I have spent the better part of the day working on a research and analysis paper. It was brilliant. I downloaded it to my computer from my GMail account, and kept saving it. I was so paranoid about losing it if my computer shut down. I probably saved it about 60 times. However, I didnt SAVE AS. So I sent it somewhere, probably to a temporary file, but I'm not quite sure where. I was finally able to access temporary files (apparently Vista is a piece of crap and moved everything around), but it wouldnt let me access temporary internet files. I think it might be in there, but I'm not sure. I dont know why it wont let me access the temp internet files. I am logged on as the sole administrator with all control power. Can anyone tell me where I should look? It's due tommorrow. (Hence the working on it for six hours.) In the meantime, I'm calling Microsoft Help to see if they know what's up. And if that doesnt work... well, my dad just went out to get energy drinks so I can stay up rewriting it all night. Notes: I have Vista. This means some of the folders like Documents and Settings no longer exist. I have Microsoft 2007. That means it is a .docx file. I downloaded it from the Internet, from my GMail account. I dont know if that means anything to you or not. Please, please, please with all the love in your heart please help me.
Thank you. Unfortunately, it's not there. I've searched recent items, Documents, My Documents, every folder within those two. I've hit the search function and searched for anything ending in a .docx file, but it's still not showing up, which is what makes me think that it's "hiding" from me in one of those unaccessable folders...
Oh jesus. Umm...*racks brains* Try checking recycle bin incase its been shifted into there somehow? I don't know how that operating system works, but if you downloaded the document and clicked 'open' as opposed to 'save', and then clicked save inside the document, would it have somehow just updated the downloadable document in the email? Sorry, I know that sounds really dumb - I just don't know what to suggest.
I did just that. I hadnt thought about trying that. I dont know what my computer is doing. As soon as I opened up the recycling bin, up popped documents, pictures, video, etc that I'd deleted over a year ago?! And, because it hates me (obviously ), my file didnt pop up. I'm thinking I should just write the whole thing again... I guess the good news is that I'll never make that mistake again. The bad news is that I'll have spent about 12 hours on this paper. Lovely...
Ooh!! I might know!! It might have stored it in a folder called "Downloads" which would be near the "Documents" and "Pictures" and folders such as those.
^ that's a good idea. It's like another temporary files folder; it'd make sense if you got it from an email? I guess it could also be in 'my recieved files' ? *fingers crossed*
I don't have much experience with Vista, but I find it weird that you can't access temp internet files. If there's any place it should be, then that's the place. Is there any message or anything that you get when trying to open this folder? Also, have you tried using search to locate the document? Perhaps that will let you open it.
I found some old downloaded files from 2008 in the downloads folders, but no recent ones. I've never heard of "My Received Files." I'm going to search for that...
I've tried using the search function, but no luck. It's pulling up older versions of the file I'm looking for, but not the version with 6+ hours of work on it. And the message for the temp file simply says "Access Denied." I changed the properties so that I have total control, but no luck there either. I did an internet search as to why that would happen, and some very helpful nerd said that it was because the Vista system stores it in a seperate location. The weird thing is, that IS the correct location...
You try and go into 'My documents' to open the 'recieved files' folder, and it redirects you to documents? What on earth is your pc doing?? Thirdwind's suggestion worked for me when I opened a browser window, clicked 'tools' and then 'internet options', and i'm on vista. I hope you get your work back mercy *fingers crossed* x
Yeah. I'm the only one who operates this computer (it's my laptop), and there's only one user, which is myself. My computer is so screwed up, which is why I complain about it a lot. I have files fall off the face of the earth all the time. The difference is, those files usually go missing after I'm done with them. Not so much with this one. I'm going to log off now... thanks, everyone, for your help. I'll keep coming back periodically, but I think it's time for me to face the music and just rewrite it. It's nearly 11PM here, so if it takes another six hours, I can be done close to 5AM. *shudder* It'll be tough, but it'll at least I'll have something to present. I really appreciate you guys responding really quickly. You're the best.
This might be useless, but I've had trouble tracking down files on Vista before because instead of just having ''My Documents' under C:, you have to navigate C: -> Users (whichever user it saved it under) -> Documents. I had it saving and downloading to the folder of my specific account instead of the default documents folder. Of course, if I just search documents it doesn't bother to bring up my account's folder or anything in it, just the default.
Temporary Internet Files has been a special folder in Windows long before Vista. Files in that folder behave differently than they do elsewhere on the computer. Part of that is to prevent viruses from executing other pieces of themselves there.
If you downloaded it from your gmail account it should be there even if you deleted it. Unless you cleaned your deleted mail folder, also.
Search your whole system for the format you saved it in. Like, if it was a word file, search for every .doc file you have.
Thank you all. You have no idea how much I appreciate all your help. I've finished rewriting my paper and just have to finish citing my Works Consulted, etc. I tried the tools --> Internet Options --> etc, and it recalled some of the temp files, but some of them refused to open ("access denied" again) or werent what I was looking for. Thank you, Thirdwind, though! It's definitely something I'm going to remember, because sooner or later I have a feeling that will help me. Ashleigh, I'm incredibly jealous that it worked for you and not for me. Agreen, I never knew it did that sometimes. I did what you suggested, but no such luck. I've always disliked my Home, Basic version of Vista, but until tonight I never realized how many weird quirks it has. Cogito, that makes a lot more sense to me now. I was able to use my super-administrator powers to open up a few of those folders that had been previously locked, but it wouldnt let me do it with the temp internet file folder. I guess now I know why. Is there ever a way to access that folder though? I dont anticipate making this mistake again, but it'd be nice to know. And I'm just curious. Garmar, yes- my gmail does have the copy still saved (I never discard emails --just stick them in folders-- specifically for this reason), but I worked on it since then, for most of the day. So unfortunately, the gmail version was drastically different from the version I'd been working on all day. I did recall that email to start over again though. TimAyro, I tried that. I searched for all .doc files and .docx files (because of Vista, files are .docx instead of .doc), and it didnt bring up even half of what I have saved. It brought up maybe 50 files, but I have at least 200-300. I dont know what's up with this crazy computer. I guess if there's anything that can be learned from this experience, it's that I'm always going to save a backup now. Just to be safe, I've already saved a copy of the paper on my memory stick, and I've saved the file in two different locations. That, and I've learned a lot about Vista, even if I'm not too thrilled about what I've learned. I am lucky. This is a major paper for my class (it's worth 250 points and formal papers are worth about 40% of our final grade overall; only one other paper has been worth so much), but for our formal writing (as opposed to our impromptu, timed, and in-class assignments), we are allowed to resubmit new versions in exchange for a higher grade after a conference with her. I was hoping to submit this awesome paper and be done with it because our final exams are in about 2.5 weeks, and I didnt want to have to worry about rewriting a 6-8 page paper... It looks like that will probably be the case, but I suppose it's better than nothing. The other good news is I can get rid of this thing pretty soon. I have a ten-gallon jug filled with coins. I started counting them the other day and counted out about $200. (Yes, it was a long time of counting!) I'm not even halfway through counting the coins, so I might have $600 overall... or at least that's what I'm hoping for. A Mac laptop with a student discount is about $800, so I'm looking forward to a new computer on a system that I'm a lot more familiar with. (I use windows for my personal use and studies, but I often take home a work laptop, which is a mac. I much prefer it.) Back to work... If I'm lucky, I might get to bed by 2AM! Which would be really cool.
