[Hint] How did I fix my ODT file

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Alex27
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Re: [Hint] How did I fix my ODT file

Post by Alex27 »

A friend of mine have huge problems with her .odt file
I could extract the content.xml file
I know where the error is supposed to be located (2.1652045)
I al on a mac. I don't know if it has something to do with it but I can't get rid of this reparation through an xml editor.
Do you know if a soft that repair corrupted xml files existe for mac? Would someone here would be kind enough to provide some help?
This is urgent. Thanks by advance
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acknak
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Re: [Hint] How did I fix my ODT file

Post by acknak »

Sorry, I'm not aware of any file repair tool for OO documents.

You can either attach the document here (up to 128k) or send it privately by clicking the PM or Email icon at the right of this message.
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kiddie
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Re: [Hint] How did I fix my ODT file

Post by kiddie »

If your ODT file is corrupted and you are looking for a way to repair it, you can try a third-party tool. As there's no other option left for repairing or fixing a corrupted ODT document, you have to try a recovery tool that can fix corrupted ODT file and recover data from it. I can recommend you here SysInfoTools ODT Recovery tool. Try its free demo version first. If you can see the preview of your data recovered by the tool, then you can buy it.

I hope this would be helpful.

Thanks. :super:
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Alex27
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Re: [Hint] How did I fix my ODT file

Post by Alex27 »

Thanks for the information but acknak solved my problem this time. He is my hero. A golden statue of him is under construction in my living room! :D
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ShadedWriter
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Re: [Hint] How did I fix my ODT file

Post by ShadedWriter »

I'm also having issues with my .odt file. I have been trying to follow the steps to recovery and I have gotten the content.xml file open and started to try and decode the corruption(which I have failed at). One of the major problems is that this seems to have corrupted badly enough to have Chinese symbols(examples:㦜,㴲,㹴) within it. I did have Japanese names in the writing I'm trying to decode, but I don't understand why these would show up. I'm hoping that someone can help me since I've tried multiple times with using zip files, looking into the archives, and changing the content.xml to a new document's content.xml. I can recover part of the file up to about 13 pages. I'm rather fond of this story so I would like to recover it in full, but have failed so far. Any suggestions, guidance, or help is greatly appreciated. And I have also set up the back-up tool for future foreseeable problems.
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John_Ha
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Re: [Hint] How did I fix my ODT file

Post by John_Ha »

Welcome to the forum.

Unfortunately it sounds as though your file is corrupted beyond recovery. However, if you can post it here (128kB max) or on a fileshare site like Mediafire I will look at it. If it is confidential, send me a PM (Private message - see link on right) and I will respond with my ID.

If you are very lucky, and you haven't used your PC too much since losing the file, you might be able to recover some of the temporary files AOO was using, but then deleted, while you were editing. See this post Re: User error. Contents of Writer file deleted.
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See the Writer Guide, the Writer FAQ, the Writer Tutorials and Writer for students.

Remember: Always save your Writer files as .odt files. - see here for the many reasons why.
Bombel22
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Re: [Hint] How did I fix my ODT file

Post by Bombel22 »

Welcome to the forum. I have the same problem and i can't fix it on my own. I upload here my corrupted file and if someone will help i will be very grateful.
http://www.filedropper.com/2czescrozwoj ... teratury_1
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John_Ha
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Re: [Hint] How did I fix my ODT file

Post by John_Ha »

Welcome to the forum

I am sorry to tell you that everything has been lost from the file - it is full of zeros. See below where I opened the .odt file with the (free) Hex Editor HxD.

If you look at earlier posts in this thread you will find one from me telling you how you might be able to recover some of the temporary files which Writer created, then deleted, while you were editing the file (by using the file recovery utility, Recuva).

You might find these posts useful:

Using Recuva to un-delete Writer temporary files
Inside an odt file
Using 7-Zip to open an odt file
Hints on preventing data loss
More hints on preventing data loss
 Edit: Edited to add information about HxD editor 
Attachments
Clipboard02.png
Last edited by John_Ha on Fri Apr 03, 2015 5:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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See the Writer Guide, the Writer FAQ, the Writer Tutorials and Writer for students.

Remember: Always save your Writer files as .odt files. - see here for the many reasons why.
supastar424
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Re: [Hint] How did I fix my ODT file

Post by supastar424 »

Could someone please assist me. I'm not very computer savvy. I was in the process of working on a very important paper. In the middle typing a dialog box appeared and stated the program was not responding. I've attached what was recovered, however it all looks like chicken scratch. I was only able to reopen the file with WordPad, and saved it as a text file in order to upload it on to here. If someone could take a look at it and give any assistance It would be greatly appreciated.
Attachments
untitled_2odt.txt
(27.85 KiB) Downloaded 2750 times
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floris v
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Re: [Hint] How did I fix my ODT file

Post by floris v »

Make sure that you keep the original file that you opened to get this - it may be a working back-up, but the file that you uploaded is broken.
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John_Ha
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Re: [Hint] How did I fix my ODT file

Post by John_Ha »

There is no content in the file you uploaded although I did need to repair the zip/odt file to open it. You might be able to recover some of the temporary files Writer while you were editing it by following these links.

Using 7-ZIP

Inside an odt file

Hints on how to prevent it happening

Using RECUVA to recover Writer temporary files

Another on RECUVA
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See the Writer Guide, the Writer FAQ, the Writer Tutorials and Writer for students.

Remember: Always save your Writer files as .odt files. - see here for the many reasons why.
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acknak
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Re: [Hint] How did I fix my ODT file

Post by acknak »

supastar424 wrote:... I was only able to reopen the file with WordPad, and saved it as a text file ...
This has corrupted the file even further.

Do you have the damaged .odt file, from before you opened it in Wordpad?

If so, please attach that here. It looks like there may be some recoverable content but we'll need the document file to work with.
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supastar424
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Re: [Hint] How did I fix my ODT file

Post by supastar424 »

I've tried to attach the damaged .odt file, however I receive a message saying the extension is not allowed when I try to add it as an attachment. Whenever I try to open it, dialog box pops up asking what program would I like to use to open it.
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acknak
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Re: [Hint] How did I fix my ODT file

Post by acknak »

I don't know what the problem is--.odt files are surely allowed here. Maybe the damage is interfering.

I think the best way to proceed is to put the file (the original .odt file) into a zip archive and attach that here.

Alternatively, click the email button at the right of this message and drop me a message. I'll respond with an email address that accepts attachments; you can send the damaged file directly.
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supastar424
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Re: [Hint] How did I fix my ODT file

Post by supastar424 »

I was able to zip archive the file and attach it. I hope this helps.
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untitled_2odt.zip
(25.55 KiB) Downloaded 2724 times
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John_Ha
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Re: [Hint] How did I fix my ODT file

Post by John_Ha »

Have a look at this which seems to have recovered quite a lot.
Attachments
fred.odt
(17.03 KiB) Downloaded 2692 times
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See the Writer Guide, the Writer FAQ, the Writer Tutorials and Writer for students.

Remember: Always save your Writer files as .odt files. - see here for the many reasons why.
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floris v
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Re: [Hint] How did I fix my ODT file

Post by floris v »

I changed the file name to untitled_2.odt and it opened perfectly fine, no problem at all. Make sure that when you save a file, you force an extension to be added - tick Automatic file name extension at the bottom of that window to do that.
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John_Ha
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Re: [Hint] How did I fix my ODT file

Post by John_Ha »

floris v wrote:I changed the file name to untitled_2.odt and it opened perfectly fine, no problem at all. Make sure that when you save a file, you force an extension to be added - tick Automatic file name extension at the bottom of that window to do that.
Presumably made worse because the user has "do not display file qualifiers" set.

I think that setting the Windows default to "do not display file qualifier" is one of the stupidest mistakes Microsoft ever made and it causes no end of trouble and makes you very vulnerable to virus which show the PDF icon bat are .exe files. It is on my list of things to correct whenever I touch any PC.

I never even though that might be the problem - and, of course, the user can say "why bother to set that if it won't be displayed"! It's crazy.
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See the Writer Guide, the Writer FAQ, the Writer Tutorials and Writer for students.

Remember: Always save your Writer files as .odt files. - see here for the many reasons why.
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floris v
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Re: [Hint] How did I fix my ODT file

Post by floris v »

John_Ha wrote:Presumably made worse because the user has "do not display file qualifiers" set.

I think that setting the Windows default to "do not display file qualifier" is one of the stupidest mistakes Microsoft ever made and it causes no end of trouble and makes you very vulnerable to virus which show the PDF icon bat are .exe files. It is on my list of things to correct whenever I touch any PC.

I never even though that might be the problem - and, of course, the user can say "why bother to set that if it won't be displayed"! It's crazy.
Maybe it was a strategic decision to help the virus industry. :lol:
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craigfm
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Re: [Hint] How did I fix my ODT file

Post by craigfm »

Hi Acknak, could you take a crack at mine? For some reason I haven't been able to open or repair the file - I'm rather limited in this area when it comes to computer-savvy skillsets.
Attachments
Summer Days.odt
(62.74 KiB) Downloaded 2782 times
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acknak
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Re: [Hint] How did I fix my ODT file

Post by acknak »

Here's the best I can do (~28 pages plus some badly scrambled remainder).
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Summer Days_recovered.odt
(51.92 KiB) Downloaded 2738 times
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craigfm
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Re: [Hint] How did I fix my ODT file

Post by craigfm »

Wow, thank you very much! The last few pages were just miscellaneous things I jotted down, but as you said, I can pick through it. The main body of the work was recovered ("rescued" is probably more accurate), and I really appreciate that!
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janejane
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Re: [Hint] How did I fix my ODT file

Post by janejane »

My Writer file has a message asking me to select an ASCII format. When I cancel this, it gives me the option of opening a copy or as read-only. But when I select either of these nothing happens! I've had this before with a Writer document and the copy opened just fine. Please help, how can I fix it?
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acknak
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Re: [Hint] How did I fix my ODT file

Post by acknak »

janejane wrote:My Writer file has a message asking me to select an ASCII format. ...
Usually when this happens, it means that the file is damaged. There is no simple way to fix it.

If you want to attach the problem file here, I expect someone can take a look and see if any content can be recovered.
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janejane
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Re: [Hint] How did I fix my ODT file

Post by janejane »

Unfortunately I wouldn't be able to post the file to a public forum.
acknak wrote:it means that the file is damaged.
I thought so but thank you for your help anyway.
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acknak
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Re: [Hint] How did I fix my ODT file

Post by acknak »

janejane wrote:... I wouldn't be able to post the file to a public forum. ...
If it makes any difference, you can send it to me privately: use the email icon to the right of this post.
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janejane
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Re: [Hint] How did I fix my ODT file

Post by janejane »

Thank you very much, I've sent you a private message.
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Stormychick
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Re: [Hint] How did I fix my ODT file

Post by Stormychick »

I am having trouble trying to fix my ODT file. I've tried to zip it and all that but it doesn't seem to work. Could someone possibly please help me as I maybe doing something wrong?
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RoryOF
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Re: [Hint] How did I fix my ODT file

Post by RoryOF »

Zip it or Unzip it? Unzip is the correct action. Rename it to zip at operating system level, then unzip0 and look at content.xml
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Stormychick
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Re: [Hint] How did I fix my ODT file

Post by Stormychick »

unzip sorry was typing a tad to fast
OpenOffice 4.0.1 in installed on windows 8
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