Microsoft Word started deleting documents instead of saving them

Users of Microsoft Word for Windows are advised to take special care when saving their work and documents – a rather unpleasant bug has been discovered in the program. Because of this bug, the popular text editor deletes files instead of saving them, Microsoft said.

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The new problem does not affect all versions of Microsoft Word, but users of the program were warned to be on guard when saving documents. Users “may experience an issue where their file is deleted after saving if the file name contains an uppercase file extension (‘.DOCX’, ‘.RTF’) or ‘#’,” according to Microsoft’s support page.

The issue was discovered in Word 365 version 2409 build 18025.20104. It occurs when a user makes changes to a file, tries to close Word, and agrees to save the file by clicking a button in the pop-up window. This can lead to the file simply disappearing, but it may also end up in the Recycle Bin, from which it can be restored.

To avoid an incident, it is recommended that you manually save the document before exiting Word. “Our current tests show that the problem occurs after saving and pressing the cross to close Word. It currently does not play when manually saving before closing,” the support page states. You can also disable the display of this window when opening and saving files using keyboard shortcuts in the settings. Microsoft is investigating the issue and working on a fix, but in the meantime, users can revert to an earlier version of Word.