uuuugh! All work gone!

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   PaulaHenry1posted 12 years ago

   So I am constantly experiencing this problem lately and it is making me quite angry! I am writing a hub and go to save it/text and the whole screen turns black. I can not do anything but get rid of it and try again. Does anyone else have this issue? Happens on IE and Chrome!

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      SimeyCposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      sadly it can happen! That's why I always work in Word, or Wordpad (free on IE) or some other wordprocesser (I have OpenOffice at home and it's free). That way if HP plays up I haven't lost my work!

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      SimeyCposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I'd also try Firefox - out of all the browsers that seems to have less problems with HP!

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   WriteAngledposted 12 years ago

   I haven't had this happen in either IE or Chrome, but I have seen other people report it.
   
   Personally, I write my hubs in Word and also include a notes section in it for myself where I list URLs of any pictures I am including plus the required wording to use in the acknowledgement for each picture.
   
   Once I've finished, I decide how I am going to split the text between HP capsules.
   
   I then copy/paste the hub text into the relevant capsules. This means that not only do I avoid the risk of losing my work  in the way you describe, I also have a back-up of the hub should I ever wish to move the information from HP to somewhere else, or if HP stops functioning, etc.

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      Aficionadaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      That is such a fabulous suggestion.  My notes have been scattered around in too many different locations.  I could just add a text box or a Comment within the Word document (which I'm already using anyway) and keep all of the information together where it belongs.  Great idea!

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         Pcunixposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         But..
         
         Word is absolute overkill for this kind of thing.  If you are using Windows, try WordPad.  On Mac, TextEdit.  WordPad lacks spellcheck, but it's easy to find online spelling correctors.  Mac Textedit does have spellcheck.
         
         They have everything else you need for this type of work and will start up much faster than Word and not confuse you with features you do not need.
         
         If you are writing a book, use Word.  Otherwise, it is usually far more than you need.

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            Aficionadaposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            
            You're probably right about that, but I'm so accustomed to it now that it doesn't seem to me to have more features than I need.  (I just ignore the ones I don't use.) - Just habit, you understand.
            
            
            I don't use spellcheck functions - unless I am momentarily feeling practically braindead.  Usually the kind of mistake I make would not be recognized as a spelling error.  It might (or might not) show up as a grammar error.  But I get so intensely annoyed with the incorrect grammar checker in Word that I keep it turned off, always.  My blood pressure is rising just to think about it.
            
            Breathe....  Breathe....  Breathe....    Whooo-   heee-   whooo-   heee-       Deep cleansing breath.....    Okay, I'm a little better now. 
            
            
            I haven't noticed speed being a problem, but then I use an older version of Word (2003).  I do not like Word 2007, and when I have to use it, I always waste a lot of time trying to find things that should be second nature to me.
            
            What I liked best about WriteAngled's suggestion was simply the idea of incorporating into the original MS the information about links for photos and correct wording of attributions.  It's like a facepalm moment to me.  I have kept that sort of information in separate Notepads - so easy for me to lose or to mislabel.
            
            Thanks for the comments, though, Pcunix.  I really should ask your help for a totally different WordPad problem I have, but it doesn't fit in this thread.

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   sofsposted 12 years ago

   Better to have your work done in a word processor... I use Google docs and every letter I type is saved... I can extract the older version and review them.. after some terrible experiences like yours..I have learned my lesson.

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   Pcunixposted 12 years ago

   I've never had that happen (I use Chrome on a Mac), but like the others, I usually write in a text editor.
   
   On the few occasions where I have jumped in directly, I make sure to save both my capsules and the whole thing ("Done Editing") frequently.

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   skyfireposted 12 years ago

   Use Lazarus form recovery add-on for chrome and firefox. Both these browsers (chrome and firefox) are buggy and do crash often.

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      Pcunixposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I have no experience with Chrome other than on my Mac, but it doesn't crash there for me. Firefox did, frequently.  I can't even remember the last time Chrome misbehaved.
      
      However, I use absolutely no plugins, so that could be why - and it could be why Firefox was so nasty as I did have a few plugins there.

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         skyfireposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I agree that this could be because of the add-ons and media plugins. But chrome crashes on ubuntu 11.10 and Windows XP/7 during spell check too. In case of firefox performance of browser goes down when we add more media plugins from adobe (reader and flash). I switched to Foxit pdf reader recently and now firefox is behaving much better with pdf files on firefox.

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            Pcunixposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            It's weird, isn't it?
            
            So many combinations of hardware and operating systems, not to even mention the different pages.. 
            
            It really comes down to "this works for me".

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   WriteAngledposted 12 years ago

   While I've not had problems on HP, Chrome causes me no end of problems everywhere else. I keep getting messages about something called Flash (I think) having crashed. When that happens, I cannot send attachments from Gmail. Chrome is also very slow, and makes the hard drive go non-stop. I got so fed up, I tried to move back to IE two weeks ago. However, IE will not let me see contents of pdf files, for which I still have to use Chrome. So I now have to have two browsers going all the time. I gave up on Firefox about 6 months ago, because it had got to the point of hogging most of my memory. Sigh... I hate browsers!

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   Lisa HWposted 12 years ago

   I've had the disappearing-writing thing happen on here and another site.  It took me a few unfortunate lessons to finally realize that what never happened before, and what "happened only this once", could happen again - and again.  It never involved my computer.  Each time involved some glitch type of thing with the site (or maybe, I guess, with my browser within the context of the site).
   
   Anyway, I eventually smartened up and didn't even take the occasional chance of not writing in WordPad (or something) first.  Well, I wasn't all that smartened up; because within the last several months I've twice written long comment responses on my Hubs, and had them disappear in a flash too.    Those weren't glitches, though.  Those were times when I accidentally hit something I shouldn't have.  The minute I realize that I'm writing something I don't want to lose or have to think up all over again, I head for WordPad.  I trust nothing at this point.    (By the way, developing a little bit of OCD when it comes to saving text in something like a Word Pad file also prevents a potential "horror story" (power failures happen on beautiful days too).  The named/saved file can always be deleted afterward.

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   DonnaCSmithposted 12 years ago

   I also write in Word, do my editing, etc then copy and paste it into my Hub text capsules. That way I always have a backup copy, too. Saves research time when I want to write another article on the same subject.

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   IzzyMposted 12 years ago

   Hubpages autosaves work as you go along. If you go into edit I am sure there is a button somewhere that will let you restore the last saved version. I have used it before when I thought I had lost a whole hub, but I can't remember exactly where it is.
   Try opening up the text boxes and see if its there?

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      2uesdayposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      I think the box opens up and tells you how long ago the 'draft was saved you can usually sort it out from there. It might be accessed at the bottom of the text box. By clicking to view the different saved drafts, obviously usually you need the most recent one.
      
      By the way I have had the screen go black when working on a hub but found the text box by scrolling up or down like it had become 'hidden'. Until I read this I thought it was something to do with my keyboard (now I realize that it is not) as at times it flips the size of the text on the screen to really small or large without me intending it to.

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    sunforgedposted 12 years ago

    Lazurus and similar autosave plugins are a must for me. Ive written plenty of long forum responses, comments and other such things that no one would ever bother to pre-write into a word processor that have been lost for everything from site errors, connection losses, power failures, battery failure and browser crashes ... having the ability to make that text reappear saves tons of frustration.
    
    I have found that the HP built in autosave works quite well though.
    
    https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefo … rea-cache/
    
    https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefo … -recovery/

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    WriteAngledposted 12 years ago

    I use Word, because it is nearly always open already with a document I am translating, or reference material sent to me in that format, etc.
    
    Like Aficionda, I hate Word 2007, because I have to keep searching on the Net for instructions to do the simplest things that were previously instantly accessible from the old-style menus. To be honest, I deeply miss the old-style WordPerfect I used in the early 1990s, with which hardly ever needed to look at the menus at all. It was far faster than any version of Word.
    
    I never use the grammar checker. I looked at it once and found it totally useless. I do keep the spelling checker on in the background though as I can catch and correct most typos as I make them. I type fairly fast but also am often thinking ahead of what I am typing. This sometimes results in really odd "words" that run together part of the word I am typing with part of the word running through my brain at that moment. My keyboard sometimes plays up and skips certain keys. Of course there are also the bog standard typos especially when I rushing to meet a deadline, and even more so when I am doing this at 4 am!

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    PaulaHenry1posted 12 years ago

    Thank you EVERYONE! Lesson learned, WORD here I come!!!!

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