Microsoft has alerted users to a newly identified issue that can cause Word for Windows to delete certain documents instead of saving them.
According to the company, this bug affects users of Word for Microsoft 365 version 2409, build 18025.20104. The issue occurs when users close Word after making edits and are prompted to save. After saving, the document may disappear.
The problem specifically impacts systems where files are saved locally and have filenames containing the “#” symbol or use capitalized file extensions, like .DOCX or .RTF.
Microsoft confirmed the issue following widespread user complaints that Word was deleting some of their saved files.
The Word team is actively investigating the problem. While a fix is being developed, affected users can try several workarounds, such as checking the recycle bin, where the deleted file might be recoverable.
Another option is to manually save documents before closing Word. Microsoft’s tests indicate that “the issue occurs when saving after being prompted upon clicking X to close Word but does not happen when manually saving before closing.”
Additionally, users can enable the “Don’t show the Backstage when opening or saving files with keyboard shortcuts” option by navigating to File > Options > Save.
Another temporary solution is to revert to the previous version of Word until a fix is available. To do this, open a Command Prompt window with administrator privileges from the Windows search box, then paste the following commands, pressing Enter after each:
cd %programfiles%\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\ClickToRun officec2rclient.exe /update user updatetoversion=17928.20156
In August, Microsoft also provided temporary workarounds for issues that were causing Gmail sign-in problems for classic Outlook users and making Outlook crash after opening.