[Solved] Open Office thinks I am a new user - old files not present

[JohnButler]

I have been using OpenOffice for years. I have just opened it to access my files and it thinks I am a new user and says there are no existing files to open. I seem to have lost everything !!

I am using Windows 10 and OO 4.1.11

[FJCC]

It sounds like your user profile got corrupted and a new one was made. That process brings up the registration screen. When you say your files are not present, do you mean that the menu File -> Recent Documents is empty? That also is a result of getting a new user profile. The documents are still wherever you stored them. If you are on Windows, they are probably in your Documents folder or a sub folder of that.

[RoryOF]

This can also happen if OpenOffice is closed irregularly, perhaps by a crash, or if the computer is powered down too quickly, before the OpenOffice housekeeping has been written to the hard disk platters.

The Recent Documents entry is merely a list pointing to the most recent documents you have used, kept for your convenience; it does not indicate that the documents are stored within OpenOffice; as FJCC says, the documents are on your hard disk, in the locations in which they were Saved. As one uses /File /Open and navigates to each file, it will once again appear on the Recent Documents list.

[JohnButler]

I cannot see the menu for Recent Documents because I have not completed the new registration process - I worry that that will block me from accessing the existing files.

[RoryOF]

No: registration won't block you from accessing the files, but they will not reappear in Recent Documents until you access them, as I described above.

[FJCC]

No, the registration process will not affect access to the existing files. The registration process sets your user identity in OpenOffice only. Access to files is controlled by your user name in the operating system, such as Windows.

[JohnButler]

I have just gone into the windows documents directory and found one of the files that I need. Clicking on that has caused it to be opened in OO. And it seem to be intact. It no appears in the Recent Documents but no other files appear there. So I need to try and remember all their file names. But it seems that, if I can do that, all is well. Fingers crossed.

[RoryOF]

Easiest to use Windows File search; search merely for the formats in which you Saved your files. if you have Saved them in .odt (etc) formats there should not be any extraneous files. If you Saved in .doc (etc) formats, you may have to decide which were yours and which were from someone else.

[JohnButler]

Terrific. Many thanks.