Lost form text I had filled

[neuromancer23]

Hi,

Had filled out 4k words for a cover letter, previous experience and so on other requested things. Took many hours but I accidentally opened a link in that tab and when I went back everything was gone. Any idea how I could recover it? Can't find it anywhere in recent cache.

[mtngigi]

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Alexander I wrote:

Hi,

Had filled out 4k words for a cover letter, previous experience and so on other requested things. Took many hours but I accidentally opened a link in that tab and when I went back everything was gone. Any idea how I could recover it? Can't find it anywhere in recent cache.

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No, it can't be recovered. It's best to use an external text edit program and then copy/paste into Upwork ... especially one that long.

But .... a 4k cover letter will likely make a client run away (possibly screaming).

[neuromancer23]

Not the letter itself. Just 6+ fields to fill out total with lots of info about my past projects and what I am doing now. Thanks anyway... 😞

[neuromancer23]

Just a suggestion - why not have autosave when filling out like here in the forum?

[mtngigi · Accepted solution]

Alexander I. wrote:

Just a suggestion - why not have autosave when filling out like here in the forum?

It's a suggestion thousands of us have been asking for for years ... it falls on deaf ears. I write 99% of my bids in an external program. Problem solved.

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[neuromancer23]

Yeah, that's the way to go - good to know!

It's weird because normal Form fields remain in cache and if you go back they still have the text but I think I learnt my lesson.

[florydev]

I’m sorry, I believe you are out of luck.

The advice commonly given is to use an external editor to create your cover letters. Then copy and paste it over.

I think even better advice is to question why you have written such a long cover letter. Could you say what you needed to say much more succinctly and powerfully?

My personal belief is you are far better off writing less in any one proposal and more proposals. A long proposal is trying to answer every question when you are better off engaging a client to come back with a question.

TLDR nobody wants to read anything that long.