Show Me. Microsoft Office Word 2003. See it Done, Do It Yourself

If Word encounters a problem and stops responding, the program tries to recover the file the next time you open Word. The recovered files appear in the Document Recovery task pane, which allows you to open the files, view what repairs were made, and compare the recovered versions. Each file appears in the task pane with a status indicator, either Original or Recovered, which shows what type of data recovery was performed. You can save one or all of the file versions. You can also use the AutoRecover feature to periodically save a temporary copy of your current file, which ensures proper recovery of the file. Occasionally, a file will become corrupt, either by transmission as an e-mail attachment over the Internet or through some other means. When this happens, you can attempt to recover the data from within the file by using Word's Open and Repair command in the Open dialog box.

Recover a Document

When the Document Recovery task pane appears, click the list arrow next to the name of each recovered file, and then perform one of the following:

• Click Open to view the file for review.

• Click Save As to save the file.

• Click Delete to close the file without saving.

• Click Show Repairs to find out how Word fixed the file.

When you're done, click the Close button.

Use AutoRecover

Click the Tools menu, and then click Options.

Click the Save tab.

Select the Save AutoRecover Info Every check box.

Enter the number of minutes, or click the up and down arrows to adjust the minutes.

Click OK.

Recover the Text from a Damaged Document

Click the File menu, and then click Open.

Click the Look In list arrow, and then click the drive, folder, or Internet location holding the file you want to repair.

Click the Open button list arrow to display a list of options.

Click Open And Repair.