Microsoft KB Archive/156577

= WD97: Why You Are Unable to Recover a Lost Document =

Article ID: 156577

Article Last Modified on 1/19/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Word 97 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q156577





SYMPTOMS
Word may be unable to automatically recover your document after Word shut down unexpectedly.



CAUSE
This problem may occur when any of the following conditions are true:

 An AutoRecover file has not been created yet.

By default, an AutoRecover file will not be saved until ten minutes after you start work on it. After ten minutes, the AutoRecover file is created. If a failure shuts down Word prematurely, Word will use the AutoRecover file to recover the document.

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 An AutoRecover file is deleted after the document has been saved.

A new AutoRecover file is not created until after the next AutoRecover duration (by default: ten minutes after you start working on the document).

-or-

 The document was closed and changes were not saved.

Once a document has been closed, the AutoRecover file is deleted. There is no way to recover the document once the file has been closed and changes were not saved.



WORKAROUND
To change the AutoRecover Save duration, follow these steps:


 * 1) On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Save tab.
 * 2) In the "Save AutoRecover Info Every" box, change the number to the desired time interval between AutoRecover saves, and click OK.

NOTE: AutoRecover is not a substitute for saving your document. When you use AutoRecover, Word creates a temporary file to recover your document if Word shuts down unexpectedly. You must still save your document in order to retain your changes.



MORE INFORMATION
For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

156573 WD97: How to Recover Text from Any File

Additional query words: crashed hung locked corrupt frozen tshoot

Keywords: kbfaq kbinfo kbualink97 KB156577

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