[Solved] All graphs lost after file recovery

[Aduxas]

I saved and closed my spreadsheet last night and shut down my laptop. When I opened the file this morning, I got the window saying it needed to be recovered. Recovery worked but all graphs (a few hundred) were replaced by OLE icons (shape of a sheet of paper with the top right corner folded and the letters OLE in blue. The graph's position and size are represented by a thin gray frame. I tried recovering the file on a Linux machine with LibreOffice but it didn't even recognize the file (ods) and suggested opening it as text.
Is there a way to recover my graphs? I do have a backup but it is not recent.

[Zizi64]

I saved and closed my spreadsheet last night and shut down my laptop.

Maybe you was too fast. The file save procedure sometimes takes longer than is assumed or than "it appears". Wait a few minutes before you shut down the computer. Give some time for the opeareating system to complete the running invisible processes.
And never work directly onto a removable media.

Is there a way to recover my graphs?

Please upload the file here. We can guessing only without examine it.

[Aduxas]

File too big

[robleyd]

Upload the fie to a public file sharing service and put a link here.

[Aduxas]

Can I upload it somewhere?

[Aduxas]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VfYcRn ... sp=sharing

Does that work?
Thx

[Zizi64]

Does that work?

Not. Please share it without permission request.

[Aduxas]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VfYcRn ... sp=sharing

Anyone with the link can view and edit I hope.

[John_Ha]

It looks damaged to me.

See [Tutorial] How to find and un-delete AOO temporary files for detailed instructions on how to

a) use Previous Versions (W7 and later) to recover previous versions of the file (is there something similar on MacOS and Linux?);

b) recover your file as it was when you last opened or saved it, or as it was when it was last saved with AutoRecovery;

c) find previous versions of the file in the folder it is located in, but which have since been deleted;

d) find any temporary files AOO wrote while you were editing the file but which have not yet been deleted;

e) un-delete the temporary files AOO wrote while you were editing the file, and then deleted. d) and e) will recover your file as it was when you last opened or you last saved it.

If you cannot follow the instructions ask someone with more PC skills to help you. Act quickly - the longer you wait the more likely any temporary files are to be deleted.

[Aduxas]

Thank you. My laptop has an SSD, and there are no previous versions, unfortunately.

[John_Ha]

Does your OS support previous versions?

In Windows you could right-click it > Properties > Previous versions.

When I open the file in both AOO and LO I get told the file is damaged and they offer to correct it. After correcting and saving the file opens without error message. I don't know what the error was. The corrected file was 1.04MB and the original was 1.91MB so lots got removed.

I tried creating an empty spreadsheet and pulling in the file with Insert > From sheet ..., but I got General input error.

A test with a correct file suggest your .ods file is missing the Configurations-2, META-INF, ObjectReplacements and Thumbnails folders.

Your file

test file with one graph

[Aduxas]

Yes, that's how I got "no previous versions." After recovery, ll data and formulae are there; it's just the graphs.

[Aduxas]

How do I get these dependencies? They are not separate files, are they?

[John_Ha]

Unzip the .odt file to see them.

What I think happened was you shut down the PC before the file had finished being written and some parts were not written. Remember, the file continues to be written for some time after the blue dotted line stops. If a program is running and it receives a signal saying the PC is going to shut down, the program can force a delay in the shut down until it has completed what it needs to do. I think AOO has a bug and does not force this delay. LO does not seem to have this bug.

[Aduxas]

OK, so there is no way I could find them elsewhere on the disk. Yes, it is possible that it happened as you describe. Shut down interrupted because the file was still open has happened several times to me, but only because I had not yet closed it when shutting down. I did not realize that shutting down too fast after closing the file can interfere with this mechanism (AOO bug you mention). Thanks.

BTW: Copying the graphs from a back-up into the recovered file doesn't work because the copy puts the local data in a separate table to restore the graph, rather than using the data ranges that define the graph. Is there a way to copy/paste a graph by description? I mean, copying the ranges, rather than the actual numbers referred to by these ranges.

[MrProgrammer]

Copying the graphs from a back-up into the recovered file doesn't work because the copy puts the local data in a separate table to restore the graph, rather than using the data ranges that define the graph.

When you have a chart and want to connect a new data range to it, select the range, then drag it onto the chart.

If this solved your problem please go to your first post use the Edit button and add [Solved] to the start of the subject field. Select the green checkmark icon at the same time.

[Aduxas]

Thanks! That works even if the graph has a built-in table of data, but not if the data range is made up of non-adjacent columns?

[John_Ha]

BTW: Copying the graphs from a back-up into the recovered file doesn't work

Because the file is corrupted and is missing data which is required, as well as missing the graphs.

[John_Ha]

This is "brute force and ignorance" ...

You might try unzipping both the broken file - use a copy - and the backup file. Now replace the missing folders in the broken file with their equivalents in the backup.

With luck this will get back most of the graphs. Or it might break the file irreparably.

[Aduxas]

Sounds great. Thanks.

[MrProgrammer]

That works even if the graph …

OpenOffice uses the term "chart". This knowledge will help you for searching in the forum for solved problems. That is the fastest way to get help.

That works … but not if the data range is made up of non-adjacent columns?

• Drag one or more adjacent columns to the chart, then add any other data columns with Format → Data Ranges. OR
• Rearrange your data so the columns for the chart are adjacent, drag them to the chart, then move them back as you had them.

If this solved your problem please go to your first post use the Edit button and add [Solved] to the start of the subject field. Select the green checkmark icon at the same time.