Restart and Read-Error

[laxpolilla]

My computer restarted last night with some updates and when I opened Open Office Writer this morning it opened like I had just downloaded it, asking for me to register the product. All of my recent documents were gone. When I tried opening one of my .odt files a message first pops up asking about ASCII filter options, then it brings up the error message "Document in use. Document is locked for editing by unknown user. Open document read-only or open a copy of the document to edit" No matter which option I pick, it opens a 10 page document (the actual document is closer to 20 pages) with nothing but ####### written over and over again. It only appears to be this one document that's having issues. All of my other .odt files open just fine. The only thing that appears to be significant about this particular one is that is was the document that was still open when the computer restarted itself last night. I have never edited it in MS Word or any other program.

I have a one year old HP laptop. Already tried restarting the computer to no avail and not sure what to do next. Can anyone help?

[John_Ha]

My computer restarted last night with some updates ...

Never walk away from a PC with an unsaved open document. The PC probably rebooted when installing the updates and all edits made to the document, which were held in the PC memory, are now lost (unless you had AutoRecovery switched ON).

When I tried opening one of my .odt files a message first pops up asking about ASCII filter options, then it brings up the error message "Document in use. Document is locked for editing by unknown user. Open document read-only or open a copy of the document to edit" No matter which option I pick, it opens a 10 page document (the actual document is closer to 20 pages) with nothing but ####### written over and over again.

##### means that all the user data is gone and there is nothing by NULLs in the file.

Your only hope is to 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.

As a new poster you will find much useful information in the Writer FAQ, the Writer Tutorials, the up to date Writer guide and the Writer Manual. May I suggest you bookmark the pages.

Press F1 to access the Help screen and search for your problem

The chapter headings in the manual are:

1 - Introducing Writer
2 - Setting up Writer
3 - Working with Text
4 - Formatting Pages
5 - Printing, Exporting, Faxing and E-Mailing
6 - Introduction to Styles
7 - Working with Styles
8 - Working with Graphics
9 - Working with Tables
10 - Working with Templates
11 - Using Mail Merge
12 - Tables of Contents, Indexes and Bibliographies
13 - Working with Master Documents
14 - Working with Fields
15 - Using Forms in Writer
16 - Customizing Writer – Keyboard shortcuts.

When a pop-up window opens, click the Help button for extensive help on that function - it is often more comprehensive than the manual.