I feel hopeless, guys

I've been working on a project for work for the last 5-6 hours. I had originally started to work on it at the office and emailed the file to myself. When I went to my email at home, I did not save the attachment but opened with WordPad (it is a .doc file... I don't have microsoft word at home). Then WordPad comes up and I start working on my project for many many hours, saving once in a while. I decide to send it back to myself through email. But as I look for the file that I need to attach, I see that I can not find it. I had already closed down the wordpad (yes, I've saved dozens of times). I look all over, even do a seearch for the file but it could not be found anywhere. So then theres only one last hope for me, so I send myself an email with an ATTACHEMENT that says "Hello." I open the attachement with WordPad (not save), then I change it to Hello, everyone and save. I close the file and look for it, but I see that this one has also dissapeared in any searches. Then as i go to word pad, I realize under file it says 1- C:\DOCUME~1\...Hello ... I see that if I press on that, I go back to the words "Hello, everyone".. so I realized I can do the same for my project, but unfortunetly it only shows my last 4 documents I've opened, my prokect not being one of them

IS THERE ANY way I can get my file back? I looked through DOCUME (Local/Temp) but i can't find it anywhere. and the only way I can reach my Hello, everyone file is though wordpad.. is there anyway then that I can retrieve my project?

Any help would be appreciated! THANKS!Look under My Recent Documents (from the start menu).

Also check under the File menu of Wordpad, there's a section of recent documents there.
Sorry, just realized you've done that.

Finally, check C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files, where Username is your user name on Windows.So let me see if I get this...

You're at work & you send a file home. You open the attached file but don't save it to your computer because you don't have Word. You work on the file with Wordpad & save it. You decide to send it back to yourself but as you look for the file you can't find it.

I think because you have edited an attachment, the attachment will stay edited attached to the email. Obviously, because you didn't originally save the attachment to your HD before you started working, you won't find it (when you attach a file it will be from your HD).

You are BASICALLY trying to search for documents you have edited in an email & which are not on your HD, that is why you can't find them.

The original message may still have the updated document still attached to it, as this was the document you were working on - although I'm not sure if it saves that way.

Have you tried 'forwarding' the message to yourself?Quote from: neljan on January 16, 2008, 12:35:42 AM

I think because you have edited an attachment, the attachment will stay edited attached to the email.

So let me see if I get this...

You're at work & you send a file home. You open the attached file but don't save it to your computer because you don't have Word. You work on the file with Wordpad & save it. You decide to send it back to yourself but as you look for the file you can't find it.

I think because you have edited an attachment, the attachment will stay edited attached to the email. Obviously, because you didn't originally save the attachment to your HD before you started working, you won't find it (when you attach a file it will be from your HD).

You are basically trying to search for documents you have edited in an email & which are not on your HD, that is why you can't find them.

The original message may still have the updated document still attached to it, as this was the document you were working on - although I'm not sure if it saves that way.

Have you tried 'forwarding' the message to yourself?

Quote from: neljan on January 16, 2008, 12:35:42 AM

I think because you have edited an attachment, the attachment will stay edited attached to the email.

That's not how it works. Especially if he's using a webmail client (Hotmail, Gmail, etc.).

When you open an attached file from most POP mail clients (Outlook, Thunderbird, etc.), Windows creates a temp file of it. You aren't editing the file attached to the mail.

When opening a webmail attachment, it has to be downloaded and saved to the hard disk whether you tell it to or not (in his case, he didn't). If you open it from the web, the file is instead downloaded and saved to the temporary internet files where it will remain until it is deleted. You can't edit the file attached to the e-mail on a webmail server, it must be downloaded first.

Skamal10, speaking of which, what kind of mail are you using?

Yeah that makes alot more sense quaxo, thanks for that.

If he has saved it & forwards the message on won't it be the updated document?

Yep.

Since you're using a webmail client, the attachment will definitely not be changed (I'm 100% sure of this).

Open your temp internet files. Now, when you look, the file most likely won't be named what it was originally. IE changes the name of it as it downloads it. You'll need to look for the specific type of file (such as DOC, or whatever the extension of the file was). Sort the list by type, this should make it easier to search.

As for forwarding it to yourself, like I said before, attachments don't get changed. Whatever computer you were working on has a copy of the attachment on it, that's the file you need to find. I recommend you find it as soon as possible, because if it's like I think, in the temporary files, it will get deleted eventually when its time expires.

you said the name of the file does not stay, but the extenson does?

I believe it is RTF, maye DOC. but most likely RTF.. but i could not find any RTF files that had the file.

it may have been deleted...

also in Temp (not internet files) I see a lot of TMP files but cant open themm.. they might be it? Thanks