Problem with file encoding

[susruni]

Hello!

I am asking about help with file encoding. I wrote the document in Russian language and saved it. Then I switched off my notebook. After that I can't open the file. OO write me about problems with encoding and offer select encoding to windows 1251 and also write "File was lock by Unknown user". I open it like copy and all characters are replace on "#" character. Also I have file .~lock which is saved with my document. How could I fix this? It's very important file for me.

Thank you for help!

[Hagar Delest]

Hi and welcome to the forum!

Sadly, quite nothing to do I fear, see: 22 pages term paper replaced with pound signs.

Check the temporary folder of the system (see in OO Tools>Options>OO>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. If you have not rebooted, you might have those files still there.

Under Windows 7, I think there is also the shadow feature that should give you the possibility to retrieve an older version.

If you want to help fix this problem, you can also do this survey created for this very problem: Document Recovery Survey.

[Daiwe01]

... I wrote the document in Russian language and saved it. Then I switched off my notebook. ...

As Hagar's link indicated, this problem is, so far, unpredictable.
In the interest of possibly improving predictability, may I ask if, after you saved the file and before you switched off your notebook, did you

1. Close the document in Open Office
2. Close Open Office

[RoryOF]

It is possible that your close down process was over quick. If OpenOffice is closed and the computer is powered down immediately - as may for example happen after a long editing/writing session, in one's anxiety to finish a day's work - it may be that insufficient time is allowed for the software and hardware write buffers to flush, thereby leading to a corrupt OpenOffice file. These files are compressed archives and take longer to construct than normal uncompressed files. My advice to users is to close OpenOffice, then to collect their papers and pens, then to power off the computer - the few extra seconds taken to do this will be a lot less than the time taken if a rewrite is needed due to file loss.

It is possible (just) that if the computer has not been heavily used since the file loss was discovered that an undelete utility such as Photorec or Recuva might recover a version of the file containing some or all of the data. With large modern drives it can take considerable time (hours/overnight?) for such utilities to complete their task.