Corrupt files with hashtags

[SPACEBETTY]

I have 41 pages of data now showing up as hashtags on an Open Office 3.? version. I downloaded the new 4.12 version this morning which did nothing. I get the Ascii filter error everytime, with 11 pages of hashtags. Since downloading the newer version, I am now unable to access many of my Open Office documents. Any help would be appreciated.

[RoryOF]

You are getting an ASCII message when you open the file. This normally means your file has been damaged, possibly because of over-hasty shut down of the computer before the internal house-keeping is complete. Experience indicates that there is unlikely to be any recoverable data in your file.

To try and recover your file, you should look in the backup and temporary directories pointed to by /Tools /Options /OpenOffice : Paths. Rename any files in those to type the ODF type used and see if they contain your data. Download Recuva or PhotoRec (only one needed) and let it do an indepth recovery of deleted files on your computer. You may get a file containing some or all of your data (or not). Do this as a first priority; other use of the computer may overwrite and existing but deleted files and prevent their recovery. There is no guarantee that you will recover anything useful.

[John_Ha]

See Using Recuva to un-delete Writer temporary files for help recovering the temporary files which Writer wrote while you were editing the .odt file, and then deleted when Writer was closed.

Since downloading the newer version, I am now unable to access many of my Open Office documents.

They will always open with File > Open > navigate to the file.

You have probably lost the file association between Writer and .odt file. Start > Control Panel > Default Programs > Set AOO to have all of its defaults.

NB It is STRONGLY recommended that you always store all Writer files as .odt.

The reason is that other files (.doc, .rtf etc) may not support features of Writer (including, for example, the various methods for colouring behind text), so if you save as one of tyhem, formatting may get lost. .odt files support all the features of Writer.

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

Warning when saving as a .rtf file. If you do not see this message, switch it on by Tools > Options > LoadSave > General

save as doc.png (10.79 KiB) Viewed 3983 times

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