Lost writings

[Jdhaire]

I like to write and if I can not finish a story I save it and come back to it later.
However sometimes when I double click on the document that I want to open I get a message box
ASCII Filter Options

Character Set Western Europe Windows 125
Default Fonts New Roman
Language English (USA)

If I hit OK my document come up with all the words erased and ############ across each line.
I can't figure out how to undo this and I've lost all that I have written.

Can you help me?

Thank You
JDHaire

[RoryOF]

Your file has been damaged, perhaps because of over hasty close down of the computer before internal housekeeping was complete. Experience tells us that there will be nothing usable in your damaged file.

See this link for information on recovery:
[Tutorial] How to find and un-delete Writer temporary files

If that desn't work, as soon as possible do the following:

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 any existing but deleted files and prevent their recovery. There is no guarantee that you will recover anything useful.

Do the above soonest!

[jrkrideau]

To add to Rory's advice, be sure that you are saving in AOO format, that is the file should have an .odt extension. Saving in a foreign format greatly increases the chances of the sort of problem you are having.