Microsoft Word accidentally deletes documents instead of saving them
Users of Microsoft Word for Windows may need to be extra careful when saving their work due to a rather tricky problem for the software.
The widely used text editor has fixed a bug that instead of saving files, ends up deleting them.
The issue does not affect every version of Microsoft Word, but users are warned to be cautious when saving their work.
Microsoft Word deletes files
In one support page Microsoft noted the issue: “Users may encounter an issue… where their file is deleted after saving if the title contains an uppercase file extension (.DOCX, .RTF) or #”.
The issue, which affects Word for Microsoft 365 version 2409, build 18025.20104, occurs when the user closes Word after editing the file and saves the file when prompted. If you do this, the file may simply disappear, although it may end up in the Recycle Bin, from where it can be recovered.
Microsoft’s advice to users struggling with the bug doesn’t inspire much confidence: users are advised to simply save their documents manually before quitting Word.
“Our current testing shows that the issue occurs after saving when you are prompted to click X to close Word. The issue currently does not occur if you manually save before closing,” the support page notes.
Users can also enable the option ‘Do not show the Backstage when opening or saving files using keyboard shortcuts’. This option can be enabled by going to File > Options > Save > Don’t show backstagewhen opening or saving files with keyboard shortcuts.
Microsoft says users can also revert to an earlier version of Word while it investigates and works on a fix.
Via BleepingComputer