"Lost" Word docs

Just for the record, Suzanne is not Microsoft. Everyone you're speaking with
here is a volunteer who answers questions of their own free will. Your
hostility is wasted and counter-productive.

Suzanne is exactly right. When you drive a car, it is your responsibility to
put gas in it. It is your responsibility to turn off the lights when you
park it. If you fail to do either, you'll be inconvenienced.

You assume certain responsibilities to use any product.

Dan


"roybaylis" wrote in message
...
The more I think about your response, the angrier it makes me. It is so
patronising, so unhelpful and even arrogant.
If that attitude is how Microsoft sees such issues, the end is nigh.
Customers don't have to do what theyr'e told - it is the 21st century!
Peace.
Roy


"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote:

I stand by my statement. I think it is important to make users realize
that
*they* are responsible for saving their work. Do you have the same
expectations about the rest of your life, that "someone else" should
protect
you from the consequences of, say, paying your utility bill or insurance
premium or filing your income tax return or brushing your teeth or buying
the food you need for tomorrow or washing your dirty clothes or...?

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup
so
all may benefit.

"roybaylis" wrote in message
...

Dear Suzanne
I think your comment "none of the options will protect you from your
own
imprudence, laziness, or folly!" is both unhelpful and misses the main
point.
This software is used so often by so many and it seems most of us have
been
caught by this happening at one time or another.
Why on earth not fix it?! Isn't "user-friendly" part of the plan?
Wouldn't that be a wINwIN SOLUTION?!
Thanks
Roy


"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote:

There is no "autosave" in Word. See
http://word.mvps.org/faqs/general/AutomaticSave.htm

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"roybaylis" wrote in message
...
I have recently lost some Word docs, despite having autosave set to
1
minute.
Journal was switched off, so no joy there.
Any ideas?!
Thanks a million.
Roy

Dan - I am reminded of your first response :
"No, you're not.

Hang around here and you'll see it come up almost daily.

Dan"

Not many car makers would survive if that sort of comment could be made
about one of the most basic parts of their cars, would it?!!

I stand by what I have said, but note that "Suzanne is not Microsoft". I
said "IF" that is how Microsoft see things ...

I am grateful to all who have helped me so fully in this interesting post. I
remain surprised, disappointed and, frankly, at a loss to understand why
Microsoft have left such an obvious nuiseance unresolved for its millions of
users.

I assume that any products which are going to attract my repeat custom will
continually make necessary improvements and, if it does not, it will lose my
custom as and when a better alternative comes on the market.

If it is so easy for OneNote to save automatically, why can't Word? And,
thereby your "argument" goes out the window, doesn't it? I am no less
responsible a person when I use the 2 products,but one is miles more
convenient and user-friendly in terms of saing, than the other.
What IS the problem with fixing this, instead of defedning the nonsensical?
Thanks again
Roy


"Dan Freeman" wrote:

Just for the record, Suzanne is not Microsoft. Everyone you're speaking with
here is a volunteer who answers questions of their own free will. Your
hostility is wasted and counter-productive.

Suzanne is exactly right. When you drive a car, it is your responsibility to
put gas in it. It is your responsibility to turn off the lights when you
park it. If you fail to do either, you'll be inconvenienced.

You assume certain responsibilities to use any product.

Dan


"roybaylis" wrote in message
...
The more I think about your response, the angrier it makes me. It is so
patronising, so unhelpful and even arrogant.
If that attitude is how Microsoft sees such issues, the end is nigh.
Customers don't have to do what theyr'e told - it is the 21st century!
Peace.
Roy


"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote:

I stand by my statement. I think it is important to make users realize
that
*they* are responsible for saving their work. Do you have the same
expectations about the rest of your life, that "someone else" should
protect
you from the consequences of, say, paying your utility bill or insurance
premium or filing your income tax return or brushing your teeth or buying
the food you need for tomorrow or washing your dirty clothes or...?

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup
so
all may benefit.

"roybaylis" wrote in message
...

Dear Suzanne
I think your comment "none of the options will protect you from your
own
imprudence, laziness, or folly!" is both unhelpful and misses the main
point.
This software is used so often by so many and it seems most of us have
been
caught by this happening at one time or another.
Why on earth not fix it?! Isn't "user-friendly" part of the plan?
Wouldn't that be a wINwIN SOLUTION?!
Thanks
Roy


"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote:

There is no "autosave" in Word. See
http://word.mvps.org/faqs/general/AutomaticSave.htm

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"roybaylis" wrote in message
...
I have recently lost some Word docs, despite having autosave set to
1
minute.
Journal was switched off, so no joy there.
Any ideas?!
Thanks a million.
Roy

Point taken, Suzanne - but, if you re-read what I said, it was prefaced with
"IF"!
I was addressing your attitude.
Roy

"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote:

My attitude has nothing to do with "how Microsoft sees such issues." I do
not work for Microsoft and am not responsible for their attitude, nor they
for mine.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"roybaylis" wrote in message
...
The more I think about your response, the angrier it makes me. It is so
patronising, so unhelpful and even arrogant.
If that attitude is how Microsoft sees such issues, the end is nigh.
Customers don't have to do what theyr'e told - it is the 21st century!
Peace.
Roy


"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote:

I stand by my statement. I think it is important to make users realize
that
*they* are responsible for saving their work. Do you have the same
expectations about the rest of your life, that "someone else" should
protect
you from the consequences of, say, paying your utility bill or insurance
premium or filing your income tax return or brushing your teeth or
buying
the food you need for tomorrow or washing your dirty clothes or...?

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"roybaylis" wrote in message
...

Dear Suzanne
I think your comment "none of the options will protect you from your
own
imprudence, laziness, or folly!" is both unhelpful and misses the main
point.
This software is used so often by so many and it seems most of us have
been
caught by this happening at one time or another.
Why on earth not fix it?! Isn't "user-friendly" part of the plan?
Wouldn't that be a wINwIN SOLUTION?!
Thanks
Roy


"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote:

There is no "autosave" in Word. See
http://word.mvps.org/faqs/general/AutomaticSave.htm

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"roybaylis" wrote in message
...
I have recently lost some Word docs, despite having autosave set
to 1
minute.
Journal was switched off, so no joy there.
Any ideas?!
Thanks a million.
Roy

I personally would be very unhappy if Word saved every document I created or
ever saved without my explicit permission. I create many throwaway test
documents that are intentionally not saved, and I don't always want to save
a document at a given stage of development. Luckily a Save in Word doesn't
disable Undo as it does in Publisher; if that were the case I would be even
more unhappy if I hadn't gotten myself into a fix and couldn't Undo (or even
close without saving and revert to the earlier version) because Word had
"helpfully" saved my document in its messed-up form!

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"roybaylis" wrote in message
...
Dan - I am reminded of your first response :
"No, you're not.

Hang around here and you'll see it come up almost daily.

Dan"

Not many car makers would survive if that sort of comment could be made
about one of the most basic parts of their cars, would it?!!

I stand by what I have said, but note that "Suzanne is not Microsoft". I
said "IF" that is how Microsoft see things ...

I am grateful to all who have helped me so fully in this interesting post.
I
remain surprised, disappointed and, frankly, at a loss to understand why
Microsoft have left such an obvious nuiseance unresolved for its millions
of
users.

I assume that any products which are going to attract my repeat custom
will
continually make necessary improvements and, if it does not, it will lose
my
custom as and when a better alternative comes on the market.

If it is so easy for OneNote to save automatically, why can't Word? And,
thereby your "argument" goes out the window, doesn't it? I am no less
responsible a person when I use the 2 products,but one is miles more
convenient and user-friendly in terms of saing, than the other.
What IS the problem with fixing this, instead of defedning the
nonsensical?
Thanks again
Roy


"Dan Freeman" wrote:

Just for the record, Suzanne is not Microsoft. Everyone you're speaking
with
here is a volunteer who answers questions of their own free will. Your
hostility is wasted and counter-productive.

Suzanne is exactly right. When you drive a car, it is your
responsibility to
put gas in it. It is your responsibility to turn off the lights when you
park it. If you fail to do either, you'll be inconvenienced.

You assume certain responsibilities to use any product.

Dan


"roybaylis" wrote in message
...
The more I think about your response, the angrier it makes me. It is
so
patronising, so unhelpful and even arrogant.
If that attitude is how Microsoft sees such issues, the end is nigh.
Customers don't have to do what theyr'e told - it is the 21st century!
Peace.
Roy


"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote:

I stand by my statement. I think it is important to make users
realize
that
*they* are responsible for saving their work. Do you have the same
expectations about the rest of your life, that "someone else" should
protect
you from the consequences of, say, paying your utility bill or
insurance
premium or filing your income tax return or brushing your teeth or
buying
the food you need for tomorrow or washing your dirty clothes or...?

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup
so
all may benefit.

"roybaylis" wrote in message
...

Dear Suzanne
I think your comment "none of the options will protect you from
your
own
imprudence, laziness, or folly!" is both unhelpful and misses the
main
point.
This software is used so often by so many and it seems most of us
have
been
caught by this happening at one time or another.
Why on earth not fix it?! Isn't "user-friendly" part of the plan?
Wouldn't that be a wINwIN SOLUTION?!
Thanks
Roy


"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote:

There is no "autosave" in Word. See
http://word.mvps.org/faqs/general/AutomaticSave.htm

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"roybaylis" wrote in
message
...
I have recently lost some Word docs, despite having autosave
set to
1
minute.
Journal was switched off, so no joy there.
Any ideas?!
Thanks a million.
Roy

I think what needs to be put into perspective here is the unforeseen issues
that would occur if Word did automatically save documents. Consider the
times you, or the many, many others, have opened a previously created
document, made changes, but saved those changes to as a new file in order to
prevent modifications on the original. If Word automatically saved those
revisions before you could use Save As and save a copy then users would be
faced with the inabilty to recover documents that contain changes they
didn't want to save. Granted they could potientally use Undo but that would
result in doing a lot of work over again. This new issue would be equally
detrimental, wouldn't you agree? There are several other examples in which
users wouldn't be happy if Word automatically saved documents as well.

So what does a one do in order to attempt to make everyone happy? The
easiest solution is to give users the choice to save or not save changes by
creating a Save command that doesn't function automatically. After all,
using Ctrl + S to clicking a button to save the file really isn't asking too
much. After awhile it becomes habit - just like putting your car in Drive
when you want to move forward or putting your car in Reverse when you want
to move backward becomes second nature.

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

"roybaylis" wrote in message
...
Dear Suzanne
That is an unreal comparison.
When I BUY something, I expect it to work as well as possible and, if
there
is a known problem, for the manufacturer to fix it. if not, I simply buy
another product!
Why do you avoid the realissue - it is a problem for loads of people, has
been for ages, and should be fixed.
Why not?!!!
Roy

Word is VERY misleading about this. I just had Word close on me--not my
doing. There was no prompting to save any unsaved files. I have now lost work
I have done. Even if you save work frequently (sometimes every 5 or 10
minutes), if you have just written something that took a lot of thought, you
can totally lose it.


"If you . . . quit Word without saving, the autosave backup was deleted."
This is plain STUPID!! If you quit word without saving, that is when you most
need the autosave backup--particularly because Word will just decide to shut
down out of nowhere.

Why is it that Microsoft, this supposed amazing creator of software, cannot,
after years and years of customer complaints (1) remedy situations that
people complain of over and over again, (2) write help files that are
actually helpful and are indexed properly, (3) be clear? Aren't Microsoft
products supposed to be user-friendly? You might ask why I use them, since I
have all these complaints. The answer is, because they are what most people
use, and to not use them cuts you out of the loop.

I expect these people will never get it together and put out products that
are truly user-friendly and intelligible.

"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote:

But it was never intended as a substitute for ordinary saving. Here is the
description of the feature from the Word 2.0 manual:

"If you have Automatic Save selected, Word saves your document for you at
specific intervals. If there's a power outage or system failure, you can
retrieve your work from the autosave backup files.

"The first time Word performs an autosave backup, it saves the entire
document. For subsequent backups, Word saves only those parts of the
document that have changed since the last save. The first autosave may take
a moment, but later backups are fast and hardly noticeable as you work.
Automatic Save dot not take the place of the Save or Save All commands.
These commands completely save and update the versions of a document on disk
each time you choose them.

"Word creates autosave backup files as necessary. Any time you choose the
Save command, Word deletes the autosave backup file for the document you're
saving. Word creates the files again at the next autosave interval for
documents active at that time. If you choose Save All *or quit Word*, Word
deletes all of the autosave backup files." [Emphasis added.]

This is no different from AutoRecover. If you intentionally closed a
document or quit Word without saving, the autosave backup was deleted. The
manual goes on to indicate that Word also saves you from losing your work by
your computer's running out of memory and specifies that "in case of a power
failure or other trouble with your computer, you can open an autosave backup
file the next time you start Word." There is no indication that this was
meant to be a substitute for manual saving or to protect users from
negligence.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]" wrote in
message ...
Hi Beth:

Yeah: Take it away! And bring back the old mechanism that used to work.

If we must, rename the useless one to "Change logging." Because that's
what
it does: it logs the changes to a file. But only if the file has already
been saved :-)

Cheers


On 16/1/07 2:55 PM, in article , "Beth
Melton" wrote:

The option was called AutoSave at one point then it was changed to "Save
AutoRecover information". Do you have a suggestion that could help make
it
more clear?

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

"roybaylis" wrote in message
...
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!
To think for years I have been relying on this - to no avail.
Ignorance is NOT (now) bliss!!!
Why don't Microsoft make this clearer?

"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote:

There is no "autosave" in Word. See
http://word.mvps.org/faqs/general/AutomaticSave.htm

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup
so
all may benefit.

"roybaylis" wrote in message
...
I have recently lost some Word docs, despite having autosave set to 1
minute.
Journal was switched off, so no joy there.
Any ideas?!
Thanks a million.
Roy






--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Business Analyst, Consultant
Technical Writer.
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410

If Word "just decides to shut down out of nowhere," then you will be
presented with an AutoRecovery backup when you restart Word (current
versions restart automatically), but if you manually shut down and *choose*
not to save, you can't blame Word for "losing" your document. And if you
have been saving (really saving, not just depending on AutoRecover) every
five or ten minutes, you can't "totally" lose a document; the most you can
lose is the last five or ten minutes.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

"lindalou" wrote in message
...
Word is VERY misleading about this. I just had Word close on me--not my
doing. There was no prompting to save any unsaved files. I have now lost
work
I have done. Even if you save work frequently (sometimes every 5 or 10
minutes), if you have just written something that took a lot of thought,
you
can totally lose it.


"If you . . . quit Word without saving, the autosave backup was deleted."
This is plain STUPID!! If you quit word without saving, that is when you
most
need the autosave backup--particularly because Word will just decide to
shut
down out of nowhere.

Why is it that Microsoft, this supposed amazing creator of software,
cannot,
after years and years of customer complaints (1) remedy situations that
people complain of over and over again, (2) write help files that are
actually helpful and are indexed properly, (3) be clear? Aren't Microsoft
products supposed to be user-friendly? You might ask why I use them,
since I
have all these complaints. The answer is, because they are what most
people
use, and to not use them cuts you out of the loop.

I expect these people will never get it together and put out products that
are truly user-friendly and intelligible.

"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote:

But it was never intended as a substitute for ordinary saving. Here is
the
description of the feature from the Word 2.0 manual:

"If you have Automatic Save selected, Word saves your document for you at
specific intervals. If there's a power outage or system failure, you can
retrieve your work from the autosave backup files.

"The first time Word performs an autosave backup, it saves the entire
document. For subsequent backups, Word saves only those parts of the
document that have changed since the last save. The first autosave may
take
a moment, but later backups are fast and hardly noticeable as you work.
Automatic Save dot not take the place of the Save or Save All commands.
These commands completely save and update the versions of a document on
disk
each time you choose them.

"Word creates autosave backup files as necessary. Any time you choose the
Save command, Word deletes the autosave backup file for the document
you're
saving. Word creates the files again at the next autosave interval for
documents active at that time. If you choose Save All *or quit Word*,
Word
deletes all of the autosave backup files." [Emphasis added.]

This is no different from AutoRecover. If you intentionally closed a
document or quit Word without saving, the autosave backup was deleted.
The
manual goes on to indicate that Word also saves you from losing your work
by
your computer's running out of memory and specifies that "in case of a
power
failure or other trouble with your computer, you can open an autosave
backup
file the next time you start Word." There is no indication that this was
meant to be a substitute for manual saving or to protect users from
negligence.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup
so
all may benefit.

"John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]" wrote in
message ...
Hi Beth:

Yeah: Take it away! And bring back the old mechanism that used to
work.

If we must, rename the useless one to "Change logging." Because that's
what
it does: it logs the changes to a file. But only if the file has
already
been saved :-)

Cheers


On 16/1/07 2:55 PM, in article ,
"Beth
Melton" wrote:

The option was called AutoSave at one point then it was changed to
"Save
AutoRecover information". Do you have a suggestion that could help
make
it
more clear?

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

"roybaylis" wrote in message
...
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!
To think for years I have been relying on this - to no avail.
Ignorance is NOT (now) bliss!!!
Why don't Microsoft make this clearer?

"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote:

There is no "autosave" in Word. See
http://word.mvps.org/faqs/general/AutomaticSave.htm

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup
so
all may benefit.

"roybaylis" wrote in message
...
I have recently lost some Word docs, despite having autosave set
to 1
minute.
Journal was switched off, so no joy there.
Any ideas?!
Thanks a million.
Roy






--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not
email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Business Analyst,
Consultant
Technical Writer.
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410

Actually in full support of every point Suzanne makes, but in addition...

On 12/25/07 9:57 PM, in article ,
"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote:

you can't "totally" lose a document

Well, yes you _can_ - if the OS or the HD are problematic... In which case
that's probably what caused Word " to shut down out of nowhere " in the
first place.

Regards |:)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

Yes, you don't totally lose the whole document. I never said you did. But you
can lose some very important stuff. "It" in my sentence referred to the
antecedent "if you have just written something that took a lot of thought."

And yes, it did shut down without asking if I wanted to save and without
presenting an autorecover option when I started up again.



"lindalou" wrote:

Word is VERY misleading about this. I just had Word close on me--not my
doing. There was no prompting to save any unsaved files. I have now lost work
I have done. Even if you save work frequently (sometimes every 5 or 10
minutes), if you have just written something that took a lot of thought, you
can totally lose it.


"If you . . . quit Word without saving, the autosave backup was deleted."
This is plain STUPID!! If you quit word without saving, that is when you most
need the autosave backup--particularly because Word will just decide to shut
down out of nowhere.

Why is it that Microsoft, this supposed amazing creator of software, cannot,
after years and years of customer complaints (1) remedy situations that
people complain of over and over again, (2) write help files that are
actually helpful and are indexed properly, (3) be clear? Aren't Microsoft
products supposed to be user-friendly? You might ask why I use them, since I
have all these complaints. The answer is, because they are what most people
use, and to not use them cuts you out of the loop.

I expect these people will never get it together and put out products that
are truly user-friendly and intelligible.

"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote:

But it was never intended as a substitute for ordinary saving. Here is the
description of the feature from the Word 2.0 manual:

"If you have Automatic Save selected, Word saves your document for you at
specific intervals. If there's a power outage or system failure, you can
retrieve your work from the autosave backup files.

"The first time Word performs an autosave backup, it saves the entire
document. For subsequent backups, Word saves only those parts of the
document that have changed since the last save. The first autosave may take
a moment, but later backups are fast and hardly noticeable as you work.
Automatic Save dot not take the place of the Save or Save All commands.
These commands completely save and update the versions of a document on disk
each time you choose them.

"Word creates autosave backup files as necessary. Any time you choose the
Save command, Word deletes the autosave backup file for the document you're
saving. Word creates the files again at the next autosave interval for
documents active at that time. If you choose Save All *or quit Word*, Word
deletes all of the autosave backup files." [Emphasis added.]

This is no different from AutoRecover. If you intentionally closed a
document or quit Word without saving, the autosave backup was deleted. The
manual goes on to indicate that Word also saves you from losing your work by
your computer's running out of memory and specifies that "in case of a power
failure or other trouble with your computer, you can open an autosave backup
file the next time you start Word." There is no indication that this was
meant to be a substitute for manual saving or to protect users from
negligence.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]" wrote in
message ...
Hi Beth:

Yeah: Take it away! And bring back the old mechanism that used to work.

If we must, rename the useless one to "Change logging." Because that's
what
it does: it logs the changes to a file. But only if the file has already
been saved :-)

Cheers


On 16/1/07 2:55 PM, in article , "Beth
Melton" wrote:

The option was called AutoSave at one point then it was changed to "Save
AutoRecover information". Do you have a suggestion that could help make
it
more clear?

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

"roybaylis" wrote in message
...
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!
To think for years I have been relying on this - to no avail.
Ignorance is NOT (now) bliss!!!
Why don't Microsoft make this clearer?

"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote:

There is no "autosave" in Word. See
http://word.mvps.org/faqs/general/AutomaticSave.htm

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup
so
all may benefit.

"roybaylis" wrote in message
...
I have recently lost some Word docs, despite having autosave set to 1
minute.
Journal was switched off, so no joy there.
Any ideas?!
Thanks a million.
Roy






--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Business Analyst, Consultant
Technical Writer.
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410

I wish to add that the two replies to my email simply confirm what I said:
Microsoft doesn't see any need to change anything. What Microsoft doesn't
seem to understand is that even if everything the program does works
logically if you follow it to a T, if the average user has problems with it,
it needs to be improved.

If I spoke to you in flawless Hindi, it wouldn't matter what I said to you
if you didn't understand the language. Microsoft speaks in Hindi and doesn't
provide a complete dictionary for translation.

"CyberTaz" wrote:

Actually in full support of every point Suzanne makes, but in addition...

On 12/25/07 9:57 PM, in article ,
"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote:

you can't "totally" lose a document

Well, yes you _can_ - if the OS or the HD are problematic... In which case
that's probably what caused Word " to shut down out of nowhere " in the
first place.

Regards |:)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac