Tip: Change Office’s AutoRecover Location

Make Document AutoRecovery More Functional

The AutoRecover feature in Microsoft Office can truly be a lifesaver when you are working on a document and the program (or system) crashes. However, by default, the AutoRecover files are always saved to a difficult – to – find folder. By telling Office to Save those files to a location of your choosing, you will know right where to find them should the worst happen, and you need them.
(Also, it’s a good idea to ‘tweak’ the frequency it makes its ‘snapshots’ of your work in progress.)

The default locations are:

• Vista/Win 7 = c:\Users\*username*\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\
• Windows XP = c:\Documents and Settings\*username*\Application Data\Microsoft\

Here’s the How To:

The first thing we need to do is create (or choose) a location. I create a “recovery” folder inside my “Documents” folder. (I recommend creating the location, to avoid cluttering up existing places with autosaves.)

• Click the Start button, and then Documents
• In a blank (white) area of the Documents window, right – click, and choose New and then Folder
• A new folder will appear, and the cursor will be blinking in the name rectangle. Change it to (aka “name it”) OfficeRecovery (or something similar)

Now we need to set Office’s AutoRecovery behavior:

1) Open any Office program — Word, Excel, PowerPoint…

2) Click on File, and then go down the list and click Options.

3) In the left-hand column, click on Save.

4) In the new window that opens:

● Change the “Save AutoRecover information every ____ minutes” from the default 10 to something a little more helpful. I prefer 3 minutes, but one or two minutes (if you’re a fast typer) may be a good choice too.

● Change the “AutoRecover file location:” to point to the folder we just created.

1. Click the Browse button
2. In the left column, click Documents, and then in the right pane, locate and double-click on your recovery folder
3. Click OK

● Click OK

That’s it. You’re done. Now, in the event of a power failure, computer crash, or whatnot, you actually may be able to easily recover your lost work. But please note: AutoRecover or AutoSave does not replace the Save command. You should use the Save command to save your document at regular intervals and when you finish working on it.

Today’s quote: “Sometimes the best way to learn from your mistakes is to carry them with you.”

Copyright 2007-2011 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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