OpenOffice turn my text into #

[Samnell]

Hi, I'm writing a paper and all of a sudden when I start up OpenOffice it asks me what language I want and what type of "system language" (I suppose?) i'm using. And all the text has turned into # symbols. And I have not opened the doc in any other program and i'm using Windows. How do I get my paper back? It's due tomorrow! Thanks for any kind of help.

[RoryOF]

Your problem has possibly been caused by an over hasty close down of the computer

See: 22 pages term paper replaced with pound signs.

Look in the temporary and backup directories pointed to by /Tools /Options /OpenOffice /Paths and rename any bak or tmp files to .odt and see if they contain your data. Also run an undelete utility such as Recuva or Photorec and see if they will find any deleted earlier or temporary files containing some of your data.

[Samnell]

Thanks for the fast answer. I tried using the Recuva. What files am I looking for? Should the file be named after what my paper is named? I looked in the temp map but came out empty handed!

[RoryOF]

The files may have arbitrary names. You just have to go through them and see if they are relevant or not.

[Hagar Delest]

Check the temporary folder of the system (see in OO Tools>Options>OO>Paths). If there are folders like sgmlf.tmp with a file having the same name inside, make a copy of that file, rename it in .odt and cross your fingers.

Good luck!