I used Recuva for the first time today. The word file was deleted this morning by someone else, but I knew the name and date modified. I have found the file and it says it's in excellent condition. It was originally saved to the desktop by the other person, so I thought me trying to put it on the desktop again (in another folder) was the problem. So, I tried recovering it to a flash drive, another folder, etc. Each time it recovers it as a "shortcut" (even though the file in Recuva seems to be an actual file ---it's more than 1KB in size).
When I click on the shortcut, the document will not open because the "file is missing". I have tried opening the file in word, notepad, etc and nothing works.
in windows folder options change the setting that hides extensions for known file types so that it doe not hide them. This should allow you to see the file recuva says it found is probably a shortcut from the recently accessed file location (or even the desktop) and not the actual file itself.
I have the same problem. I have used Recuva to recover an Excel file that has disappeared. Recuva seemed to find the file, showed me when it was created and last modified. When I saved the file to a new location I can't open it as "the format or extension is not valid". The file size is only showing as 1 KB. A wiggly line and $ has been added to the front of the file name.
I wonder if this is a short cut or if I need to pay to open it.