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General discussion

Word 2007 Document Save Issues

Jul 30, 2010 1:43AM PDT

I recently finished writing a book. After I finished, I went to print out the book (each chapter is in a different file) and I noticed that some of the chapters had reverted to an older version, while others remained with the correct version. This has continued to occur, with what seems no rhyme or reason.

I initially thought that it must be a hard drive issue. I ran Western Digital's hard drive diagnostic test for my WD800BB hard drive. Both the SMART test and the extended test (tests all blocks) came back as "passed" with no errors whatsoever.

My next attempt was to run Malwarebytes AntiMalware, Spybot, and Norton Antivirus 2010 in order to find any malicious software on the computer. All of these tests came back without errors.

I am now stuck; I am not sure what the next step to take is. I would appreciate any input on the matter.

I am using Windows XP Professional SP3.

Discussion is locked

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First thing first.
Jul 30, 2010 6:48AM PDT

Do you have backup copies of all these chapters?

If not, you run the risk of losing a lot of work if your hard disk fails, or some other catastrophe befalls the system. Don't create just one backup copy, create two. If you do lose the originals, then that one backup copy becomes the original and you have no backup.

Sorry to start off like that, but we see horror stories in these forums and elsewhere where people have lost years of work.

Next, I don't use Word 2007 myself, so I don't know what it is like, but I would try this. I would recommend you make 'further copies' and work on those. Don't work on these originals, nor any backups you have. That way, if you make an error or anything goes wrong with those files, you just delete them and start again on fresh copies.

Also, I would move those copies to another folder and work from there. It avoids selecting the wrong, (original), files in error.

I assume you created some of these chapters in a previous version of Word, then moved onto Word 2007. Is that right? If not, what do you mean by they reverted to a previous version?

If that is right, then try re-saving one of those 'reverted' files in Word 2007 format. Open the file, quick check through, then re-save it using "Save As" and not Save. In the Save As dialog, make sure the "Save As file type" is selected to the one of your choice, eg .docx, or whatever.

Then, close Word down, re-open Word and open that file you have just re-saved. Try a print and see if it is OK now. If so, repeat the exercise for the others.

Does that help?

Mark

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Misunderstanding
Jul 30, 2010 9:10AM PDT

Mark-

First, I wanted to thank you for replying so quickly. This issue has been causing me lots of heartache.

I'm afraid I didn't explain myself very well. First, I had two backups of all of the files, on two different flash drives. The files on both flash drives had the same "version" as the one on the hard drive. By "version", I mean that the file that I updated on July 25, 2010 ended up being the version that I updated on May 23, 2010. I work on the file on my hard drive, and copy it to each of the flash drives.

The strangest thing that happened recently was that I was redoing some of the work that I lost on one of the files, and when I saved it, the old version popped back up.

I'm not sure what any of this means, but I hope that it makes sense to you. Thanks again.

-Alan

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Hmm, strange.
Jul 30, 2010 8:06PM PDT

Thanks for the clarification Alan.

Glad to see you do the backups, and I'm sorry I thought to raise the issue. Since you backup all the changes you make I will concentrate on the originals, as it will be easier for me to follow.

I must confess I'm a little stumped. If I understand you correctly, you were working on a chapter and when you saved it, an older copy of that chapter popped up? Take me through what happened please, ie;

1] In word 2007 you were working on a chapter to redo some lost typing.

2] You saved these changes. Was that Save, or Save As, with a new file name? (If you attempt to use Save As with the same file name, Windows will pop-up a warning that the original still exists and do you want to over-write).

3] You noticed the old version pop backup. How did you notice this? Was this is different chapter file to the one you had just saved? What I mean is, same chapter, but 'another' file.

4] What were the differences that you noticed? What I mean is, were these differences in the 'content' of the file(s) when opened, or just file attribute differences, like file size, 'Date Modified', etc?

5] When this old version popped up, what happened to the file you had just saved? Was that still available, or had it disappeared?

I appreciate the difficulty in explaining and describing this problem. We're not there seeing what you see, and so explaining in words is not easy, but we will get there hopefully.

Mark

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Questions
Jul 31, 2010 2:51PM PDT

Mark-

These are all good questions, so let me tackle them one at a time.

1) The work I was doing on each chapter was towards the final version of the book. The problem occurred after I had finished the book itself, and I have been forced to try to rewrite/rethink all of what I lost.

2) After I have created the file, I use the "Save" command to save any changes.

3) The old version pop back up was on my Acknowledgements page. This was fairly easy to track since I knew exactly what I had typed in this section. The file I used for this is the same as the original one that I created. In essence, I was retyping it, saved it, and when I reopened the file to finish it, the file had gone back to its finalized version.

4) The differences were in the content itself. I use the same template for all of my writing files, so there is usually no distinction there. Other than that, I don't believe there were any attribute changes.

5) When the old version popped back up, the "new" version was no longer available, the exact opposite of what happened to my other chapters.

Thanks again for the help. All the best.

-Alan

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Well.
Jul 31, 2010 8:26PM PDT

From your description, and trying not to be alarmist, but I fear there is a serious issue with your Word 2007.

I did do a Google search of Word 2007 Acknowledgement Page but didn't see any hits that looked relevant.

It seems to me that Word is failing. If you have an existing document open to edit, (make changes), and click "Save", the old file should simply be over-written without any warning, and the previous version of that file ceases to exist. It is replaced by the new, edited, version. File attributes will change, eg file size, date modified, etc, and your changes are saved.

If that is not happening, then Word is at fault.

Perhaps you can test this. Create a document, and save it to some convenient location. I often use my Desktop for tests like this. Close Word down, then open it again, open that test document and make changes. What happens then? Does the file on the Desktop change, or are the changes lost and the original file remains intact? If the changes are lost this seems a strong indication that Word is failing.

Another test. Using the same document, make changes, then use "Save as" to save to a different name at the same location. You should then have two documents there, the early version and the later amended version. If that works, then you have a workaround.

Otherwise it seems that either Word 2007 must be repaired, or reinstalled.

Sorry, but from what you say I don't see any other obvious solution to this.

Mark

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Reinstall
Aug 1, 2010 1:33AM PDT

Mark-

Thank you for your help. I will try the save/save as test and see what happens. I have a feeling, though, that your instinct about Word 2007 being corrupt may be the issue. If the save test doesn't work, I will attempt a reinstall and see what happens. Thanks again.

-Alan

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Solved
Aug 20, 2010 4:22AM PDT

The problem ended up being very simple. I left a flash drive in my computer for backup purposes. Unfortuantely, I wasn't paying attention to where my files were being saved. I was saving my files to my flash drive instead of my hard drive. The problem was occurring because each time I ran my backup, it was replacing the new version (the one that I was working on) with the old version on my computer. The times where the files magically came back to the right version occurred when I opened from the flash drive. Of course, these files only survived so long, until I ran a "backup" which then replaced those files. I have now removed the flash drive from my computer to prevent this from happening in the future, and am now more careful about where I save. Thanks again for all the help.

Cheers.
-Alan

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(NT) Ahh, well done for finding the culprit.
Aug 20, 2010 5:48AM PDT
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I hope you didn't hurt yourself
Aug 20, 2010 6:00AM PDT

slapping the side of your head. Duh! LOL! Sometimes it's the simpliest thing like the number lock is off, etc.

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Well....
Aug 31, 2010 8:27PM PDT

...we all learnt someting... Now... about those two backups. I would suggest that you create at least a set of CDs or DVDs ["R"] of those files.... Flash drives can fail....