Disappearing formatting

[cnhutch]

I'm very much a beginner level user of this software, so please give me grace.

I created a timetable in NeoOffice in both English and Arabic. I'm not sure if an automatic update installed or what changed, but when I opened the file yesterday morning, all of the Arabic has turned to question marks and all of the previous formatting (merging cells, changing the size of columns and rows) has disappeared.

When opening other spreadsheets that also include both English and Arabic, there is no issue. It seems to be just this particular file.

I've tried opening previous versions of the file, but they only go back to yesterday.

Help me recover my file, please!

[RusselB]

What format was the file saved in? If it wasn't the native format (.ods extension for spreadsheets), then there is always a chance of loosing formatting and/or data.

[RoryOF]

Also, to clarify: was the timetable opened on the computer on which it was created, or on some other computer?

[cnhutch]

It was saved in .xls as I anticipated needing to eventually open it on a PC, and wasn't sure if .ods would be compatible (as I said, I'm not super computer-savy). Is that likely my problem? If so, am I just out of luck?

I hadn't tried opening it on another computer... up until this point, I was only using it on my Mac.

[RoryOF]

All MS Office implementations after 2007 will read .ods files.

[cnhutch]

Believe it or not, the version we are running on the other computer is 2005.

But I haven't tried opening it on that computer yet.

Is there any way to revert back to my previous file or is it a lost cause?

[RusselB]

You might try something like Recuva to see if a temporary file might still exist.
If not, then using one of the earlier files as a start point is your best bet.
Otherwise I think you're SOL