Documents quadrupled?

[Heather Positive Thinker]

I just did a search for a document (client letter) and 4 references came up for the same letter I tried another name and same thing happened. Somehow Ive managed to copy and recopy documents.

What is the best/safest way to get back to just one copy of each document please (bearing in mind I have about 3k of them on this puter, that means I have 9k of spare ones floating about )

[WendyPusey]

How many copies are there in the actual folder?

[Mary from Italy]

One of the copies you've found is probably in "recent documents", so you don't need to delete that.

[Heather Positive Thinker]

I dont have folders as such wendy - I just have the "documents" - unless thats a folder? (dumbo, eh?)

And yes, there appears to be 4 copies of the letter.

Mary, I dont know about recent docs. I mean there are docs there going back to 2004 which are quadrupled Im thinking this may be due to me trying to copy them when I was trying to save them to a disc.

Say, I do a search of documents - you know if the little box at the bottom left of the screen thing - I put in for example, Mr and Mrs Jones Invoice 3.4.08 and up comes 4 results - all Mr and Mrs Jones Invoice 3.4.08.

[Heather Positive Thinker]

Oh, no one?

I just went to look at computer, recovery and this is the screen shot of the backup files set or something. Surely I dont need all these, obviously from the times shown it was when I was trying to save them and then send them to a disc.

Can someone tell me - can I delete all of them except the newest please?

Oh, you cant see it, its so small. But basically there are 21 back up files all huge and all within a minute of each other??files.jpg

[dave pusey]

Can you post a large screenshot of the search results?

The one that shows the four "copies" of the document.

[Heather Positive Thinker]

Dave, after fiddling about Ive got more than 4 results now!! I hope this shows you what happens when I search just one customers name:

Screenshot.jpg

Oh blow, how do I make it bigger? Ill try using photobucket

[Cloggie]

Hi Heather,
Yes, you would need to host the image on Photobucket or a similar site in order to post a bigger image, as the attachment feature automatically reduces the image/file size.

http://www.familytreeforum.com/reference-information-how-guides/28003-how-use-photobucket.html

[Heather Positive Thinker]

No, Im not having any luck changing the size. If I make it bigger it just blurs.

Basically, if I enter a search for a name of a customer I was getting 4 copies of the document as a result. Having faffed about trying to sort it out I now get about 12 results with the name, though I think most of those are empty if I click on them.

I wish I could do something so that I could have just one copy of every document on the puter - is there a safe way to do that please.

[Cloggie]

I think you'll need to upload the full-size screenshot to Photobucket, and make sure you have the file upload settings on there to full-size too (I think it's 1 MB maximum size for a free Photobucket account, which should be plenty)

[Heather Positive Thinker]

What seems to be happening is every time I do a search for someone the name appears as a result. So Ive just gone back and entered same customers name and Ive got even more results. If you can see in that image, the list of results is just one name!)

If I could do a system restore to say last week, would I get shot of whatever Ive mucked up? Only thing is, since Ive had VISTA I can seem to do system restore :(

[dave pusey]

Try using the Search button on the right of the start menu.

It should tell you which folders they are in...

[Heather Positive Thinker]

dave, isnt that the search button Im using already?

[Wincot kid]

Multiple saves

From what you have described, it sounds like your system is set to having draft saves made and placed in the same folder as your final file.

I am not familiar with Vista, but I don't think it's a system restore point you need.

To me, I would be looking at the settings in Word (assuming that is the software you are using).

Do the extra files have the same title as the final file, or do they say backup copy of? I know there is a setting in Word (Tools, options, Save tab) that is defaulted to have tick box that says always create backup copy. There is also another box that says make local copy of files stored on network or removable drives. If either of those is ticked, remove, and see what happens when you create and save a new document.

Also, to get rid of the existing pile, if you open them up and compare with the one with the final time and date stamp, then the final one should be the good copy and you are OK to delete the others. You would probably be OK to delete them anyay, but you may want to check back to see.