Word 2010 deleting all file content when I save files.
Thread poster: Vivien Green
Vivien Green
Vivien Green  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
French to English
Feb 9, 2016

I am working on a project for which I received three MS Word templates and three pdf files to be translated using the templates. I am working on the first one and have been saving and backing my work up as I go along. Word has been a bit funny in not always letting me save with the same file name and has been asking me to save using "save as" and entering a new file name, which I was doing and which appeared to be working. Now, I have found out that while some early versions of the document save... See more
I am working on a project for which I received three MS Word templates and three pdf files to be translated using the templates. I am working on the first one and have been saving and backing my work up as I go along. Word has been a bit funny in not always letting me save with the same file name and has been asking me to save using "save as" and entering a new file name, which I was doing and which appeared to be working. Now, I have found out that while some early versions of the document saved properly, all of the new files I saved with new file names have been saved as blank files. I have lost a whole day's work.

I have a support package for small businesses and phoned their helpline. They had never heard of this problem (despite me having found plenty of evidence of it online - I think it may have something to do with Windows 10) and essentially just told me that all of the information has been lost and that's that. I no longer feel that I can trust Word to actually be saving my work when I save it and therefore feel that I am just going to have to stop accepting projects that aren't prepared for MemoQ or WFA, the cat tools I use.

So I suppose I have two questions. Does anyone else have any experience of this problem or know how to fix it? There is loads online but I don't want to wade through dozens of potential solutions only to find that none work. And does anyone else refuse to work with Word documents and if so how does that affect your business? Most projects I work on are prepared for MemoQ but I still get the odd Word project and these projects are often quite large (a week's work or more).

[Edited at 2016-02-10 10:20 GMT]
Collapse


 
Rolf Keller
Rolf Keller
Germany
Local time: 14:48
English to German
More precise info please Feb 10, 2016

Vivien Green wrote:

all of the new files I saved with new file names have been saved as blank files.


Which Word version??

Do you mean empty files (i. e. files with length=0 in Windows Explorer), or do you mean that Word displays a blank screen area upon opening the document?

In the latter case: Did you try to open the document using a different text processor, e. g. Wordpad?

NB 1: The "Do you want to save?" dialogs sometimes appear behind a window and thus are hidden. If you overlook that, the document might be lost when you shut down the PC.

NB 2: Is there any problem regarding Windows' Standby/Sleep/Hibernate mode? Maybe your documents were cached in RAM but not stored on the disk yet.


 
Vivien Green
Vivien Green  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
French to English
TOPIC STARTER
I have Word 2010 Feb 10, 2016

Thanks for your response Rolf.

I have Word 2010 and I mean empty files with length = 0, unfortunately. I definitely saved the finished file with a new file name, no hidden save boxes or anything like that. The computer support guy seems to think the information is just gone and nothing can be done. I have redone the work now but unless I can be confident Word isn't going to do this again I'm just not sure I'm comfortable using it.

Frustratingly I had a similar problem s
... See more
Thanks for your response Rolf.

I have Word 2010 and I mean empty files with length = 0, unfortunately. I definitely saved the finished file with a new file name, no hidden save boxes or anything like that. The computer support guy seems to think the information is just gone and nothing can be done. I have redone the work now but unless I can be confident Word isn't going to do this again I'm just not sure I'm comfortable using it.

Frustratingly I had a similar problem some time ago in that I thought I was saving a document by pressing the save button. I kept saving as I went along and backed up the saved file but unbeknown to me the computer was just saving many versions of the same early file and all work done after a certain point in time was there in front of my eyes on the screen but not actually saved anywhere. Luckily it didn't cause any major problems other than a lot of stress.

Since having that issue I am now very careful to look at the time at which the file was saved and I also use "save as" every hour or so as well as "save" more frequently so I can tell (or so I thought) that a new save has definitely worked as I will see the file name change. It's just so intensely frustrating to now find out that even this is not enough and there is no guarantee that some new bug you can't possibly have any knowledge of may well be lurking, waiting to wipe out your work as you try to save it.
Collapse


 
Platary (X)
Platary (X)
Local time: 14:48
German to French
+ ...
Some considerations Feb 10, 2016

Hello!

What do you mean with "I received three MS Word templates and three pdf files to be translated using the templates." ?

Are these templates different .DOTs. If yes, how did you managed them and did you convert the PDFs, or did you just follow the templates using the normal.dot and using the PDFs as they were paper?

It could be that you didn't pay attention to the path, which could be a TEMP folder.

So, you normally have an autosav
... See more
Hello!

What do you mean with "I received three MS Word templates and three pdf files to be translated using the templates." ?

Are these templates different .DOTs. If yes, how did you managed them and did you convert the PDFs, or did you just follow the templates using the normal.dot and using the PDFs as they were paper?

It could be that you didn't pay attention to the path, which could be a TEMP folder.

So, you normally have an autosave option and you should be able to restore even a non saved file. Just look at your Word options.

If Nothing helps you could have a look (you read French) to this page :

http://www.apowersoft.fr/recuperer-un-document-word-non-enregistre.html

I'm quite sure there is a solution...

Good luck et bon courage pour la suite.
Collapse


 
Vivien Green
Vivien Green  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
French to English
TOPIC STARTER
Thanks Adrien Mar 4, 2016

Hi Adrien,

So sorry I didn't reply to your comment at the time - I somehow missed the email notification. The templates were just ordinary Word files I was to work in - working directly in the client's files and to be returned as Word files. I downloaded them and opened them and worked in them but I hadn't heard of the temp folder thing. Maybe I should go back and look into that. I wouldn't have thought it could make a saved file disappear though?

In the end I just had
... See more
Hi Adrien,

So sorry I didn't reply to your comment at the time - I somehow missed the email notification. The templates were just ordinary Word files I was to work in - working directly in the client's files and to be returned as Word files. I downloaded them and opened them and worked in them but I hadn't heard of the temp folder thing. Maybe I should go back and look into that. I wouldn't have thought it could make a saved file disappear though?

In the end I just had to stay up all night and do that day's work again. I'm really not impressed with Word and I'm thinking of transferring to Mac.

Thanks for your input though!
Collapse


 
Riccardo Schiaffino
Riccardo Schiaffino  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 07:48
Member (2003)
English to Italian
+ ...
I don't understand: if you have memoQ or WFA, why didn't you use them? Mar 4, 2016

Vivien Green wrote:

I no longer feel that I can trust Word to actually be saving my work when I save it and therefore feel that I am just going to have to stop accepting projects that aren't prepared for MemoQ or WFA, the cat tools I use.



I don't understand; if you have memoQ or WFA, why didn't you use one of the two CAT tools to tranlsate your MS Word files?


 


To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator:


You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request »

Word 2010 deleting all file content when I save files.






CafeTran Espresso
You've never met a CAT tool this clever!

Translate faster & easier, using a sophisticated CAT tool built by a translator / developer. Accept jobs from clients who use Trados, MemoQ, Wordfast & major CAT tools. Download and start using CafeTran Espresso -- for free

Buy now! »
Wordfast Pro
Translation Memory Software for Any Platform

Exclusive discount for ProZ.com users! Save over 13% when purchasing Wordfast Pro through ProZ.com. Wordfast is the world's #1 provider of platform-independent Translation Memory software. Consistently ranked the most user-friendly and highest value

Buy now! »