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1648

I emailed my work to myself, opened it from the email, made some changes and then saved it but can now no longer find the updated copy - what has happened to it?

If you open an attachment from an email, the first thing you should do before making any changes is Save As..., saving the document to your N:drive (Documents), or to a suitable location on your computer or to a USB Memory Stick. Once you have done this you will be be able to continue working on the document as normal, secure in the knowledge that any changes you make (and subsequently save) will be retained.

When you open an attachment directly from an email, the email program (whether a "client" or a webmail interface) saves a copy in a temporary area on the computer's hard drive (C: drive). The location of this area varies depending upon the settings on the machine but it is usually within a folder with the name "temp". Documents can sometimes be found before logout using by searching the C:drive.

If the worst happens however, and you forget to Save As, you can try to find your document as follows:

• make sure you are logged back in to the same PC where you were working on the file previously,
• open Windows Explorer, click on Organize in the menu bar and then Folder and search options. Click on the View tab and make sure Show hidden files, folders and drives is selected and un-tick Hide protected operating system files,
• copy the appropriate temporary file location into the address field at the top of the window and replace ano23 with your own username, then press Enter,
  
  Temporary file location if you are using webmail in Internet Explorer
  C:\Users\ano23\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\
  
  Temporary file location if using Firefox
  C:\Users\ano23\AppData\Local\Temp\
  
  
• you can now look for the file you were working on. You will need to check any sub-folders if you were using Internet Explorer.