Using OpenOffice.org To Repair A Corrupted RTF File

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AuroraGriffin
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Using OpenOffice.org To Repair A Corrupted RTF File

Post by AuroraGriffin »

I have some RTF files that have become corrupted somehow and I need to find a way to recover them.

There files are created when my friend and I use Windows Live Messenger and I go into the File Menu and "Save As", which saves the data to RTF format. Normally, this works fine. And I save a copy of the file in question to an external hard-drive as well.

Well, recently, I decided to read back on several past conversations -- and I am horrified to find that some of the files show nothing but "blank blocks", even tho' previously, they showed their data fine. I go to restore from the back-ups, which I knew were fine -- and I find that they, too, are displaying incorrectly, nothing but "blank blocks", when I open the file in MicroSoft WordPad!!!

To make matters worse, I cannot restore from the IM's own archive, because the XML that supposed to contain the data -- well, the data I need is missing! Everything from the previous IM session and everything from the following session was saved, but the data I need from the session I was documenting via RTF -- the application just skipped over!!!

I've tried every kind of recovery trick that I could find online and nothing works!!! Is there anyone here that can figure out how to fix this and how to fix any other files that have been messed up???

Since then, I've discovered this application, this OpenOffice, and gave it a try. When I open the file in OpenOffice, I get 33 pages of number signs (#). The file is 182 KBs.
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squenson
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Re: Using OpenOffice To Repair A Corrupted RTF File: Need He

Post by squenson »

The # is a bad sign, a very bad sign. It usually means that your file only contains zeros. There is nothing we can do. RIP.
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RoryOF
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Re: Using OpenOffice To Repair A Corrupted RTF File: Need He

Post by RoryOF »

Your file is gone, I fear. Some error at Save time - possibly too quick a shutdown of the computer after the Save, or working direct to a USB stick. WordPad is a better application for RTF files than OpenOffice, but if there is nothing there no application can help recover it.
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Hagar Delest
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Re: Using OpenOffice To Repair A Corrupted RTF File: Need He

Post by Hagar Delest »

Sadly, nothing to do: 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 .rtf and cross your fingers.

Else, nothing to do I fear.

Note that anyway the RTF support is very poor in OOo. Use the native ODF (.odt) if you use OOo. But there is no link with your problem. By the way, have you had any power failure or similar event?
LibreOffice 7.6.2.1 on Xubuntu 23.10 and 7.6.4.1 portable on Windows 10
AuroraGriffin
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Re: Using OpenOffice.org To Repair A Corrupted RTF File

Post by AuroraGriffin »

I usually look at these with WordPad. And there wasn't any shutdown problem that night. -_-
Anyway, where do I find the Temp Folder?

EDIT:

Found it. ... Wtf??? Why did it save these files as empty??? What's the point???
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RoryOF
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Re: Using OpenOffice.org To Repair A Corrupted RTF File

Post by RoryOF »

Why it saved the files as blank is a Windows Live Messenger problem.
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AuroraGriffin
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Re: Using OpenOffice.org To Repair A Corrupted RTF File

Post by AuroraGriffin »

That's weird, because most of the time, it saves fine. This is the first time in years I've seen
a problem like this. Any way to prevent it?

EDIT:

I also found a bunch more temp files, but they are gibberish. Any way to translate them?
OpenOffice 3.3.0
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