Have saved over excel worksheet - how to revert to old worksheet?

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Teacherzzz - 02 Oct 2006 00:34 GMT

I was working on a new document. I pushed Save As. Somehow I managed to
select my worksheet that I use as a database and saved over it. I then
closed Excel. I didn't realise what I had done until after I had closed the
document and tried to open my worksheet I use as a database. How do I
recover the old version of my worksheet? Please help!!!

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JLatham - 02 Oct 2006 01:21 GMT

This is one of those times that it is my sad duty to be the bearer of
probably even sadder tidings: Having saved over a file, that original file
is gone.

Hopefully you routinely make backups of critical files and can recover from
that backup copy?

> I was working on a new document. I pushed Save As. Somehow I managed to
> select my worksheet that I use as a database and saved over it. I then
> closed Excel. I didn't realise what I had done until after I had closed the
> document and tried to open my worksheet I use as a database. How do I
> recover the old version of my worksheet? Please help!!!

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Teacherzzz - 02 Oct 2006 08:56 GMT

I was seriously hoping that I would get a different answer. Thank you very
much for your time. It unfortuanetly confirms what two hours of trying
everything I could possibly think of has also told me. Now I am wondering
why XP 2000 home edition doesn't come with a standard back up facility
installed. I just assumed.... But then we all know what assumed makes of u
and me (In this case just me!)

Again thank you for your time

> This is one of those times that it is my sad duty to be the bearer of
> probably even sadder tidings: Having saved over a file, that original file
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
> > document and tried to open my worksheet I use as a database. How do I
> > recover the old version of my worksheet? Please help!!!

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JLatham - 02 Oct 2006 12:49 GMT

Look in [Start] [Programs] [Accessories] [System Tools] there is a Backup
function buried in there.

Since there was a time when backup wasn't such a friendly beast to play
with, I picked up on a program called SecondCopy from www.centered.com some
years ago and have found it easy to use and extremely reliable and versatile.

> I was seriously hoping that I would get a different answer. Thank you very
> much for your time. It unfortuanetly confirms what two hours of trying
[quoted text clipped - 17 lines]
> > > document and tried to open my worksheet I use as a database. How do I
> > > recover the old version of my worksheet? Please help!!!

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Gord Dibben - 02 Oct 2006 18:30 GMT

XP Home Edition does not install the backup by default.

Backup is installed automatically on XP Professional, but not on
XP Home. If you have the complete XP Home CD, find backup on the CD, in
\ValueAdd\MSFT\NTBACKUP and install it yourself by doubleclicking the file
ntbackup.msi.

If you don't have an XP CD, you can download ntbackup.msi at
http://www.onecomputerguy.com/software/ntbackup.msi Also see
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=302894

As far as creating backups in Excel read the following.

AUTOSAVE.XLA was last shipped with Excel 2000 and newer versions do not include
it.

It cannot be found on any MS site but..............

To download the 97 version go here.....

http://www.stat.jmu.edu/trep/Marchat/sp2001/Library.htm

I have used the 97 version on Excel 2002 and 2003 and seems to operate well.

In addition to the above......Jan Karel Pieterse has an addin called AutoSafe
which also doen't alert before saving.

It doesn't overwrite the existing workbook when it saves. It saves to a user
selectable folder. And when it's done, it either deletes these backups (or
puts them in the recycle bin). And the user can always restore the backups
from the recycle bin.

http://www.jkp-ads.com/Download.htm

(look for AutoSafe.zip)

Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP

>Look in [Start] [Programs] [Accessories] [System Tools] there is a Backup
>function buried in there.
[quoted text clipped - 24 lines]
>> > > document and tried to open my worksheet I use as a database. How do I
>> > > recover the old version of my worksheet? Please help!!!

Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP

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JMB - 02 Oct 2006 06:17 GMT

I'm guessing you're not on a network or you'd likely have already checked
w/your IT people.

If it's really important, there is software available that will attempt to
retrieve the data - you'll need to check around as I've never used any (using
a different computer as the more you use it, the less chance of recovery).

Other links from previous posts
http://www.aumha.org/a/recover.php
http://www.active-undelete.com
http://www.FinalRecover.com

Did you email it to anyone or recently delete an older version (which may
still be in the recycle bin)? I've read Norton Utilities (if you have it
installed) may be able to recover a previous version of a file.

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