Apache OpenOffice Community Forum

I opened one document and 24 pages of text had been converted to hashtags (#). I have no idea how this happened. My copy was saved from yesterday, and I get an "ASCII Filter Option" window when trying to open it. I select the English USA, but just hashtags. (I'm beginning to think I did something before saving the file, but I have never seen this is 40 years!) Thanks for any ideas.

The document is corrupted. Try the suggestion in this tutorial right away.

The usual cause for regular loss of Spellcheck, or for requirement to login to OpenOffice on your computer regularly, or (more seriously) loss of file content (file turned ti ####) is over hasty powering off of the computer. OpenOffice uses a more complex file structure than a flat file, and takes a little longer to generate that structure. It allocates space withing the structure for the file content; if the computer is powered off or a laptop lid shut too quickly, the file content may not have been written to the area prepared for it (the ### are the markers of the preblanked area). In addition, there is a housekeeping file which records the history of files edited and other details. If this is not written, spellcheck can be lost.

So our best advice is to always use the formal computer shutdown procedure before pulling the plug or closing the laptop lid. Wait until the hard drives have spun down - this only takes a few seconds, as the data is buffered within the drives before being written to the drive platters.

Use the timestamped backup from
TimeStamp Backup

The same thing happened to me today. Tried all the things recommended by the mentioned tutorial (and some others) - with no positive results.
Now my question is, should I try Windows' "system restore"? Or will that just alter the system and not the files.

Also, anyone have other ideas o should I accept that my document is gone?

System restore usually only affects system files and only as far back as the restore point that was chosen (presuming a restore point is available).
Normally data files, like Writer documents and Calc spreadsheets (etc.) are untouched by a system restore.
If you try the system restore and it doesn't work for what you're wanting, you can undo the system restore, so you can try it without worry.
I regret to say that I suspect you'll find that your document is gone.

@RusselB: Your assumptions were correct. The file remains corrupted even after the system restore.

Read the tutorial for what to do with System Restore.