[Solved] Suddenly won't open; tells me to import text

Discuss the spreadsheet application
Post Reply
Enoch333
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Aug 13, 2013 6:12 pm

[Solved] Suddenly won't open; tells me to import text

Post by Enoch333 »

An .ods doc that I've had for years and opened fine now won't open. Instead, when I try to open it it brings up an "Import text" dialog box asking me if I want Unicode or numerous other choices. I have tried numerous of those choices, but it only opens a blank document with the right name.

I have no idea what happened.
I didn't change anything.
I didn't update anything.
I've tried rebooting. Didn't help.
I'm using 4.1.1.

Any help would be appreciated. I'm sure I'll be told I'm not providing enough information, so let me know what else you need. Thanks.
Last edited by Enoch333 on Sun Jun 20, 2021 12:14 am, edited 2 times in total.
Open Office 4.1.1 on Win 10
User avatar
RoryOF
Moderator
Posts: 34586
Joined: Sat Jan 31, 2009 9:30 pm
Location: Ireland

Re: Suddenly won't open; tells me to import text

Post by RoryOF »

The file is damaged beyond repair, possibly due to over hasty power off of your computer or closure of laptop lid, before the file housekeeping had been transmitted

As soon as possible try the methods in this tutorial
viewtopic.php?f=71&t=85038for detailed instructions on how to

a) use Previous Versions (W7 and later) to recover previous versions of the file.

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

Waste no time with the existing file - it will have (and has) no usable content.
Apache OpenOffice 4.1.15 on Xubuntu 22.04.4 LTS
User avatar
Villeroy
Volunteer
Posts: 31269
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 1:35 am
Location: Germany

Re: Suddenly won't open; tells me to import text

Post by Villeroy »

Storing years of data on calculator sheets is a mistake on its own. If you do so because it appears to be so "easy", you should do the following:

Install a capable backup program. Configure it once and use it every single day to avoid this type of problem with every file in your home directory and not just office documents.

Install https://libreoffice.org/ which is the successor to OpenOffice. As far as I know, LibreOffice has minimized the risk of losing documents. At least, there are no reports about LO having this particular problem. LO is many years ahead in development: https://www.libreoffice.org/discover/li ... penoffice/
Please, edit this topic's initial post and add "[Solved]" to the subject line if your problem has been solved.
Ubuntu 18.04 with LibreOffice 6.0, latest OpenOffice and LibreOffice
Enoch333
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Aug 13, 2013 6:12 pm

Re: Suddenly won't open; tells me to import text

Post by Enoch333 »

Thanks, RoryOF for the great info. Initially I wasn't able to find a viable copy of it in my cloud backup software, but then I did. I will edit the thread to solved.
Open Office 4.1.1 on Win 10
Post Reply