

Haven't been able to find any of those folders after Temp, and searching for the file name shows no results. Is it lost?

Thanks

who the fug

can you not open excel and click on the recent files button

aidan_walsh

If it was opened as a temporary file it may have been deleted when it was closed.

What is she using are you using? If Vista or higher, if you do a search in the Windows Explorer search bar for *.xls (or xlsx if its saved to the newer format) and add Modified:29/03/2012 or whenever it was edited you might be able to find something.

yoyo

This is such a common problem with email attachments/web downloads for people. I always reccomend people to always save as immediately after opening a file before starting work on it, to somewhere like my docs/desktop. If you can get into that habbit, this problem won't happen. It could be in the temp folder, make sure show hidden files is checked in folder options, and follow aidan_walsh's advice above

Nick

fionny

Just tried on my comp and when i clicked save it warned that the file was read-only... sounds strange that it didnt prompt them.

Mack_Attack

On my machine when that happens I repeat the steps, so basically open the file from the email again and click 'Save As' it will point to the temporary file location (in Excel 2003).

Go to that directory and all the files should be sitting there. The folders are all hidden, but by typing the link into the address bar you can overcome that issue.

Good Luck

fionny

Mustve been fixed in 2010.

yoyo

fionny wrote: »

Mustve been fixed in 2010.

In 2010 (And I think maybe 07?) files opened in a temporary folder usually say "this file is not it a suitable location for editing" with a button to edit anyways. Still my Dad and other people I know get caught out by the fact the documents don't magically fly into the my documents folder :rolleyes: . Of course only afterwords panic ensues :pac::pac:

Nick

fionny

In 2010 it does have a warning like that which you can clear but it STILL says that the folder is read only when you try to save, so unless someone has gone around changing things it should be the same.

GowlBag

Attachments will typically land in sub folder of "Temporary Internet Files". A very obscure and volatile location. Windows searches will rarely search in here especially on Vista/7.

If you run regedit and browse into the keys below you might get closer to finding your file..

I took the following from http://support.microsoft.com/kb/817878



When you open file attachments that are considered safe, Outlook 2010, Outlook 2007, and Outlook 2003 puts these attachments in a subdirectory of the Temporary Internet Files directory as an additional precaution. When Outlook 2010, Outlook 2007, or Outlook 2003 first tries to use a temporary file, it examines the registry to determine whether the following value exists, depending on your version of Outlook.

Outlook 2010
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook\Security

or

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook\Security

Value Name: OutlookSecureTempFolder
Data Type: REG_SZ


Outlook 2007
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\Security

or

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\Security


Value Name: OutlookSecureTempFolder
Data Type: REG_SZ

Outlook 2003
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\Security

or

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\Security