I recently exported a 16 page file using the icon on the toolbar and, after saving, exited the program. Now, I’ve gone back to make changes and the file doesn’t exist?!? It isn’t in any of my computer folders and isn’t in the (non-existent) backup folder even though I watched it autosave multiple times. What gives? Can I get my work back?
What means “exported”? Have you created a brand new document, and given it a new name in some folder? Or have you opened some existing document from a known location, made changes, and saved it with a new name in a new location? Or simply saved that existing document? Or have you opened a document from some unknown location, like from Internet, or from mail attachment, and then saved without bothering where you save it? These are different situations, and without being verbose, you don’t allow others to understand your problem.
You say the backup folder doesn’t exist. If you are using Windows (you didn’t say), I think that you must enable viewing of hidden files before you can see the folder and the .bak files.
I am using Windows (forgot to mention that) and by “export” I mean the file was saved by going to “file” → “export as” in order to save the file as a PDF (you cannot do this any other way). The document in question was created in the word processing part of LibreOffice. If the problem is that the file is hidden, how would I go about making it visible? I’ve tried to troubleshoot using this site and others before posting, but no dice.
To view hidden files in Windows 7 (sorry, I don’t know about Win10), open the Control Panel. Under Folder Options → View → Hidden Files and Folders, make sure that Show Hidden Files … is checked. Maybe your missing file can be found.
Using LO v6.1.5, when exporting a document to PDF, one of the dialog boxes shows where the file will be saved (and of course you can change that default location). So … SUGGESTION – create another document and begin to export as PDF, to see where it is going to be saved. Then look for your missing PDF export in that location.
When exiting LO without saving a document (not the PDF export), LO asks first if you want to save the changes to the document (with filename and location). You say you saved the document so, if you cannot now find the native format version of the document, it would seem that some error has occurred and the original (not PDF) document has been lost. Obviously this should never happen and should be reported as a b
I recall autosave being strange in that it is cleared once you “officially” save the file, or perhaps even close without saving. But since you say you have indeed saved it, you could check File > Recent Documents to find the original, or use the file search utility for your operating system to find both based on the names.
I’ve tried that, but the document is nowhere to be found in recent docs. Thanks though!