Damn Hotmail draft wipe-out

webecedarian · 3 Dec 2022, 11:09 AM

We're all used to using Word, where if with successive edits, something goes wrong, you can just close out without saving, and it reverts to the most recent version.

But not Hotmail. Or at least not my Hotmail.

If something goes wrong, the default is to save. I had a long, complex email I'd been working on. And something happened where I accidentally wiped out the text. And there was no way to retrieve it. The earlier draft was gone.

I'm wondering, though - is there any preference I can set, that I don't know about, where I could make the default be NOT to save?

jdtaylor · 3 Jan 2023, 01:00 AM

What about save as draft, this might be what you want. If you are using a computer you can use Hotmail/outlook.com with your email client j

It should be something like the list in the link, just click outlook.com/Hotmail
https://www.idrive.com/idrive/sh/sh?k=s8y4g0y0d7

I,’m sorry I couldn’t think of anything off the top of my head.

hadaso · 7 Jan 2023, 05:22 PM

For many years I has the Textarea Cache Firefox extension: It saves a copy of all textarea contents in the browser so if a tab is closed I can still find the contents of the textareas in that tab. It's not a full undo/redo solution, but if one closes a window where an email is being composed, then I guess the contents are saved, and then I guess that version is later available after reopening that draft and changing it.

webecedarian · 15 Jan 2023, 06:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdtaylor

What about save as draft, this might be what you want. If you are using a computer you can use Hotmail/outlook.com with your email client j

It should be something like the list in the link, just click outlook.com/Hotmail
https://www.idrive.com/idrive/sh/sh?k=s8y4g0y0d7

I,’m sorry I couldn’t think of anything off the top of my head.

My point is, if you save a draft, but when you return the next day, you accidentally wipe it out, the original draft can't be retrieved, even if you have not saved the accident.

jdtaylor · 19 Jan 2023, 11:42 PM

That seems strange, if you are using ios choose Outlook, it will also let you use activesync with windows. It hasn't removed any of my drafts, so use the ios built in mail app and you won't have issues with the website.

webecedarian · 2 Feb 2023, 08:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdtaylor

That seems strange, if you are using ios choose Outlook, it will also let you use activesync with windows. It hasn't removed any of my drafts, so use the ios built in mail app and you won't have issues with the website.

Drafts don't get removed, but everything is automatically saved. For instance, in one case I wanted to copy the draft with Control+C but I accidentally hit Control+V, so accidentally pasted in some random thing I'd copied previous. The draft was wiped out.

TenFour · 2 Feb 2023, 10:22 PM

Maybe not what you want to do, but if I am writing a long, complex email I often do so in a word processor or note keeping app first. I then cut and paste into my email. It is usually a lot easier to write something long that way, at least for me.

3 Dec 2022, 11:09 AM	#1
webecedarian Essential Contributor Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: NYC Posts: 479	Damn Hotmail draft wipe-out We're all used to using Word, where if with successive edits, something goes wrong, you can just close out without saving, and it reverts to the most recent version. But not Hotmail. Or at least not my Hotmail. If something goes wrong, the default is to save. I had a long, complex email I'd been working on. And something happened where I accidentally wiped out the text. And there was no way to retrieve it. The earlier draft was gone. I'm wondering, though - is there any preference I can set, that I don't know about, where I could make the default be NOT to save?

3 Jan 2023, 01:00 AM	#2
jdtaylor Master of the @ Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 1,693	What about save as draft, this might be what you want. If you are using a computer you can use Hotmail/outlook.com with your email client j It should be something like the list in the link, just click outlook.com/Hotmail https://www.idrive.com/idrive/sh/sh?k=s8y4g0y0d7 I,’m sorry I couldn’t think of anything off the top of my head.

7 Jan 2023, 05:22 PM	#3
hadaso The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Holon, Israel. Posts: 4,837	For many years I has the Textarea Cache Firefox extension: It saves a copy of all textarea contents in the browser so if a tab is closed I can still find the contents of the textareas in that tab. It's not a full undo/redo solution, but if one closes a window where an email is being composed, then I guess the contents are saved, and then I guess that version is later available after reopening that draft and changing it.

19 Jan 2023, 11:42 PM	#5
jdtaylor Master of the @ Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 1,693	That seems strange, if you are using ios choose Outlook, it will also let you use activesync with windows. It hasn't removed any of my drafts, so use the ios built in mail app and you won't have issues with the website.

2 Feb 2023, 10:22 PM	#7
TenFour Master of the @ Join Date: Feb 2017 Location: USA Posts: 1,722	Maybe not what you want to do, but if I am writing a long, complex email I often do so in a word processor or note keeping app first. I then cut and paste into my email. It is usually a lot easier to write something long that way, at least for me.