ASCII filter options and hashes

[favitall]

I think this is the only place I can get proper help.
My girlfriend have written this document in OO which she saved normally as she always does.
However when we try to open it now I get the "ASCII filter options" and when i simply press ok the whole page is filled with "#".
I read through this thread to find any help but since it's only "#" I can't see if it's any other type of file.

Appreciate all answers I can get !

[thomasjk]

Unfortunately if all you see is ### the document is corrupt beyond help. Search for a filename.bak in the user profile http://user.services.openoffice.org/en/ ... 74&t=12426. The other is options is to right click on the file select Properties and select the Previous Versions tab if she has Win 7.

[Hagar Delest]

Sadly, nothing to do, it may be the same as that one: 22 page term paper replaced with pound signs.

Check the temporary folder of the system (see in OOo Tools>Options>OOo>Paths). If there are folders like sgmlf.tmp with a file having the same name inside, make a copy of that file, rename it in .odt and cross your fingers.

Else, nothing to do I fear.

[favitall]

Hmm sad to hear ;( but will however try to do these things you guys told me.
And Hager Delest how long will i be able to find these temporary files? Because I wont be able to get access to her computer today but probably tomorrow or atleast in 2 days.

Also do anyone of you know WHY this happens?
This is the second file that becomes like this after she saved it.

Thx for fast replies

[RoryOF]

No one is very sure why this happens; I suspect it is to do with closing down a computer too quickly (close the file, then snap off the power button). Because of the complex nature of the OpenOffice files they take a little longer to write and be flushed from the disk buffers than normal files. Another possible cause is working direct to USB keys and just whipping them out of the slot without going through the correct eject procedure. I use several OpenOffice files every day and (touch wood!) have never had a file failure.

[Hagar Delest]

I use OOo 8 hrs a day with several files open at the same time and never had this neither (touch wood too!).
This is definitively a regression because such reports started poping up a short while after 3.x has been released. But as you may have noticed, devs don't really want to tackle this one. I guess that there are implications with the save process. There are some reports where there are indeed several files having this problem, not always after a power failure. I think that there are corner cases on some systems that lead to such problem. Very difficult to spot them however. Perhaps a security application that delays too much the saving process, or a cache management.

Note that if you want to access the temporary files, the machine must not have been restarted since and then, try a live-CD first to avoid the temporary folders to be cleaned at startup. Else, still have a look, who knows.