[Stefan Blom]

"Emrys Davies" wrote in message
...
"Stefan Blom" wrote in message
...
Can you open the documents via the Open dialog box (File | Open)?

No, that failed, although some jumbled text was revealed. However, I
have been able to recover the lost data from 'bits and pieces'. I have
fully formatted the disk and it is working now that I am following the
correct procedures as advised by the forum. I also have back-up
engaged.

Would you answer this question for me as it will help my learning curve.
I now know (and am following religiously) that I must not save a Word
document directly to a floppy and that if I use a floppy I must copy a
file to it from where it is saved on the hard drive. If I do the
latter, why is it now safe to open the file from the floppy, directly?


The reason why you should never open files from, or save files to, a floppy
disk is that there isn't enough space for Word's temporary files on the
floppy, which may cause corruption. However, you can still *copy* files to
or from a floppy if you want to move it (even though USB sticks are safer,
and can store a lot more data).

Also, I did my Word studies some eight years ago and I cannot recall
being given any anti corruption advice about floppy disks, although I
did obtain City & Guilds in Word level 1 and 2, so that prompts me to
ask, in the nicest possible way, if there has been a big learning curve
re Word in the meantime.

Eight years ago, floppy disks were pretty much what was available (to
ordinary users, at least). I guess that explains why nobody warned for
them... :-)

Seriously speaking, files are more complex in recent versions of Word. They
are also larger (this does not apply to files created in the new file
formats of Office 2007, though).

--
Stefan Blom
Microsoft Word MVP



Thanks a lot
Emrys Davies.