Simple tips for finding lost computer files

A friend was in the throes of preparing for a high-stakes meeting this week. Everything had to be just right, and nothing would be left to chance. By doing so, he assembled a packet of top-notch digital presentations and lined up the supporting props.

On the eve of this meeting, he opened the computer to put the finishing touches to the materials. Despite searching for hours, he couldn’t locate the must-have documents for the meeting. Several others were missing as well.

If you have been using computers for a while, you must have experienced these nerve-wracking, heart-wrenching days and nights when you could not find a vital file you desperately needed. It could be the final-year thesis for a university degree that you devoted so much time and energy to, a presentation for a high-stakes meeting, or a file that could cost your job if it went missing.

In this situation, the first step is to figure out what led to the disappearance of your files. Have you forgotten where you saved the file? Did you upgrade Windows and lose some of your files? Was your computer infected with a virus? Is your hard drive on its deathbed and therefore acting erratically? 

In a rush to save the files, you probably failed to pay attention to the folder in which they were saved. If that is the case, open the application in which the document is created and click “Open” from the “File” menu. All recently created documents are listed there. Most likely, your MS Word, PowerPoint, or Excel file will be among the recent files.

Windows search bar

If you saved the file a while ago and don’t remember what it’s called, the above search method won’t help. Instead, go to the Windows search bar, located at the bottom left-hand corner of your screen, and type the first few letters of the file in the search bar. The laptop will search every nook and cranny for files whose names contain the letters you typed.

Let’s say you don’t know the name of the file in question, but you know the application you used to create it. In the Windows search bar type the file extension. If it’s an Excel file, type “.xls” or “.doc” if it is a Word document. If you tap the Enter key, all files with the same extension will be displayed, and you may be lucky to find your file among them.

It is possible that you logged into your computer using a different account – username and password – and now you can’t see your old files. Try logging in using the old account and see if you can find them.

Besides the methods we’ve discussed here, there are many other ways to recover lost files; however, these are the most common and can solve most headaches.

Mr Wambugu is an informatician. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @Samwambugu2