Finding Lost Word Files

Hans in Berlin asks, "I turned off AutoRecover before I lost my file, but now I cant find a file I lost when the computer crashed."

When you restart Word after it has crashed, it automatically opens any recovered files.

If for some reason the recovery file doesn’t open, try this:

1. Open Word.

2. Click File, Open.

3. In the folder list, open the folder where recovered files are stored.

In general, this is usually C:\documents and settings\<your username>\Application Data\Microsoft\Word.

You can also change the save interval for automatic file recovery.  This tells Word to automatically backup your file every five or ten minutes based on the time interval you enter. 

To automatically save your documents:   

1. In Word, on the Tools menu, click Options, and then the Save tab.

2. Select the Save AutoRecover info every checkbox.

3. In the minutes box, specify how often you want Word to save files.