The ##### problem

[shpuncel]

Hey guys! I know this is getting old but I was wondering if someone might be able to help. So like everyone else, who's files got corrupted and their whole content changed to ################, mine did too. I read all the threads on here about the back up files, the zip, the recuva, etc. Since I couldnt do the zip thing properly, I was wondering if someone might be able to check my file just so I know if I should give up.. Thank you so much in advance!!

[Villeroy]

Under Tools>Options>Office>Paths you find the location for temporary files. Visit that directory with your Win Explorer and try to open files with OpenOffice Writer (right-click>Open With...). One of the files may represent a recent auto-backup. If not, you may rely on your system backup.

[acknak]

Sorry, your file contains nothing but zeros--no data there to recover.

[shpuncel]

@villeroy I've checked all paths possible, I also used recuva but unfortunatelly since the 'automatic backup' option wasnt ticked, i dont have any backups :/ What do you mean by system backup?

@acknak Thank you so much for taking the time to check it out. I assumed this is going to be the case but now I know for sure.. Thanks a lot anyways!

[Hagar Delest]

Sadly, quite nothing to do, see: 22 pages term paper replaced with pound signs.
Any power shortage for example? It's a common root cause of such problem.

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, I hope you had a backup (or a copy in a mailbox)...

It seems there are less troubles with latest version 3.4.1. What is your version exactly? Your forum signature shows only 3.

[TheGurkha]

If any work you do is valuable to you, make your own backups of it. Copy it to another folder, or better, to another disk, and save it frequently as you go along with names something like 001, 002 etc appended to the filename.