Lost documents need recovery help

[len brauer]

hello forum

i have losdt my documents from open office i have without success tried to download free software which has failed

please can my documents be recovered they are important

thank you

[thomasjk]

We need more information to help you. How did you lose your documents? What steps did you take to find them? What software are you referring too?

[len brauer]

i had open office open files older open selecting a file when i closed office i noticed my files dissapeared i reopened o/office and sure enough the files were gone no longer there
thank you

[len brauer]

sorry i tried recuva i think was one recoverit was the other

[RoryOF]

If you mean that the documents no longer show on OpenOffice's /File /Recent Documents menu item, this is only a shortcut to the documents on your computer. For whatever reason - usually an improper close down of OpenOffice, perhaps caused by a Windows 10 upgrade forcing itself on your computer - this shortcut list has been damaged/erased; fortunately the documents on this list should still exist in whatever location they were saved on your computer.

It should be possible to start OpenOffice (perhaps by an entry on the Programs button?) then use the navigation buttons on the /File /Open dialog to navigate to the locations in which the files were saved. As you Open each of these files in /File /Open, they will once again appear on Recent Documents.

It is unfortunately the case that any documents open at the time of such a forced Windows upgrade may be damaged, usually beyond repair. Use the methods in
[Tutorial] How to find and un-delete AOO temporary files
to attempt to find and recover such damaged files.

If you are not familiar with computers, seek local informed help as soon as possible.

[len brauer]

hello and thank you but yes a little over my head

all i know i have is documents folders containing primarily ms word docs i did look through these folders but couldn't find any ODT (is that right) files

i open open office with a short cut icon on my desk top

not sure what is meant by 'programs button'

can live with a damaged file just so long as i can access most of them

with the computer local informed help just not that available i have to try and work it out myself or go without also i am australian living in thailand and getting help from thai's pretty hard they have little grasp of english

i'll have a look when my 70 yo brain a little fresher

thank you i'll let you know if i win take care

[len brauer]

i did a search for .odt extensions found some file but ms office has corrupted them i tried buying office upgrade but due to ms that failed because i can't reffer back to my original card details some 20 years ago i can't buy their product and going to ebay daunting as i'm not sure what i might end up with

i would simply want to convert all ms docs to open office format

[RoryOF]

Many of us on Forum are in excess of 70 years old!

Start OpenOffice. which ought be startable by an entry on the Windows start button - I haven't used Windows in 10 years, so am out of touch with how modern Windows does this. Then use /File /Open to navigate to the directory in which live your .doc files. Select each .doc file in turn, press the open button, then select /File /Save as; choose the .odt format from the file type dropdown (little triangle at right end of filetype line) - you may have to scroll up the list to find the .odt line. Make sure "Automatic file name extension" is checked; then press OK (or Save?) button. Do this for each file in turn and that file will be converted to OpenOffice format.

An old version of MS Office can not open an .odt file and it will show as what appears to be garbage on screen, leading one to believe it is corrupted. Use OpenOffice to open any such .odt files.

Versions of MS Office post 2007 can open .odt files, with greater or lesser success, due to Microsoft not fully implementing their Open Document format support,

[len brauer]

ok thus far

i located files in document folder in explore

i created an odt folder and saved all those documents to the new folder, but ms office has corrupted them

keep trying i guess

[len brauer]

ok still no joy

i am searching for .odt files in the hope i can open them and save as

no joy ms office has corrupted them

[RoryOF]

Don't use MS Office to open them - use OpenOffice, and go /File /Open in OO to try them.

[len brauer]

yes did that the files display with the .odt extension

[RoryOF]

Unless the file has been opened in MS Office _AND_ saved from that, it cannot have been corrupted by MS Office.