Can I retrieve a document that was not saved ?

ANNIEHAHA

I know it may seem a silly question, but I spent several hours on a essay and thought I had saved it, until I came back the next day and the changes I had made and added on were gone. I assume I hit the dont save instead of save by accident.

I just wondered if I was able to retrieve it at all (to save me redoing it), I have looked in the recycle bin but to no avail and I dont back up if thats important as I do not know how or what to do.

Thank-you

TonyLisaP

You might have a .tmp file in your temp directory that you can find your data in but if you have rebooted in the meantime don't count on it.

Moneymaker

For the future: you don't mention what software you were using. Some Word Processors have an option to "save work every 5 minutes", which can be handy. Otherwise, I highly recommend doing it manually and saving the file to your Hard drive AND to an external drive or memory stick. Be sure to increment the file name each time so it goes "essay01", "essay02" etc. This ensures that you don't overwrite previous files which might contain something that you later erase by accident.

It's all a matter of being organised and disciplined.

Another thing you might consider is to have a key press logger. This records every single key press you make so it's probably safer to use on an Apple Mac than a Windows PC, unless you really understand how to protect your computer.