Lost data
 

I recently bought a new laptop that came with Office 2003 standard trial
edition preinstalled.

I have been entering text data into a spreadsheet (just to use as a
reference list, no formulas) so the data can later be searched. I have been
saving changes daily (but of course no backups) and the next day I just
pickup where I left off. I have had no trouble for weeks, but today the
changes for about the last week are missing. Data from previous input is
still intact. Fonts, column widths, etc. are all intact. I could understand
if one day were missing, if I happened to click 'no' instead of 'yes' to save
changes, but not a full weeks data that was previously accessable.

I checked the timestamp of my xls file and it is showing accessed today
(12/18) but modified on 12/8. I have not made any software changed or had to
rollback to a restore point, so that can't be a problem. The trial time limit
isn't up until February, so it can't be office locking out changes. I did not
have excel recover a temporary file or overwrite the file through windows
explorer.

Questions:
1) Where did my data go? Obviously, because of the date stamp of the
file, excel overwrote the current file with an older one, but where did the
older file come from? And why did it not prompt me if it was opening a
timesaved or a backup?

2) Why did excel overwrite the file with an older one when I saved instead
of using the current data set I had open?

3) I have searched my drives both by file name and by a text string in the
file contents looking for a backup or timesaved copy, but haven't found one.
Any suggestions?

4) Completely off-topic, but the web interface sucks. What are the server
nntp, etc. for setting up this news server in Agent.

Robert Olsson

Lost data
 

Robert

Are you sure you didn't open an older copy of the file?

Do a file search after changing My ComputerToolsFolder OptionsView to make
all files visible and show known extensions.

You may have two or more copies.

For question #4 use msnews.microsoft.com as news server in Agent, which is the
program I use.


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP



On Mon, 18 Dec 2006 10:08:01 -0800, Robert Olsson
wrote:

I recently bought a new laptop that came with Office 2003 standard trial
edition preinstalled.

I have been entering text data into a spreadsheet (just to use as a
reference list, no formulas) so the data can later be searched. I have been
saving changes daily (but of course no backups) and the next day I just
pickup where I left off. I have had no trouble for weeks, but today the
changes for about the last week are missing. Data from previous input is
still intact. Fonts, column widths, etc. are all intact. I could understand
if one day were missing, if I happened to click 'no' instead of 'yes' to save
changes, but not a full weeks data that was previously accessable.

I checked the timestamp of my xls file and it is showing accessed today
(12/18) but modified on 12/8. I have not made any software changed or had to
rollback to a restore point, so that can't be a problem. The trial time limit
isn't up until February, so it can't be office locking out changes. I did not
have excel recover a temporary file or overwrite the file through windows
explorer.

Questions:
1) Where did my data go? Obviously, because of the date stamp of the
file, excel overwrote the current file with an older one, but where did the
older file come from? And why did it not prompt me if it was opening a
timesaved or a backup?

2) Why did excel overwrite the file with an older one when I saved instead
of using the current data set I had open?

3) I have searched my drives both by file name and by a text string in the
file contents looking for a backup or timesaved copy, but haven't found one.
Any suggestions?

4) Completely off-topic, but the web interface sucks. What are the server
nntp, etc. for setting up this news server in Agent.

Robert Olsson

Lost data
 

"Gord Dibben" wrote:

Robert

Are you sure you didn't open an older copy of the file?


No, I didn't. I set the view to all files (hidden and system) by default
for my own computers. Also to show extensions. This was about the third
thing i did when setting up the new machine. (After activating and getting
updates.) Just for the heck of it, I also just set explorer to show protected
files and repeated both searches. Only the file I work with found.

Do a file search after changing My ComputerToolsFolder OptionsView to make
all files visible and show known extensions.

You may have two or more copies.

For question #4 use msnews.microsoft.com as news server in Agent, which is the
program I use.

Thanks for the info.

Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP



On Mon, 18 Dec 2006 10:08:01 -0800, Robert Olsson
wrote:

I recently bought a new laptop that came with Office 2003 standard trial
edition preinstalled.

I have been entering text data into a spreadsheet (just to use as a
reference list, no formulas) so the data can later be searched. I have been
saving changes daily (but of course no backups) and the next day I just
pickup where I left off. I have had no trouble for weeks, but today the
changes for about the last week are missing. Data from previous input is
still intact. Fonts, column widths, etc. are all intact. I could understand
if one day were missing, if I happened to click 'no' instead of 'yes' to save
changes, but not a full weeks data that was previously accessable.

I checked the timestamp of my xls file and it is showing accessed today
(12/18) but modified on 12/8. I have not made any software changed or had to
rollback to a restore point, so that can't be a problem. The trial time limit
isn't up until February, so it can't be office locking out changes. I did not
have excel recover a temporary file or overwrite the file through windows
explorer.

Questions:
1) Where did my data go? Obviously, because of the date stamp of the
file, excel overwrote the current file with an older one, but where did the
older file come from? And why did it not prompt me if it was opening a
timesaved or a backup?

2) Why did excel overwrite the file with an older one when I saved instead
of using the current data set I had open?

3) I have searched my drives both by file name and by a text string in the
file contents looking for a backup or timesaved copy, but haven't found one.
Any suggestions?

4) Completely off-topic, but the web interface sucks. What are the server
nntp, etc. for setting up this news server in Agent.

Robert Olsson