OpenOffice Ate My Document

[BrotherofCats]

When I logged into Open Office Yesterday it brought up a log on screen that asked for my name and information, which it hadn't done for the last year. Then I opened my document (a 360k word work of fiction) only to find that the whole body of text had been replaced #####. I attempted everything I could think of, and finally contact this forum, to be told by automated messenger that I would get a link by email. Which didn't come till the next morning. I am angry and frustrated with this program. Is there any kind of recovery process to get my work back. And yes, I back it up, and the backup was also all ###. I had another document that came through fine, so I'm not sure why that one was singled out. Please help.

[RoryOF]

An OpenOffice file showing ### is utterly corrupt and there will be no usable information in it.  Use the information below to attempt to find a complete or partial copy, or revert to an earlier backup copy.

The file is damaged beyond repair, due to power off of your computer before the file was saved. Waste no time with the file; instead, use the methods set out below to try to recover some, all or perhaps none of it.

As soon as possible try the methods in this tutorial

viewtopic.php?f=71&t=85038

for detailed instructions on how to

a) use Previous Versions (W7 and later) to recover previous versions of the file.

b) recover your file as it was when you last opened or saved it, or as it was when it was last saved with AutoRecovery;

c) find previous versions of the file in the folder it is located in, but which have since been deleted;

d) un-delete the temporary files AOO wrote while you were editing the file, and then deleted.  This may recover your file as it was when you last opened or you last saved it.

[RoryOF]

In view of your backup being all ###, was it open at the same time? If not, I suggest you rename or delete your OpenOffice User profile, as that may be damaged. Details on this are given in
[Tutorial] The OpenOffice User Profile