ARCHIVED: In WordPerfect 8, how do I recover a file if my computer crashed?

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In order to recover files in WordPerfect 8 after your computer crashes, you must have the automatic backup feature activated. See ARCHIVED: In WordPerfect 8 and 9, what are the backup options, and how can I change them?

With the automatic backup feature activated, any unsaved changes to an open WordPerfect document will automatically save to your computer if it crashes.

To recover the document, restart your computer and open WordPerfect. You will see a message saying that WordPerfect was not properly shut down last time. When prompted, choose to open the document. You will have lost any work done since the last time the file was saved. Save the file to your hard drive or removable storage media.

As an additional safeguard, you can save the document to a floppy diskette as you type it:

From the File menu, choose Save as.... Choose where you want to save the file.
To save to a floppy disk, make sure the floppy is in the A: drive.
Next to "Save in:", click the arrow button for the drop-down list, and then scroll to locate and select 3 1/2 floppy A:.
In the "File name:" box, enter a filename of your choice.

For additional saves, from the Standard Toolbar, click the icon that looks like a floppy disk (third icon from the left). This will save your document in the same location you selected the previous time you saved it.

For more important files, such as research papers, you should save more than one copy.