GoddessVictoriaB wrote:There was also a copy saved in Wordpad and that too has no text in it
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<db:file-based-database xlink:href="../" db:media-type="text/csv" db:extension="txt"/>
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<db:login db:is-password-required="false"/>
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If I could afford Microsoft Word I would use that and dump Open Office
I am not a computer whiz kid. Just a guy trying to write for a living ... In my case, it can ruin my livelihood.
So bombarding me with complicated crap to try and recover the stuff I lost is not going to help
Edit: See [Tutorial] How to find and un-delete Writer temporary files for a) detailed instructions on how to recover your file as it was when you last opened or saved it, or as it was when it was last saved with AutoRecovery. b) how to find previous versions of the file in the folder it is located in, but which have since been deleted. c) how to un-delete the temporary files Writer wrote while you were editing the file, and then deleted. This will recover your file as it was when you last opened or you last saved it and is probably your best hope. |
I was typing very quickly at the time this incident happened. I tend to do that as the creative juices start flowing.
John_Ha wrote:Rory
Can the ctrl/a shortcut be disabled? It would prevent novices losing data by the mis-type. That being said, when you press ctrl/a everything gets highlighted so they do get ample warning! And even if they do delete everything, ctrl/z, or Edit > Undo will immediately bring it all back. I think the default in Writer is for 100 steps to be un-deleted though that can obviously be increased if a user wishes.
freemycatfish wrote:Any help anyone?
John_Ha wrote: I think the default in Writer is for 100 steps to beun-deletedable to be un-deleted though that can obviously be increased if a user wishes.
RoryOF wrote:It is possible that some miss-keying produced a Ctrl A, which selects all the text. Then the next keypress deleted the selected text and replaces it with that one key. There is no way OpenOffice can know that these two valid keypresses were not intended.
The automatic backup of a document overwrites the last backup, so you only have one; it saves the entire file, not a page or the last page. If you need a trail of continuing backups, you need to do this manually. On my computer I backup my work in progress every day by manually making a copy file entitled similarly to MyFile 20160115.odt. Backing up a 45K word file (formatted text, no illustrations) takes about 3 - 4 seconds across the house network to the server and may lock you out of typing for that time. You should also have seen a progress bar across the bottom of the OpenOffice window.
John_Ha wrote:I was typing very quickly at the time this incident happened. I tend to do that as the creative juices start flowing.
My creative juices are similarly in full flow. Why not install a key stroke logger utility and save each day's log file? It will record every keystroke you make and, if the worst comes to the worst, you can re-input the text.
Be aware that it will record every key stroke, including typed passwords, bank details, typed emails etc. It may even record clipboard pastes.
John_Ha wrote:Welcome to the forum, albeit at such a trying time.If I could afford Microsoft Word I would use that and dump Open Office
Trust me, exactly the same thing would have happened with Microsoft Word.
Rory
Can the ctrl/a shortcut be disabled? It would prevent novices losing data by the mis-type. That being said, when you press ctrl/a everything gets highlighted so they do get ample warning! And even if they do delete everything, ctrl/z, or Edit > Undo will immediately bring it all back. I think the default in Writer is for 100 steps to be un-deleted though that can obviously be increased if a user wishes.
No text was highlighted. There was no warning of any kind. No pop up asking me if I was sure I wanted to delete. Nothing that would indicate what was about to happen. Just a sudden appearance of a blank single page and all text gone.I am not a computer whiz kid. Just a guy trying to write for a living ... In my case, it can ruin my livelihood.
If you rely on anythig to make your living, you should learn how to use it. It's like an airplane pilot complaining he has just crashed and saying he can't be bothered to waste any time learning how to fly. He just jumped in, took off and - surprise! - it crashed. It's not the plane's fault.
I am afraid your analogy does not fit. I am a writer, not someone trying to be something else. I want software that is safe and easy to use. Not something I have to study for six months, or take a course in college to master. Just something I can sit down with and use to do the task advertised. In other words, I am like 99% of other users of software out there in the real world. Would you tell the world that in order to use a computer the people in it must first learn several different programming languages and how to compile and decompile computer code and if they do not, they are akin to someone wanting to fly a plane who had never had a flight lesson?
Adding a simple pop up before carrying out any delete file activity would, it seems to me, be a definite improvement that needs to be made.So bombarding me with complicated crap to try and recover the stuff I lost is not going to help
That's a shame. I spent quite a long time - probably longer than it took you to write what you have lost - doing the investigative work to enable users in your position to recover lost data, and then write it up as "crap". If you follow these steps you might be able to recover the data. I cannot do it for you! Perhaps you can pay for someone to do it for you?
If you got into your car this morning and it refused to start because someone used buggy software in its engine management system, how would you feel if, when you complained to the manufacturer, they told you to study the software before you complained and learn how it is configured for your car? They may be justified in making such a foolish and rude remark if you claimed to be a mechanic, but certainly not if you are just an average car driver who does not want to know how the thing works, just that it ought to do what the manufacture claims for it. I am sure that you would be even less impressed if they insisted you learn a whole new set of skills in order to fix the problem they made and which should not have been there in the first place.
Of course, you may be the kind of person who enjoys lying on the floor of a car all day messing with a little box under the dash that contains the mini computer that looks after your engine. I suspect though, that most drivers just want to go to the store or to work and back, without having to do all that crap. It's great that someone wrote a program to fix the manufacturers error. Good for them! Well done! Give them a medal! Hold a parade!I would prefer not to have to use their damn program because the car maker got it right and I did not have too. Is that fair enough?
If you are lucky, you might be able to un-delete some of the temporary files which Writer wrote while you were editing the .odt file, and then deleted when you closed Writer. Act quickly - they risk being overwritten the longer you leave it. Note that this only works if you were editing a .odt file - it does not work if you were editing a .doc file. The following is based on Windows - Apple should be similar.
Using RECUVA to un-delete Writer .odt temporary files which are now deleted
Another on RECUVA
These may also be helpful.
Using 7-ZIP
Inside an odt file
Hints on how to prevent it happening
Always set AutoRecovery to ON - this saves a copy of the file every few minutes while you are working on it - it protects you against things like power cuts, OS freezes etc. Do so by: Tools > Options > Load/Save > General ...
Always?? set Create A Backup copy to ON - this keeps the previously saved version of the file fred.odt as fred.bak in the Backup folder. Do so by: Tools > Options > Load/Save > General ... The Backup folder location is shown by Tools > Options > OpenOffice > Paths ... You may need to switch on Show hidden files (Control Panel > Folder Options > View ...) to be able to see the folder and its contents.
Why the ?? ? Because you should remember that highly_personal.bak will still be in the Backup folder long after you have deleted highly_personal.odt.
RoryOF wrote:John_Ha wrote:Rory
Can the ctrl/a shortcut be disabled? It would prevent novices losing data by the mis-type. That being said, when you press ctrl/a everything gets highlighted so they do get ample warning! And even if they do delete everything, ctrl/z, or Edit > Undo will immediately bring it all back. I think the default in Writer is for 100 steps to be un-deleted though that can obviously be increased if a user wishes.
I've had a quick look, John. I didn't see that it was explicitly mapped in /Tools /Customise but I didn't dig very deep - other calls on my time at present.
Perhaps someone else knows.
RoryOF wrote:Using /Tools /Customise : Keyboard tab one can disable many (if not all) of OpenOffice's keyboard shortcuts. Do this at your own risk!
Edit: Having stopped and restarted Writer, ctrl+A now always brings up the About Open Office pop-up. I responded to another post where I needed to copy the entire document. Having forgotten I had re-assigned ctrl+A I pressed it and I was a little surprised to get the About OpenOfffice pop-up! ![]() |
freemycatfish wrote:I am a writer, not someone trying to be something else. I want software that is safe and easy to use. Not something I have to study for six months, or take a course in college to master. Just something I can sit down with and use to do the task advertised.
freemycatfish wrote:RoryOF wrote:Using /Tools /Customise : Keyboard tab one can disable many (if not all) of OpenOffice's keyboard shortcuts. Do this at your own risk!
Thank you but..., "Do this at your own risk!" does not fill me with confidence.
Would you tell the world that in order to use a computer the people in it must first learn several different programming languages and how to compile and decompile computer code and if they do not, they are akin to someone wanting to fly a plane who had never had a flight lesson?
John_Ha wrote:Would you tell the world that in order to use a computer the people in it must first learn several different programming languages and how to compile and decompile computer code and if they do not, they are akin to someone wanting to fly a plane who had never had a flight lesson?
No I would not - you do not need to understand programing to use a computer.
But if you want to use a Windows computer you must learn Windows - that is all there is to it. If you don't learn Windows (which is where the Crtrl+A function comes from) and you refuse to learn anything about Writer (where you can over ride the Windows Ctrl+A function you do not like) you will perpetually run into problems you do not understand. I like, and repetitively use, Ctrl+A as a very useful short cut and I would be very disappopinted if it were to be removed from my system.
People who make user errors are often stubbornly reluctant to admit it was their fault. There are several posts in this forum (out of about 100,000,000 users) where the novice has lost data by typing Ctrl+A and another character. Those other users are grateful for being told what has caused their problem. The acronym PICNIC has arisen to characterise problems of this sort - Problem In Chair, Not In Computer. In dinghy sailing it is "the nut on the tiller" which, or rather who, is overwhelmingly responsible for poor sailing.
Remember that we do not write the program - none of has the capability to do so. We help users to use the programme as it is supplied.
John_Ha wrote:OK - just re-assign the single Ctrl+A function within Writer to something innocuous. That is the smallest change you can make.
Open a document with some content. Ctrl+A > note how all the document is selected. Type a character > note how everything is deleted, and just the single character remains. Click the back arrow (or Edit > Undo) > note how all the text comess back. Click the mouse to un-select the text if it is highlighted.
1 Tools > Customise > Keyboard.
2 Find Ctrl+A and highlight it
3 Click Modify - Ctrl+A now appears in the box marked Keys
4 Choose some function from the Function box - I chose About OpenOffice.
5 I cannot remember - click Save? or OK? - whichever I clicked, it just closed.
6 Ctrl+A - note how the text is now not highlighted.
What actually happens depends on how you have set up your PC. If nothing else has claimed Ctrl+A, then you should get the About OpenOffice pop-up window. In my case, it brings up the window for my Password Manager which is activated by Ctrl+A. Before doing this assignment, it selected all text in Writer.
NB - I therefore think that Ctrl+A is a Windows function because nothing is assigned to it when I open customise. By assigning Ctrl+A to About OpenOffice, we over-ride the Windows assignment in Writer only - Ctrl+A still works to select all in Notepad (and no doubt in MS Word too).
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