The Missing File

On Monday morning, Beth opened the shared folder and found nothing. The quarterly report, which the team had finished on Friday, had disappeared. She checked the recycle bin, the backup and the email thread, but there was no trace of it. The meeting with the directors was at eleven.

“Someone must have deleted it by accident,” said Paul, rolling his chair closer. “It can’t have been Dana,” Beth replied. “She left at noon on Friday, before we added the final tables.” Paul shrugged. “Then it might have been the new intern. He had access to the folder.”

The intern, Adrian, went pale when they asked him. “I only moved a few files into a different folder,” he said. “I didn’t delete anything.” Beth took a deep breath. She could have shouted, but she knew it would not help. Together they searched the archive and, under a long and confusing name, found the report.

“I should have saved a copy on my own computer,” Beth admitted. She turned to Adrian. “And you should have told us you were reorganising the folders.” Paul laughed with relief. “We needn’t have panicked, but I’m glad we started looking before ten.”

The meeting went well in the end. Afterwards, the team agreed on a new rule: nobody would rename, move or delete shared files without sending a message to the group. Beth should have introduced that rule months earlier, and she knew it. She pinned a note to the wall: Save twice. Ask once.