[Solved] Format error discovered in the file in sub-document

[coolmanoh]

I keep sensitive documents on an external hard drive. Most of them are odt documents. I recently tried to open my medical file and got the message "Format error discovered in the file in sub-document content.xml at...." I googled this error message but could not make sense of the solutions to the problem, so, having two separate backups of the document, I tried to restore them. I tried to open the backups on both backup media, with no success. Eventually I found that no file with odt extension could be opened. I then tried to open the OpenOffice Writer. It would not open. I need a solution to this problem as I have an enormous amount of odt files. Would it help if I deleted the program then re-installed it?

Title Edited. A descriptive title for posts helps others who are searching for solutions and increases the chances of a reply (Hagar, Moderator).

[robleyd]

First up, please tell us you have upgraded your OS and AOO version from what is listed in your signature: if so could you please update your signature so we know what we are dealing with.

Re-installing is unlikely to provide a solution.

[coolmanoh]

First off, the info AOO version 2.3 and OS Windows XP: I don't know where that info came from. My operating system is Windows 7. The version of AOO is 2.3 according to my control panel. (I can't tell the version of AOO since I cannot open it.) Additional information: The error message "Format error..." has occurred several times before but never did it result in the program becoming inoperative.

[robleyd]

The information in your signature about OS and AOO versions was likely provided by you when you registered on the forum. You can update that - How to update your signature

Given you are actually using version 2, my first advice would be to remove it and install the current version 4.1.5.

For the files which have the error "Format error discovered ...." there is a topic [Tutorial] Format error discovered in sub-document which contains instructions on how to repair files producing this error. If you are not confident of your skills to undertake the repair, please start a new topic format error discovered in sub-document and either attach your damaged files there, or upload them elsewhere, for someone to look at them. A search of the forum using that title will turn up quite a few similar topics.

[Forum] How to attach a document here Note maximum file size is 128K. If your file is larger, use a file sharing site such as Mediafire.

[Hagar Delest]

If your file is too sensitive, you can follow the process explained in: [Hint] How did I fix my ODT file.

[John_Ha]

Eventually I found that no file with odt extension could be opened. I then tried to open the OpenOffice Writer. It would not open.

Something horrible has gone wrong on your PC. You have not lost your .odt files - merely lost your method of opening them and, very strangely, your method of starting AOO.

Do ALL of the following - there is a good reason for each step:

1. Reboot.

2. Uninstall AOO

3. Go Start > Control Panel > Folder Options > View and tick Show Hidden Files so you can see it. While you are there un-tick Hide extensions for known file types.

4. Navigate to C:\Users\xxxxxx\AppData\Roaming\OpenOffice\4\user and rename ...\user to ...\user_OLD.

5. Download AOO from http://www.openoffice.org/download/index.html. Install it.

Do the following tests:

1 Start AOO. File > Open ... Navigate to a .odt file. Does it open?
2 Close AOO. Double-click any .odt file. Does it open?

If you want an "anonymous" method of checking if a .odt file is OK, visit www.zamzar.com and see if you can convert the .odt file to something else (like a .doc / .docx / .PDF). If you can convert it the .odt file must be OK!

[coolmanoh]

Thanks to everyone who responded to this post. I uninstalled AOO ver. 2.3 and installed version 4.1.5. This took care of the problem of no response for odt documents. As for the second problem (Format error discovered), I looked at the repair instructions offered and found them to be beyond my technical abilities, not to mention time constraints. Fortunately, I had two backup copies of the affected file: one on a flash drive, a second on a CD (RW). The one on flash drive had the same error, but the one on CD didn't. So I used the CD to restore the file on the flash drive and on the external hard drive.