(posting from ie6.browser)

"Ant" wrote in message
...
Hello.

How do you tell computer illterates/newbies that you can't edit file
attachments (e.g., Word documents) from e-mails that are temporary
files. Ugh, he doesn't understand that Open and Save options are two
different things. Basically, he opened a Word document via email, made
changes, and saved it. He closed Word, and then that file go "poof"! I
cannot recover that file either.


You could if you have an undelete utility.

The problem is that OE creates a temporary file to decode the attachment
into and that filename is passed to Word. When the E-mail which causes
the file to be created is closed the file is deleted. Perhaps your user
would have had more luck with closing the E-mail *before* editing the copy
of the attachment that Word must make. E.g. what does Word do when
it discovers that the file it wants to resave has been deleted?--Recreate
the temporary file to be left as an orphan in the TIF? Etc.

I think that this question would be better addressed in a Word newsgroup.
(crossposting to one now.) E.g. why would Word permit saving into a known
temporary directory without at least a warning? Also, wouldn't Word (at least
for a while) have an undo file to help the user recover at least partially after
this clear user error? The problem is caused by a usability defect in Word
IMO but it is the user's responsibilty to be aware of it (Caveat emptor!)
Unfortunately I don't know if this issue is documented anywhere formally.


HTH

Robert Aldwinckle
---


How can I explain this is normal?

Also, he got confused with those temporary files ~filename... He
thinks that is not how it works.

Is there a Web site to show in basic and non-computer language on how
this works? Thank you in advance.
--
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