recover lost Excel workbook (Office pro 97 )

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I need a hand grenade or a miracle. I have searched all combinations of recover/lost/delete I can think of. I can’t be the only person to accidentally save a current file over another file. You know the little box that says: A file by that name exists do you want to save anyway?
I saved my daily file under the weekly file name and lost/deleted the weekly file. And my last total backup is four days old so its isn’t in there. Any hope of recovering it?

Has anyone used the “w w w. officerecovery . com ” utility. Does it work for this kind of problem?

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Hi BookLady,

Don’t want you hanging in space on this one, though my input is not hopeful.

Unless you have the file backed up somewhere you haven’t uncovered yet, my confidence level is low. I’ve never had success tracking down temp Excel files nor restoring unintentionally deleted or saved-over Excel files.

I hope someone else has a happier message.

Condolences,

JohnJ

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Unless you have ticked ‘Always create backup” in the file save options for that file, then I think you chances for file recovery are very slim.

On the off chance that the file was at some stage saved to a different directory, you could search your system for the filename, and hope for the best. Also search for *.xlk, which might throw up a backup copy.

Sorry that I have nothing more promising

Andrew C

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Andrew,
I picked up your post when I did a search on .xlk file type. NAV has quarantined a Dc50.xlk file for having a Bloodhound.MacMacro virus on my system. I haven’t a clue what the file is. I also can’t get any info on the virus from Norton.
Can you tell me anything about .xlk files in general; how about Dc50.xlk in particular.

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Bill,

Files with xlk extension are backup files created by XL when you set the Always Create Backup option for a file (File SaveAs, Tools, General Options). Dc50.xlk does not mean any in particular except that it is a backup of a file probably called Dc50.xls. You could search your system for such a file (if you open such file, do so with Macros disabled), and see if it has any relevance to you. Also if not too impractical check past emails to see if was received as an attachment.

If you cannot find the xls file, you could try opening the xlk version, but ensure macros are disabled.

If you are sure the file is not in any way important, your best bet might be to just delete it.

Andrew C

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Andrew,
Thanks very much. I have completed your suggestions, found the file to be of no importance and have deleted it. I have also found (through Norton’s research center, SARC) that Bloodhound is being a little too critical and quarantining XL files from Mac’s that really are not infected. But I’d rather err on that side than the other.

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Hi,
Sorry to add more bad news, but as far as I’m aware, the OfficeRecovery programs only recover corrupted documents. Sadly, yours isn’t corrupted, it’s just gone. Unless you happened to give a copy to someone else or store a spare one somewhere else, your only option is to recreate it if possible. (In my limited understanding, the new file will have been saved at the same physical location as the old one so even a high-tech recovery program would be stumped.)
Sorry.

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Hi,

There’s a very faint possibility that a deleted copy of file you overwrote might be in the recycle bin.

Windows, Explorer, and the bin is probably just near the bottom.

Another straw. If it’s been emailed, there might be a copy in a “Temp” folder.

It might be worth a disk scan under explorer for files containing text you know to be in the spreadsheet.

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Love You All. You are great. Even if all you did was confirm and commiserate over what I already knew. Guess who is adding a utility (found in the search for this answer) which makes a backup Some Where Else!!! in addition to the Excel backup.

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AutoSafe?

Edited Mar 13th 2004 to update link

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Yes, John Autosafe. But Autosafe would not have prevented my problem by itself. I had saved and closed at least once before I realized what had happened. Oh well. More Backups, More Frequently, and I am going to hide them from myself so I can’t inadvertantly override.

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