HELP! I've overwritten a word document in windows 10 and cannot find a trace of it anywhere

Copper Contributor

Somehow I've managed to overwrite an important essay word file with another file that had the same name and now I cannot find a trace of that other file to restore it back to that previous version. I don't seem to have any version histories or previous files or even a temp file - am I totally doomed or is there some other way I could locate this older version? I'm no computer wizard so really need some clear steps and directions to help me if there is a way!

1 Reply

@the_white_stuff 

If the file was saved to OneDrive, if you right click on it in OneDrive, and then on Version History, you may find an earlier version.

If it was not saved to OneDrive, your only hope is if you have the box checked for "Always create backup copy" under File>Options>Advanced Save. However, that box is NOT checked by default. If you had checked it, there would be a copy of the file in the folder into which it was saved that has a .wbk file extension. If there is such file there, it will only be of use if you saved the other file one time.

Of course Word will only overwrite a file with the same name IF you explicitly tell it to do so.

 

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