File overwritten Again

[Stikman]

I always file desktop. I py for Deluxe which included five returns.  I file one or my wife  and another for our Niece.  TWICE now in three years the second file has overwritten the first file!  I believe overwrite is the default.   WHY. It is far too easy to overwrite the file than it is impossible to recover it.  First off I want ti so I will not need   to start from scratch next year.  This year, I need to file an amended return.   When I  pull up my own return it is gone - Replaced apparently by My niece's return.  After the first time I asked that the default is NOT to overwrite.   To Overwrite should only be after a BIG RED  pop-up    warning that you are about to overwrite  another return.  had I known that this fault still existed I would have saved my return on a Thumb drive. Please don't let others have to learn the hard way. 

[SteamTrain]

For Desktop users:

The best way to avoid it is to always use "Save-As" the very first time the second file is saved....and make absolutely sure the new file has a unique filename at that time.

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For most folks this happens if the second person's had the same first name as the first one which was prepared.

But....can also happen if they didn't actually start a brand NEW file for the second person.

[Stikman]

Thanks for the quick response.  The first time it happed the new return had a name that stated with the same first letter.  That was two or three years ago.  Had no problem again until this year. I do not recall any prompt.   I can possibly recover the file from my backup program as I need to file an amended return.  My point now is that programmers should be made aware so that they can look at this process in the future.  I was a Systems Analysts once and worked with programmers.  They could improve this faster than I can recover my overwritten file! Just needs a pop-up warning.