Can't open spreadsheet, Read-Error Data could not be read

[jsthoreso]

Hi,

I receive the message "Read-error. Data could not be read from the file." when trying to open a password protected .xls spreadsheet with financial information (so I'm hesitant to post it). This is actually the second problem I've had with this file today. The first was receiving the message the file was "locked for editing" when initially trying to open it. I deleted the .~lock.Cato reference.odt# file after reading this post viewtopic.php?f=7&t=29783 which brought up the "read-error" problem.

The file was created with OO and has never been edited with Excel. It seemed to work fine the last time I used it about a week and half ago in OO.

I've tried:
- power cycling my machine
- searching for how to manually have OO recover a document but no luck
- uploading the file to Google Sheets but Sheets locks up
- pasting the file to a USB stick and opening it with Excel on a Windows machine but Finder gives me this error when trying to paste "can’t be read or written.(Error code -36)". If I push through the error, Excel just comes up with a blank spreadsheet.
- looking for backups (pretty sure I had this enabled) but the searches for "where are OpenOffice backups saved Mac" seem to deal with Windows systems and often reference going to Tools > Options (there's no Options in Tools for 4.1.7 on Mac, nor do I see an Options when I look through other menus)
- searching for problems opening spreadsheets and OO files in general. I'd have no idea what I was looking at if I opened this file as an xml.
- I found this page https://www.openoffice.org/documentatio ... 20|outline
dealing with General Errors, and after searching around found that "$HOME/.openoffice.org<release>/user/basic" is now at "/Users/johnthoreson2/Library/Application Support/OpenOffice/4/user/basic", but for the life of me don't know where this is: "<where_OOo_is_installed>/presets/basic/". Running searches on "where is OpenOffice installed Mac" or similar brings up the basics for how to install OO, not where it is Finder.

I'll take any tips. I'm cooked.

Thanks,
John

[RusselB]

You might try Q24/A24 in the Mac FAQ
Since you created the document in OpenOffice, you should've saved the file using the Open Document Format (.ods extension), rather than as an Excel spreadsheet (.xls extension). Please see this tutorial for a breakdown of why.

[John_Ha]

Use MacOS to take a copy of the file - does the copy work? On Mac use Preferences, not Tool > Options ...

If you send the file to me I will see if it can be repaired. I have sent you my email ID.

Is the file a .ods file? or a .xls file? Repairs are easier with .ods files. I ask because you say "I deleted the .~lock.Cato reference.odt#" which suggests a .odt file.

Type the password into Notepad so you are 100% certain it is correct. Paste it into the password box. If you have forgotten the password there is no hope. If you enter the wrong password you get a "Password incorrect" error message.

See [Tutorial] How to find and un-delete AOO temporary files for detailed instructions on how to

a) use Previous Versions (W7 and later) to recover previous versions of the file (is there something similar on MacOS and Linux?);

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) find any temporary files AOO wrote while you were editing the file but which have not yet been deleted;

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

If you cannot follow the instructions ask someone with more PC skills to help you. Act quickly - the longer you wait the more likely any temporary files are to be deleted.

[jsthoreso]

You might try Q24/A24 in the Mac FAQ
Since you created the document in OpenOffice, you should've saved the file using the Open Document Format (.ods extension), rather than as an Excel spreadsheet (.xls extension). Please see this tutorial for a breakdown of why.

My backup folder was empty, so I didn't have automatic backups switched on. I'll fix that. Time Machine hasn't yielded anything useful yet, but I was able to go into the Trash and recover a version from mid-May which could be worse. I think there was a voice in the back of my head somewhere saying "stay with the native format". Appreciate the link to the tutorial. Makes sense.

[jsthoreso]

Hi John, unfortunately I can't make a copy of the file. When I try, Finder gives me an error message "can’t be read or written.(Error code -36)". I tried changing the extension to .zip and even then Finder gives me an error message when I try to copy it. Thanks for the Preferences tip to get to Options!

I started this file in 2006 and up to now haven't been careful with the use .ods and .xls. It's possible I had an .ods version earlier.

All the temp files were gone. I've turned my Mac off and on since this first happened as well as opened and closed OO multiple times.

Thanks for the offer to try and fix it. If it wasn't financial data, I'd send it over. I think my best bet now is to use the copy from the trash and recreate the missing data.