So you've accidentally deleted that document

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You've just spent hours preparing that monthly report for your boss. You're tired, it's late, and with just one misplaced mouse click…

There are few situations in the modern office more frustrating – and possibly damaging – than accidentally deleting a document. The good news is that this is a problem you don't have to experience at all, if you're equipped with some basic tricks for data retrieval and loss prevention.

Doing some damage control

If the file was deleted from a local drive, there may be an easy solution: Open the Recycle Bin, right-click on the file you want, and select "Restore". 

If the file was saved to the network, immediately contact your network administrator to enquire about recovery options. But bear in mind that the document in question must have endured at least one backup cycle for it to have survived – which means that work created and deleted in the same day is most likely gone for good.

Back up to the future

So what can you do to avoid this nightmare in the first place? As the saying goes, prevention is easier than a cure – so take advantage of features included in your word processing application to ensure you've got a back-up system in place. 

Creating automatic backups in Microsoft Word®:

• On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Save tab.

• Put a check in the boxes in front of Always create backup copy, Allow background saves, Make local copy of files stored on network or removable files, and Save AutoRecover info every: (Ensure you specify a time in the "minutes" box).

• Click on the File Locations tab, and find out where the AutoRecover files location is set for. If you want your AutoRecover files to be stored elsewhere, highlight this line and then click Modify.

Important: The "Always create backup copy" function will only save a backup to the same folder as the original document with "Backup of" preceding the document name. So, if you accidentally delete the entire folder in which the file was stored, you're out of luck.

To sidestep this scenario, you can create a macro that should automatically save a second copy of each document to a specific location.

Creating an "automatic save" macro:

• On the T

• On the Tools menu, click Customize, and then click the Commands tab

• In Categories, scroll down and select Macros.

• Select the macro you created and drag it to the toolbar – make sure Normal.dot is selected in the Save in field.

Having an automatic backup system in place serves as an invaluable safeguard from one of the greatest dangers to your documents – user error. It can help save you from yourself, and protect you in the event of network problems or application crashes.

For more information on larger-scale data backup and recovery options for SMBs, explore HP Backup & Recovery.

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