ASCII problem

[remmajers60]

Hey everyone,

So there is this very important file I am not able to open anymore, and since I am kinda desperate and not that great with computers and stuff, I am looking for someone who is willing to help me...
My file, which is attached to this message, suffers from the infamous ASCII problem; so far I haven't been able to find any real solutions online, and I do very much see that my situation is kind off hopeless. However, and this is one to remember folks, never give up, even if your enemy is about to swallow you whole. I do not intend to surrender, and I truly believe that there is someone out there who is in fact able to help me. I am looking for a good spirit who has a huge knowledge concerning computers, and, more importantly, is willing to invest his precious time in an anonymous forumguy like me, who can just as easily be dismissed with a hateful comment.

Whoever saves me, you are a f*cking Messias sir

Remove them nasty hashtags from my document and make it readable again, and I will put an altar in my house consecrated to you

[RPG]

Hello

See in the backup directory of your user profile. Maybe there is a backup.
It is a hidden file.

The user profile of OOo.

Romke

[thomasjk]

All the ########### mean that file is totally corrupted with no chance of recovery. Hopefully you have a backup copy. Try this approach http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/wind ... le-history to see if you can find a previous version.

[Hagar Delest]

Sadly, quite nothing to do I fear, see: 22 pages term paper replaced with pound signs.

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. If you have not rebooted, you might have those files still there.

If it had been a .odt, you may have been able to recover something but .doc is a binary format, hence the alien characters. Only MS guys might be able to decipher it. That's why open standards like ODF (.odt) were created...

If you want to help fix this problem, you can also do this survey created for this very problem: Document Recovery Survey.