The email I was writing disappeared - is there a way to get it ba

16 years ago

This is the second time this week when I've written a long and difficult email - just to have it disappear. It seems as though I'm inadvertently hitting a key while typing - that's functioning to erase everything I wrote. I'm not sure what I hit - or if there's a way to undo it.

The first time, I retyped everything. Now I'm hoping there's a way to retrieve it. I left the email box open - and stopped typing. This is a new and temporary keyboard for me - my old one died on the weekend and I'm awaiting a new one in the mail. I'm temporarily using the one that came with my Dell inspiron 530. There must be a key somewhere that's not on my logitech keyboard - but I'm not sure what it is or how to undo it.

There is a button that has a symbol that looks like a page with written lines - the second line is highlighted with an arrow pointing at it. I don't know what this button is but it's situated where I might have hit it. That's all I can think of.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

Lynn.

PS a different keyboard question. A while back my keyboard keys were sticking. People here said that if all is lost, might as well try it on the top rack of the dishwasher. So I did that - but it must be filled with water. I've been letting it dry for 4 days. Is that sufficient time? Could I damage my computer if I try using it and water effected it? Could I start an electric fire or short?

Featured Answer

ravencajun Zone 8b TX

16 years ago

have you tried hitting control+Z that is the undo key and I have to use it often to undo something I did accidentally.
Here is a list maybe you can find something here to help you figure out what you may be doing accidentally
Keyboard shortcuts for Windows

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Comments (31)

homebound
16 years ago
I've done that on a laptop. Finally found out is was because I had incidental contact with the touchpad when I started typing fast.

If you're in Yahoo, check the "Dafts" box. It saves what you're writing periodically, so most of what you wrote may be there.
Chemocurl zn5b/6a Indiana
16 years ago
Hotmail will also put things into drafts until they are sent.

Sue
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lynnalexandra
Original Author
16 years ago
I have gmail - which also sometimes puts things in draft - but I opened another tab with gmail and saw that it only saved the one word I typed after it disappeared.

I've done that on a laptop too - but this is a pc with a regular keyboard.

Maybe the fact that the draft it saved was of just the single word means it's gone for good. I hope not but I can't figure out what happened. Can't wait for my replacement keyboard to arrive.

Thanks.
Lynn.
kudzu9
16 years ago
That's happened to me a couple of times, too. If I'm going to be writing something long and complex, I'll sometimes draft it using a word processing program that does automatic saves. When I'm done, I just cut and paste it into the email.
twinklenose
16 years ago
Hi, Lynn--
This has happened to me more times than can be counted, too, and it just makes you feel sick in your stomach and completely fed up, doesn't it. I HATE when that happens! And, like you, I've never yet figured out which pesky key causes this to happens.
Or else, I've written a long email, pushed Send, not realizing or forgetting I'm offline (dial-up) and lose it.
:(
Not fun.

Like Kudzu, if I suspect it's going to be long or important, I'll write if first in Wordpad, save, then copy and paste it into Hotmail.
not2bright
16 years ago
I have gmail - which also sometimes puts things in draft - but I opened another tab with gmail and saw that it only saved the one word I typed after it disappeared.

Hi, Lynn

Are you using the Gmail interface itself or are you using an email client (like Outlook, Thunderbird) ? If the latter, do you have the account set up as a POP account or an IMAP account ?

If you're using the web interface, it can't be the Gmail/Google Apps shortcuts causing the problem, since they don't work while your compose screen is 'active.'

It is unlikely that you accidentally hit the "discard" button, since 1) that would have brought you out of the compose window entirely and 2) once out of the compose window there's an "undo discard" button that one can press in the event the draft was accidentally discarded.

How about this ?.... Could you have accidentally hit the Ctrl + A key combination (perhaps attempting a Shift + A combo) ? In this case you would have highlighted the entire email ('select all' function) and the next keystroke would have deleted the highlighted text and resumed with new text. I'm guessing this may not be likely, since you would have probably noticed the momentary highlighting of the entire email text before it was deleted. ???

I'm at a loss. But I'm sure I would have done what you did in the event this happened to me.... I would have middle-clicked my Gmail bookmark to open another instance of Gmail in another tab. Then I would quickly click 'drafts' and then open the draft in question to see if the email missing from the compose screen were still in the draft folder. And if so I would quickly copy the text so I could paste it back if I lost the draft entirely. (This all needs to be done very quickly... within a minute, since Gmail's autosave feature saves every minute -- sometimes sooner if there has been a lot of typing in a short time -- and the "new" message (consisting of only a word or two) will be saved and will replace the original.)

Sorry I can't really offer any solution. I use Gmail and Google Apps often, but can't figure out what has caused your situation. But maybe my rambling here may help someone else think of a possibility that would explain the mysterious disappearance. :-)

Scott
lynnalexandra
Original Author
16 years ago
Wow. Great help everyone.

Raven - Control Z. That did the trick. Everyone should know that one. I never knew such a simple function existed. "Control Z, Control Z, Control Z" - I'll be chanting that until it's memorized (and send it to all my less techy friends and relatives).

Scott - you nailed it too. I'm sure I'm hitting Control A. I did see a momentary highlight - was typing the word "and" - and in the blink of an eye saw highlighting - the text disappeared - and just an unhighlighted "nd" remained. I wasn't actually trying to hit shift and "A" - just "a" - but they're all cramped pretty close on this keyboard and I think the edge of my palm hit the control key - which is right up against the bottom left corner - just that little bit of rotating my hand to the left did it.

A lot of other really useful information here that didn't happen to apply to this situation but is good to know. I use gmail's interface. I have Thunderbird - but that was just to add additional email back up storage on my actual pc. I never use it's interface.

What is "wordpad"? Is it the same as notepad? The problem is first that I"m moving very quicly and hate to take the time to open another application - when I began the email I thought it would take 5 minutes. More than the time was that it was emotionally difficult content about how my daughter is being bullied (sent to the school counselor) - and I'd gotten it described just the way I wanted - so I didn't want to re-do it.

Anyway - am I missing something that opening notepad seems like a pain - and an additional use of time? Same with Word.

Thanks.
Lynn.
not2bright
16 years ago
Hi, Lynn

I'm glad it worked out for you !

Are you saying you were actually able to recover the original email you were working on ? If so, GREAT, but I would have thought the "Ctrl + Z" function wouldn't have worked to retrieve it after all this time. ??
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
16 years ago
control+z works great!! I tell you it has saved me many a time and it will keep working to go back more than one step too. If you have not closed what it was you were doing then yes control z will still work. I chanted that one till I remembered it too Lynn LOL

anytime something disappears or you do something and go on no wish I could undo that then hit the control+Z it might just do the job for you.
Kudzu and twinklenose the control+z would have worked for both of your situations.
lotodig
16 years ago
Just noticed this post and found it interesting and informative. I also wanted to add that I have a FF 'add on' called "LAZARUS" that has saved me several times from losing a very long description I was typing to put on an auction site. It works like a charm and very easy to use.

I have to thank Ravencajun for the recommendation to use FF and all those neat and useful 'add ons'.
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
16 years ago
you are most welcome, I know for me they sure do make life easier at times. I love hearing about new addons that I am not familiar with. Just yesterday I discovered Google enhancer, I do a lot of google searches and it adds some nice options, including date ranges.
I also used to use one that allowed right clicking even when things had right clicking blocked, I had lost track of it but now it has been updated for the latest versions of firefox it is called Right to click, neat one too.

now I have to go check out Lazarus!

see we learn from each other!
maime
16 years ago
Same thing happened to me a few days ago. I was so disgusted I didn't rewrite it for a couple of days. I can't tell you how many times I proof read the stuff I type, looking for typos, omitted words and careful not to offend, especially in the forums and my sister. LOL
Anastasia
11 years ago
The short of it:

Try hitting the Control key and the z and it should go one step "back" and reappear.

I JUST did this very thing. Sickening to be sure after having invested so much time preparing an email in yahoo mail. I was about to hit send and thought I'd add one more comment and I hit a combination of some keys (not sure what) and everything disappeared! Words can't describe the feeling really...of losing that.
Anyway, I pressed the two keys, Ctrl and z and it all reappeared!! Thank you to the person who suggested it. It worked!! Funny how that is what made my day, now. Lol Hope this helps someone else!
whypraytellwhy
11 years ago
anastasia32, darling, if the 2010 problem has not been resolved === no, wait, as you were, never mind.
Fred Koch
10 years ago
Cntl z backs you to where you were before the disapperance
Alison Mayes
10 years ago
Hi everyone. Thank you so much for this thread and I can confirm ctrl+z works. I had to click it a few times but it came up with my long e-mail I had just finished writing and thought I'd lost. My name is Ali and I must hit ctrl+a, instead of shift+a! Will be more careful now I know!! You too have made my day. x
Anita Brown
10 years ago
Me too! The Ctrl+z is a life saver! Thanks @ ravencajun Zone 8b TX!
gmadebb2
9 years ago
This has happened to me more times than I care to write. VERY frustrating after writing a LONG email and part or all of it disappears. I tried the Ctrl Z but did not work. Is this a Windows 10 glitch that someone can fix? Not a happy emailer right now.
azinoh
9 years ago
Open a new file in your word processor

Type 3 words

Give your file a name and SAVE AS to your DOCUMENTS folder

Continue typing your message and SAVE it periodically if you're afraid of losing it

When you've completed your message, check it for errors and spelling and SAVE it again.

When you're satisfied it is ready to send, highlight the entire message and then press CTRL+C

Now go to your email and press CTRL+V

Send your email
kudzu9
9 years ago
I've run into a few web sites that limit the time you can spend composing. Once, I lost a lengthy email to my doctor: I was almost done, but went away from the computer for a couple of minutes to get something and when I came back there was a notice that my message had been deleted because I exceeded the 30-minute mark! I agree with azinoh: now, whenever I have something that is important and/or lengthy, I compose in a WP program and then copy and paste when I want to send it. It's a good idea to go into the settings to be sure automatic saves are enabled in your WP program, and see if you can set this to be done every couple of minutes. I have also found, however, that Outlook is pretty good at saving drafts as I compose, too.
dadoes
9 years ago
Not uncommon that web-based e-mail interfaces have auto log-off timeouts.
PRO
Melina
9 years ago
I never write in forums BUT this happened to me and I found out a way to get it back! So I sent a lengthy email, pressed send. It didn't appear in sent items or in drafts. So I clicked the 'more' section under drafts and there was a section called 'All Main'. My email was right at the top of the list!! I'm so happy. I don't understand why it wasn't in my sent items, they normally are. Must be a glitch.
I hope that helps!
4thumbs
9 years ago
I have a Mac, but assume this would work on a MS system as well. I keep two documents called MISC open at the bottom of my computer. One is a word processing document and the other is a draw program document. (I use the free Libre Office suite.)

Whenever I have a long email I first compose it in Word and then copy and paste. It's also handy when I post the same reply in many places on Facebook.

The drawing program is handy when I want to copy and paste an image from the web.

Amd either is also handy for copying and pasting text from the web, as well.

I also can relate to spending considerable time composing an email only to lose it. Not fun!
maryjones3672
9 years ago
The same thing just happened to me. Kirkbride Lawn care did a poor job for us last year and I was sending them photos of the aftermath. They have been real hard to deal with. It was a long letter and it just disappeared. Somehow, I feel like they did it. mary
kudzu9
9 years ago
mary-

If they were able to do that, they wouldn't be in the lawn care business: they'd be making millions as computer hackers... ;-)
Jason García Jiménez
8 years ago
am not sure so am gonna explain what happens to me: my [gmail] drafts get cut, the ones you have yet to send, get cut like a lot of the content. is there a way to stop it, prevent it, or somehow retrieve them? lots of info there lost cus gmail felt like it. once happened long time ago, found nothing about it that could help, and now twice in like 2-3 days, awful! does any type of cloud helps this?
Veronica Law
8 years ago
Emails disappear. This never happened with my OLD Mac computer. Its most annoying. Surely Apple can do better than that. Thanks. I'll try Command Z
biwa45
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Oh, this infuriating thing has happened to both me and my husband (on different PCs) so many times! Each time we tell ourselves that we should be doing the sort of thing Azinoh suggests. But we keep getting suckered in by the thought that 'this time it's a short message' and then when it turns out to be a long one, we inadvertently press some demon button (I suspect Ctrl, as it has never been a case of deliberately choosing two keys), and there goes all our work.

We are very grateful to learn about Ctrl and Z!
biwa45
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
LOL I've been wanting to test out this suggestion, but try as I may, now I can't get the email I am composing to disappear, so I can hit Ctrl and Z! At least, I can say that Ctrl alone is not disappearing things, nor is Ctrl + A. So is there some hideous hidden glitch in gmail that randomly makes drafts disappear? It does seem that when this happens to me, I can't find whatever message I was composing in "Drafts." So perhaps it really is some sort of bug. But why does it have to choose the longer messages?!?!?!?!?!!
4thumbs
5 years ago
I generally use my laptop for most of my work. I keep a document called MISC open and quite often compose my message there first, and when satisfied with it I simply copy & paste it into the email I want to send or the FB message reply.

This has saved me hours of trying to recreate my original message.

The email I was writing disappeared - is there a way to get it ba

ravencajun Zone 8b TX

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