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I decided to open a file instead of saving it, made lots of changes saved many times, but when I closed it, I realised I couldn't find it anymore.

I'm hopping the file is still here, but can't find it anywhere. Is there any way I can recover this file?

PS: it seems the file should be still there somewhere, because if I re-open the original file from the page it puts the "[2]" in the end of it, which could mean it conflicted with some original file.

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4 Answers 4

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Windows 7 puts them in a directory in your profile directory

%userprofile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files
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  • This would be the location, but it didn't keep any of my "saves". I managed only to open the original file from the attachment (it was form a mail) event though it had the many versions of the file (one for each time i clicked "open it")... thanks anyway
    – flpgdt
    Commented Mar 15, 2011 at 19:43
  • @flpgdt: This is an old thread that popped up again. but if you save a file that was "only opened", the save goes in your default download directory or one you specify. The Temporary Internet Files directory is used just for caching. If you don't explicitly save it to your own files area, the system will delete it any time you tell it to clear the cache.
    – fixer1234
    Commented Jan 8, 2016 at 19:18
  • Here's what I always do to find a file that I've opened recently but can't find. If you opened a file, it should be in the application's most recently used (MRU) list, either in the application itself or, if it's pinned to the Start menu, in the application's fly-out menu in the start menu. Open the file from the MRU list and then, in the application, select Save As; that takes you to the same directory where the file was saved.
    – RobH
    Commented Apr 4, 2017 at 16:47
  • This also affects IE 11 on Windows 10. A file saved to C:\Users\<user>\Downloads is actually located at C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Virtualized\C\Users\<user>\Downloads.
    – JamesThomasMoon
    Commented Dec 21, 2018 at 7:32
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On Windows 10 (and maybe others), the files that you opened in IE, instead of hitting Save first and opening that, are saved here: 

\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\IE\PGLMIFME\
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  • OP is asking about Windows 7
    – yass
    Commented Apr 4, 2017 at 18:23
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In Windows XP, Go to "My Computer -> Local Disk (C) -> Documents and Settings -> "User Name" -> Local Settings -> Temporary Internet Files".

In Windows 7, it will be under "User -> Username -> Local Settings -> Temporary Internet Files" (I believe. I don't have Windows 7 in front of me at the moment.)

You will have to change your folder view to show hidden files and folders if it does not already show them. Otherwise you probably won't see the Local Settings folder. If you use this folder as a starting point and do a search of all the subfolders, you should find the file you're looking for.

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In Windows 7, Local Settings may be redirected to AppData\Local and Temporary Internet Files itself to \AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files

I'm using a command prompt and dir /a:s to see the physical destinations of the JUNCTION entries.

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