[Hint] How did I fix my ODT file

[RoryOF]

As a rule, the less use a computer gets after loss of a file the better chance there is of recovering deleted older copies and temporary work files that might contain all or part of the data. It is a good idea to have a undelete utility already downloaded to the computer so that it is ready to go. Of course, one should investigate why ones computer is unstable: sometimes this is due to user error (a.k.a. "bad habits")l these can be cured if the user is minded to change his method of working. Hardware problems such as flaky memory, overheating, loose connections etc, need more expertise.

[mbratch]

Hello – I have a LibreOffice document my father-in-law gave me which has a problem. It’s 24MB in size, and when I attempt to open it, it takes a very long time, briefly displays the first page of the content, then goes blank and that’s it. It shows no content. The file is corrupted, but I don’t know what made it that way. I'm suspecting even the very large size is an indicator of an issue, but it is a lot of pages (it's literally a book).

What I’m wondering is whether there’s a good LibreOffice Writer recovery program somewhere. I’ve done some searching and come up with a few hits, but it’s hard to separate the wheat from the chaff. So any particular guidance is appreciated.

[RoryOF]

How one does it is to open the OpenOffice file using an archive manager. Sometimes it is necessary to rename the file type to .zip, but not always. Then extract content.xml, pass it through an .xml checker, make the suggested correction(s) and then reinsert it into the archive (and rename the type if necessary).

Normally if you upload the file to the Forum one of us will have a look at it. The Upload tab is below the Submit button on PostReply or FullEditor windows.

However, 28MB will require you to use a file sharing site and post the URL here,

Edit: If the file is 28MB, it is possibly in .doc format, not .odt, in which case the above method won't work. But if it is in .doc format there are available free and commercial .doc recovery programs.

Edit: Edit 2: referred here from http://en.libreofficeforum.org/node/11914

[mbratch]

RoryOF, thanks for the quick reply. I checked content.xml and it validated OK with an XML validator (although it had one warning about there not being a schema). Not sure what to check next. I would prefer not to post it publicly, but I can email or message a link.

[RoryOF]

I have sent you a PM with address where to send the link.

[RoryOF]

I've downloaded the file and had a look at it. It opened for me in Web Layout, claiming it had 191 pages; after a time (several minutes) it settled down to 5 pages. I suggest that as soon as possible you switch to /View /Print Layout and wait while OO thinks about this (could be minutes). It looks as if the file is a giant paste from some internet source. I think all you need do is wait - there is a lot of HTML code to process. I'll hold the file until you let me know that it has opened successfully. If you can't do that, I'll send back a copy saved in Print layout, which might process faster.

I think this size paste from the Internet is at the limit of what OpenOffice can handle.

Edit: I should note that I am not using a very fast computer - 6 years old

[RoryOF]

I am informed that the problem is now cured. It was a matter of allowing sufficient time (minutes) for the file to load and reformat; the user then switched to /View /Print layout (the file defaulted to /View /Web layout) and it became much more responsive.

[philiparice]

HI THERE!!

First time I've ever had an issue with openoffice, but I've got the hashtags issues. The length and file size seem to match up but I'm very unsure as to how to proceed. I located the file under the backup but I don't know how to unzip it or do anything else, and I'm afraid of corrupting it more. Attaching the file and I'm praying you guys can give me a hand here. Please let me know. Thank you!!

Best,
Philip

[RoryOF]

A quick examination got nothing from it. I have no advanced tools on this computer and will be offline for some hours, so perhaps someone else will examine it. Don't have great expectations of a good or any recovery. You should look in the backup and temporary directories pointed to by /Tools /Options /OpenOffice : Paths. Rename any files in those to type .odt and see if they contain your data. Run an undelete utlity such as Recuva or PhotoRec and see if it will find some deleted temporary file holding some or all of your data. I'd start with Recuva or PhotoRec (you only need one of these, and the sooner the better).

[acknak]

Sorry, no recoverable data there. The file contains nothing but zeroes.

[RoryOF]

Usually such file loss occurs with a program crash or with over hasty shut down of the computer after using OpenOffice. The OO file structure is complex and takes longer to build than other formats, so it is best to be leisurely in powering down the computer; this gives time for hardware/software write buffers to flush. I suggest closing the file, then close OpenOffice. Gather your papers and pens, then power off computer. Don't just close the file and immediately snap power switch off or close the laptop lid. The computer has housekeeping to do!

[minton3]

hi
not sure if i'm in the right place as never used a forum before. Any ideas how to solve opening a file when a text box opens up before the file opens properly, you are requested to select an input of region and language but file wont open, any ideas please??

Paul

[RoryOF]

Almost certainly your file is corrupt. Restore from backup if you have one. Otherwise you should look in the backup and temporary directories pointed to by /Tools /Options /OpenOffice : Paths. Rename any files in those to type .odt and see if they contain your data. Run an undelete utlity such as Recuva or PhotoRec and see if it will find some deleted temporary file holding some or all of your data. I'd start with Recuva or PhotoRec (you only need one of these, and the sooner the better)

If that doesn't work, upload your file here and someone will take a look at it, but prospects are not good. For suggestions to prevent this happening again, see this post
https://forum.openoffice.org/en/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&p=371980#p371979

[John_Ha]

Edit: This post has been rewritten as [Tutorial] How to find and un-delete Writer temporary files. The Tutorial is kept up to date.

If you are lucky, you might be able to find some of the temporary files which Writer wrote while you were editing the file, and which may still be there. Writer deletes them when it closes, so if you cannot find them, you will need to try to un-delete them. Act quickly - they risk being overwritten the longer you leave it..

The following is based on Windows 7 but other versions of Windows should be very similar.

Mac and Linux

If you are running Mac or Linux, it should still be very similar. All you need to do is to check which paths Writer uses by Tools > Options (Preferences for Mac??) > OpenOffice > Paths .... If you are in doubt, open a .odt file (or create a new one or edit a .doc file - whatever it was you were doing when you lost the document) and check to see where the temporary files go and what they are called. Then search in that folder or folders for deleted temporary files for your lost document where the deleted files will have similarly formed names to those you found when doing the check. You will a need Mac or Linux unzip utility and a Mac or Linux un-delete utility.

Note for those with Solid State Disks (SSD)

If you are using a Solid State Disk, the Operating System will silently work in the background to delete all the data from deleted files and reset all the file bits to zero so you may not find that many temporary files. The OS does this because the OS must set all bits to zero before writing to an SSD. Setting the bits to zero in the background therefore speeds future writes.

Before you begin you must switch on being able to see hidden files. So

1 Go Start > Control Panel > Folder Options > View...

2 tick Show Hidden files, folders and drives

If you have not done this you will not be able to see the temporary files folder or the temporary files inside it.

Did you have AutoRecovery set to ON?

Check by Tools > Options > Load/Save > General. If you had AutoRecovery ON, then Writer should automatically find the AutoRecovery files and recover your file. If Writer does not recover your file, follow the instructions below and check to see if the AutoRecovery files are still there. If none are there then look for deleted versions.

Did you have Create a backup copy ..., set to ON?

Check by Tools > Options > Load/Save > General. If you had Create a backup copy ... set to ON, look in the Backup folder for a file called fred.bak, where your file is fred.odt. Open fred.bak with Writer (or rename it to fred.odt).

If you did not have AutoRecovery or Backup set to ON you have to look for deleted temporary files.

The method you use depends on what type of file you were editing, namely:

1 whether it was an existing .odt file saved on your PC (or .docx file);
2 a file which you had never previously saved; or
3 a .doc file.

From what I can gather, Writer handles .docx files in the same way as .odt files so if you are recovering a .docx file, follow the instructions given for .odt files.

1. Recovering .ODT files which have previously been saved - also works for .docx files

In this case, you were editing a .odt file like fred.odt (or fred.docx). You are looking for files with names something like C:\Users\xxxxxx\AppData\Local\Temp\sv2ju1mk.tmp\sv2ju21c.tmp. Note that it is very unusual for a folder to be called C:\Users\xxxxxx\AppData\Local\Temp\sv2ju1mk.tmp\, with a " . " in the folder name, but this is what Writer does. You will therefore be looking for files called something like C:\Users\xxxxxx\AppData\Local\\Temp\sv2ju1mk.tmp\sv2ju21c.tmp where xxxxxx is your username.

If you manage to find and undelete a file like sv2ju21c.tmp, unzip it and check if it is a .odt (or .docx) file (some files with names like sv2ju21c.tmp will be graphics files). If sv2ju21c.tmp is a .odt (.docx) file, rename it to sv2ju21c.odt (sv2ju21c.docx) and open it. You should get back the complete fred.odt (fred.docx)file as it was the previous time it was saved.

You also get back all the images, both those already in the document when you opened it and all the images added since. You do not get the text added since the file was last saved.

If you had AutoRecovery set to ON then also see 2. Getting back AutoRecovery files when AutoRecovery has been set to ON as you may also be able to recover some of the AutoRecovery files as well or instead.

2. Getting back AutoRecovery files when AutoRecovery has been set to ON

The following methods only work if you had AutoRecovery set to ON. Note: you set AutoRecovery to ON by Tools > Options > Load/Save > General ... The Backup folder location is specified in Tools > Options > OpenOffice > Paths ..., and the default is C:\Users\xxxxxx\AppData\Roaming\OpenOffice\4\user\backup\.

2a. Recovering the AutoRecovery file for an existing fred.ODT which was being edited - it should also work for .docx files

If you were editing fred.odt, then Writer creates an AutoRecovery file called fred.odt_0.odt in the Backup folder. The default backup folder is C:\Users\xxxxxx\AppData\Roaming\OpenOffice\4\user\backup so you are looking for files named C:\Users\xxxxxx\AppData\Roaming\OpenOffice\4\user\backup\fred.odt_0.odt where " 0 " is a zero.

First, navigate to the Backup folder and look for existing files like fred.odt_0.odt.

Second, if there are no fred.odt_0.odt files in the Backup folder, then use Recuva and try to find a deleted version of fred.odt_0.odt. If you do manage to find it, fred.odt_0.odt will have the entire contents of the document as saved at the AutoRecovery time it was created.

2b. Recovering the AutoRecovery file for a new document which has never been saved

If you are editing a new file and you have never saved it, Writer gives the file the name Untitled1.odt while you are editing it but does not save it. When Writer creates an AutoRecovery file, Writer creates a file called untitled_0.odt in the Backup folder as C:\Users\xxxxxx\AppData\Roaming\OpenOffice\4\user\backup\untitled_0.odt where " 0 " is a zero.

First, navigate to the Backup folder and look for untitled_0.odt.

Second, if it is not there, then use Recuva and try to find a deleted version of the file. If you do manage to find it, it will have the entire contents of the document as saved at the AutoRecovery time it was created.

2c. .doc files. Recovering the AutoRecovery file for an existing fred.DOC which was being edited

When you edit fred.doc, and you have AutoRecovery set to ON, Writer creates a temporary AutoRecovery file for it in the Backup folder called fred.doc_1.odt whenAutoRecovery saves. The file will be names C:\Users\xxxxxx\AppData\Roaming\OpenOffice\4\user\backup\fred.doc_1.odt. Writer deletes this AutoRecovery file when you save the .doc file and/or close Writer.

First, navigate to C:\Users\xxxxxx\AppData\Roaming\OpenOffice\4\user\backup\ and look for fred.doc_1.odt, where fred is the name of the file you were editing. If your PC or Writer crashed, you may be lucky and still find fred.doc_1.odt there.

Second, if you do not see it, then use Recuva and look for deleted versions of it.

There are some more detailed explanations in the following posts which may be useful:

Using RECUVA to un-delete Writer .odt temporary files which are now deleted
Another on RECUVA

These may also be helpful.

Using 7-ZIP
Inside an odt file
Hints on how to prevent it happening

Some hints ...

Always set AutoRecovery to ON - this saves a copy of the file every few minutes while you are working on it - it protects you against things like power cuts, OS freezes etc. Do so by Tools > Options > Load/Save > General ...

Always ?? set Create A Backup copy to ON - this keeps the previously saved version of the file fred.odt as fred.bak in the Backup folder. Do so by: Tools > Options > Load/Save > General ... The Backup folder location is shown by Tools > Options > OpenOffice > Paths ... You may need to switch on Show hidden files (Control Panel > Folder Options > View ...) to be able to see the folder and its contents.

Why the ?? ? Because you should remember that highly_personal.bak will still be in the Backup folder long after you have deleted highly_personal.odt.

... and, of course, always take a daily backup of all important files and store them somewhere safe. A cheap USB memory stick is infinitely better than nothing. In an emergency, or if you need a very quick backup, just email yourself a copy of the file!

Remember, it is not a case of "if my disk fails ..." or "if I lose my file". It is a case of what do I do "when my disk fails ..." and "when I lose my file ...". You can download free backup utilities which will back up your hard drive daily so that you will never lose more than 24 hours work - I have used Cobian from http://www.cobiansoft.com/index.htm for many years and have never lost a file despite having disk crashes and lightning which destroyed both my PC and hard drive.

Edit: Extensively edited to add information and make clarifications

[Leveler]

Hey guys,

I have a huuuuuge problem which is similar to yours. I wrote my term paper, then I saved it and afterwards my computer crashed and it is somehow not possible to restore it. Would you please help me with it?

This is the file, it is somehow crypted now!

[RoryOF]

I got nothing from your file. Restore from backup if you have one. Otherwise you should look in the backup and temporary directories pointed to by /Tools /Options /OpenOffice : Paths. Rename any files in those to type .odt and see if they contain your data. Run an undelete utlity such as Recuva or PhotoRec and see if it will find some deleted temporary file holding some or all of your data. I'd start with Recuva or PhotoRec (you only need one of these, and the sooner the better)

[ciarasweeney]

Hi, I recently updated my laptop to windows 10 and in doing so, all of my OpenDocument files seem to have become corrupted and I can't open them. I've tried a lot of fixes on the internet and none have worked, I've lost over 700 pages of uni work and I have exams within the next few weeks. I'd be so so grateful if someone can help or point me in the right direction! I've attached one of the files below, if anyone can do anything with it, I would be very appreciative.

[RoryOF]

That particular file is showing as corrupt. Was it open when you upgraded?

[Lupp]

Did you look for the content of the backup folder in your user profile (used if 'Always create backup copy' is not deselected)?

Do not touch anything without exactly knowing what you are doing.

[acknak]

Sorry, the document is too badly damaged. It seems to be missing any recoverable text content.

[John_Ha]

I've lost over 700 pages of uni work and I have exams within the next few weeks.

First, stop using the PC now. The more you use it, the more likely any useful information will be overwritten.

Second, find someone with computer expertise and take your PC to them and ask for their help. Give your university IT department a call and ask for help. It may even be worthwhile them cloning your disk - taking an exact copy of it including all the deleted files, and working on the cloned disk. The problem is that every time you power the PC on, or do any work, you run the risk of overwriting stuff from the broken file. Show them this forum post.

Some thoughts.

You upgraded to W10. Normally, when you repair or install Windows it formats the disk, which deletes all the data on the disk. A key question therefore is how the W10 upgrade works. Does it just overwrite the Windows files? Or does it overwrite and destroy all the data files? Do you still have your other data files like PDF files, photos, music etc?

The file you posted has 4096 "correct" bytes followed by all zeros. 4096 is a significant binary number - it is 1000000000000. That is very interesting - it may be a page size or it may be the first block of the file (files are written in blocks). I don't think this is Writer corrupting the file. Did you un-delete this file? or is the file exactly as you found it when you tried to use it?

Can you open any other .odt files?

If the upgrade did not format the disk, and all your other data is still there, you may be able to un-delete some of the temporary files which Writer wrote while you were editing the .odt file, and then deleted when you closed Writer. Act quickly - they risk being overwritten the longer you leave it. Note that this only works if you were editing a .odt file - it does not work if you were editing a .doc file.

Using RECUVA to un-delete Writer .odt temporary files which are now deleted

Another on RECUVA

These may also be helpful.

Using 7-ZIP

Inside an odt file

Hints on how to prevent it happening

Always set AutoRecovery to save a copy of the file every few minutes while you are working on it - it protects you against things like power cuts, OS freezes etc. Tools > Options > Load/Save > General ...

Always?? set Create a backup copy to ON - this keeps the previously saved version of the file fred.odt as fred.bak in the Backup folder. Tools > Options > Load/Save > General ... The Backup folder location is shown by Tools > Options > OpenOffice > Paths ... You may need to switch on Show hidden files (Control Panel > Folder Options > View ...) to be able to see the folder and its contents. Why the ??? Because you should remember that highly_personal.bak will still be in the Backup folder long after you have deleted highly_personal.odt!!!

If you have no luck, I could logon to your PC using Windows Remote Assistance and see what I can find. But it would be MUCH easier for someone to do it sitting at the PC.

[John_Ha]

Another thought. Can you please post some other .odt files which you cannot open.

While you? Writer? might have damaged one file, it is most unlikely that you will have damaged more than one in the same way, so it will be interesting to see why the other files will not open. Ideally upload two or three .odt files each bearing a different save time. That way, we can be sure that they weren't all open at the same time and all corrupted by one crash. The max file size here is 128kB, or upload to a fileshare site like mediafire, or PM (send me a Private Message - icon on right) so we can communicate off line.

Some nasties corrupt files on your disk, but the authors usually ask for money to "un-corrupt" the files.

Can you open a PDF file which was on your disk before you upgraded to W10?

... and a word of advice. You really should be backing up important data. It is not a question of "If I lose my files ..., if my disk fails..." - it is a question of "When I lose my files ..., when my disk fails ..." A USB memory stick is a few pounds and, while not the most reliable of media, can store years of work. The pop up window which said "Backup your files before proceeding with the upgrade ..." was there for a good reason.

[Bill]

You upgraded to W10. Normally, when you repair or install Windows it formats the disk, which deletes all the data on the disk. A key question therefore is how the W10 upgrade works. Does it just overwrite the Windows files? Or does it overwrite and destroy all the data files?

A true upgrade shouldn't affect user data files. They should still be in the same location and unmodified after the upgrade. The disk is not formatted.

[RoryOF]

There has been at least one case on Forum of someone upgrading to Win10 with file(s) open in OO. The open file was destroyed.

[o8parkerc]

After trying all off the options listed in the thread... I'm at a loss. My girlfriend lost her report to all the pound signs. I've put it in a zip and seen the content.xml but all I'm able to get out of it are a series of 1s. I looked at an XML Validator too but everytime I put the content in the webpage, it just crashed. Can you guys help me out? Here's the download link. Thank you beforehand or for even attempting.

http://www.mediafire.com/view/8ibp9vasa ... gument.doc

I'm grateful you're all a lot more intelligent than I am!

[RoryOF]

I've tried opening with two different applications and it won't open in any reasonable time. Its structure seems confused but I know little about a doc file's innards. I found content.xml and inspected this with an XML editor. There are nearly 40K instances of style definitions - mostly repetitive. When it gets to where the content should be, at the end of 12 MB of these definitions, there is no content.

Tell your girlfriend to rewrite, saving as .odt. When she has the work finished, she can save out to .doc format.

[John_Ha]

It would not surprise me if she ran into a limit on the number of Text styles, let alone paragraph and other styles, able to be stored in a .doc file.

How on earth did she do it??? Writer? some other program used to edit the .doc file? somehow created nearly 40,000 text definitions???? You cannot do that manually - at 10 seconds for each one, it would take 400,000 seconds, which is 100 hours!

Something is horribly wrong either with what she was doing, the way she was doing it, with the file she received (I am assuming she did not create it herself), or with what some program (which could be Writer) did to the file. A thought - could it have been because the original .doc file is rather large and she "slammed the laptop lid" while it was still saving the file? Or saved it, immediately said "Oh! I forgot to ...", and immediately tried to re-open the file while Writer was still saving it?

It is STRONGLY recommended that you never store Writer files as .doc files, and that you always store all Writer files as .odt.

The reason is that .doc files may not support features of Writer (including, for example, the various methods for colouring behind text), so if you save as a .doc file, that formatting gets lost. .odt files support all the features of Writer.

Only create a version of a .doc file if someone (irrationally) asks you to send them a .doc file, and then delete your version of the .doc file after sending it.

NB - had it been a .odt file, you might have been able to recover some of the temporary files which Writer uses when saving as .odt, but not when saving as .doc.

[RoryOF]

It might have started in Word 12. Open it with an archive manager and extract content.xml; this will open after a minute or two in Firefox and you can see what I reported. The other .xml files all open easily but are not helpful.

I eventually got the file to open (perhaps 60 minutes... didn't time it). 7 pages, each page filled with the page number. No useful content.

[o8parkerc]

Hey thanks again so much! I appreciate it and am so thankful for your help. At least we have an answer I saw the same thing and was super confused with all the text stuff. I have no idea how she did it. She is not tech-savy at all (I had to walk her through an anti-virus install) so I don't know how she could have done it. I'll pass the information on about what NOT to do. And again, I really appreciate it. I'm sorry it cost you so much time to look into it but I truly am grateful. Looks like she's got some typing to do as it was a 11 page outline (maybe all the style definitions were of every character typed?) but thank you again! Have a great Sunday!

[John_Ha]

Make sure she takes regular backups - a 32 MByte memory stick is only a few pounds and will save endless heartache. This may also be useful - Hints on how to prevent it happening

Also, always set AutoRecovery to save a copy of the file every few minutes while you are working on it - it protects you against things like power cuts, OS freezes etc. Tools > Options > Load/Save > General ...

Always?? set Create a backup copy to ON - this keeps the previously saved version of the file fred.odt as fred.bak in the Backup folder. Tools > Options > Load/Save > General ... The Backup folder location is shown by Tools > Options > OpenOffice > Paths ... You may need to switch on Show hidden files (Control Panel > Folder Options > View ...) to be able to see the folder and its contents. Why the ??? Because you should remember that highly_personal.bak will still be in the Backup folder long after you have deleted highly_personal.odt!!!