The Ohio State University

It can be extremely handy to have your word processing (and spreadsheet) documents automatically backed up as you are working on them. That way, should you experience a power failure or other problem, some of your work will be more easily recovered. Here’s how you set up this feature:

In Word:

• Open Word, then click on "Tools", and then "Options".
• Click on the "Save" tab and make sure there’s a check mark in the box in front of "Allow Background Saves", and a check mark in the box in front of "Save AutoRecover info every: ". Make sure you have a time value specified within the "minutes" box. (Remember, creating this automatic backup copy uses some of your cpu resources. Since Word will create a backup copy as often as you specify, this will impact how well Word responds.)
• Click on the "File Locations" tab, and check to see where the "AutoRecover files" is set for. If you want your AutoRecover files to be stored elsewhere, highlight this line and then click "modify". Navigate around until you locate the area where you want your automatic backups to be parked.

In Excel:

• Open Excel, then click on "Tools". If you have a listing for "Autosave" in the drop down list, click there. Check to see what time interval Excel will use for Autosave purposes, and change it if you desire. If you don’t have a listing for "Autosave", you’ll have to install this add-in. Click on Add-in (from the Tools listing) and then click a check mark in front of the listing for "Autosave Add-in", then click OK.
• To indicate your preferred backup file location, click on "Tools" and then "Options". Click on the "General" tab, about 2/3 of the way down there’s a window with the default file location specified. If you want your backup file to be stored elsewhere, you’ll have to type in the appropriate path.

In Corel WordPerfect:

• Open WordPerfect, and then click on "Edit", then "Preferences", and then on the "Files" icon. Check the backup folder window for where WordPerfect is currently going to store your backup copy. If you want your backup copy stored elsewhere, navigate around until you have the directory/folder you want used for this purpose appearing in the "Look In" window, then click "Select". Right below the backup folder window is the "Timed document backup every" setting. Make sure you have a check mark in the box, and a time value in the "minutes" window. Click "Apply" and then "OK".

In Corel QuattroPro:

• Open QuattroPro, and then click on "Edit" and then "Preferences". Click on the "File Options" tab. Check that "Timed Document Backup Every" has a check mark in the box in front of it, and a time value in the "minutes" window. If you want QuattroPro to use a different default directory, you can type the full path in the "Directory" window, however, QuattroPro uses the last-used directory as the default directory, so your preference may not stick.

Document last revised 9/11/01 dc

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