If you use Word to write your documents, beware of a very odd bug that can ruin your day by deleting a file instead of saving it. Microsoft has issued a warning, acknowledging that Word documents with certain file names might be lost upon saving locally.
If you save files on your local machine, you better pay attention to their file extensions. Microsoft says that if a file has its extension capitalized (.DOCX instead of .docx) or with the symbol # in it, an attempt to save when closing the file will result in Windows just deleting the file. Neowin managed to recreate this bug, as it seems to be affecting all users with Office apps version 2409:
Fortunately, the damage is not permanent, and you can restore the deleted file from the Recycle Bin. Alternatively, Microsoft suggests saving the file manually before closing the document or Word altogether. There is also another workaround:
Enable the option “Don’t show the Backstage when opening or saving files with keyboard shortcuts”
- This can be enabled by going to File > Options > Save > Don’t show the Backstage when opening or saving files with keyboard shortcuts.
Finally, you can check if your Word documents have all-caps file extensions by turning on the "File name extension" option. To do so in Windows 11, click the View button on the toolbar and select Show > File Name Extensions. In Windows 10, open Folder Options and uncheck the "Hide extensions for known file types" option on the View tab. If a Word document has its extension in all caps, select the file, press F2, and change the extension to lowercase.
You can also check your Word version by clicking File > Account > Word. It is worth noting that the bug does not affect files stored in the cloud.
Microsoft says its Office team is investigating the issue. Meanwhile, users can use workarounds listed in the official documentation.
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