Recovering files downloaded from IE

Question

A friend of mine has opened a Microsoft Publisher document from an e-mail (in gmail) in IE. They made changes to the file, repeatedly saved the changes, then closed Publisher. I've tried looking in Temporary Internet Files, but no joy. Where else might the file be? Is there anything I can do to get the file back? They're running Windows Vista Home Premium.

Thanks,

Dom

Answer 1

Try opening Word & looking into the list of recently opened files. Also try to search the folder pointed out by the System Environment Variables: tmp & temp.

EDIT: If Vista & Elevation on, it might happen that the file is created in a virtualization folder located at: C:\Users\User_name\AppData\Local\VirtualStore

Answer 2

Check the Office Recent folder as well, there might be a shortcut in there pointing to the file:

%USERPROFILE%\Application Data\Microsoft\Office\Recent

Answer 3

It should be somewhere in "C:\Documents and Settings\%%USER%%\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5" (on windows xp).

On some other windows version you can always try opening another word document the same way through IE, then select "Save As" from the File menu and look where it is going to save that doc.

Answer 4

Try to open Publisher and see if it a list of resent files at the bottom in the File menu.

You also have a "Resent items" in the Windows Start menu where you might find a shortcut to it.

Answer 5

I had to fix an issue like this is Vista not too long ago. IE stores files that it opens in a special 'low' directory for Protected Mode (yeah Protected Mode). To find the location of the actual temporary internet files go to: "C:\Users\youruseraccount\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Low"

Probably the most trival way to find publisher files though is to drill down the directory listing via the command-line. Open up a command prompt to the user directory and type in:

dir /S *.pub

The should search all subdirectories for publisher file extension files. The file is likely going to be under that 'Low' directory.