In Word for Mac if you accidentally forget to save a document before you close it, Word discards the AutoRecovery file which contained the changes. Personally I think this is a stupid result!
If there is an option to cause Word to save the last AutoSave file even when user says to discard unsaved changes, please let me know.
I found a work-around but it is not perfect: In Word preferences change the location of the AutoRecovery file from its default to your Dropbox folder.
Then if you accidentally close a Word doc without saving it, the AutoRecovery file is still deleted, but Dropbox keeps a copy of the deleted file! In the web version of Dropbox, click on “show deleted files” and it is available for recovery.
BUT — the recovered file, which looks like a DOCX file and has the DOCX extension, will not open in Word! You get an error message:
Word cannot open the file because the file format does not match the file extension.
I found two solutions to this, but I have not fully tested them on a complicated Word file, just on simple test versions.
Solution 1 — change the extension to .txt and then open in TextEdit, but you may lose formatting
Solution 2 — open GoogleDocs on the web, start a new blank doc, find UPLOAD and upload the AutoSave file. Then find DOWNLOAD and bring it back to your Mac. Then it will open in Word.
Does someone proficient in Word know a way to either specify to Word to save the last AutoRecover automatically, or a way to trick Word into opening the Dropbox AutoRecover file?
Thanks,
