h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Argh, computer crashed, and I didn't realise I hadn't saved a file in Excel before the crash. When I reopened it, I automatically told it to take it's autosaved file and never darken my door with it again (it's always offering me autosaved files which are usually an earlier version than the last one I saved).

Is there anyway to get this autorecovered file back?

Go to Tools / Options / Save and see where the Autorecover files are saved to. Look at the files there and try opening them with Excel.

Do a search for files updated in the last day (or week, or whatever) with the name *~*.* MS seems to put tildes ~ in temporary file names. Try using Excel to open whatever files are returned even if they are not .xls files.

Run a search for files updated in the last day (or week, or whatever) with the name *.xls MS tends only to save the permanent version as .xls though, and you are unlikely to find they've saved the temporary one like that.

I'd already done the first, and the other two, no joy.

I got all excited when I opened it just now, as it offered me an autorecovered file. From November.

Er, then I opened the latest one, and it was the one I thought I'd lost! Excel is weird. So panic over, thank you!