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[Solved] Can't open .ods file
Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2013 7:14 pm
by Malibu
I have a .ods file that will not open. It's 112 KB (lots of text in it). When I select the file, I can see a preview of it in Windows Explorer (WIN 7 64 Bit).
I tried the backups and they, too, won't open. I have a backup from Nov. 2012 (last year) and that won't open, but since that date, I did use the file with no problems. The last time I typed on it was in Aug. 2013.
I'm also not able to create a pdf by right-clicking the file.
The error is:
OpenOffice 4.0.1 has stopped working
Windows can check online for a solution to the problem.
Check online for a solution and close the program
Close the program
View problem details
I cannot open it properly with WordPerfect or Wordpad - I see jumbled up text.
I don't have Microsoft Word.
I made a test .ods file and this opens with no problem, but only has text in one cell.
When opening with Notepad ++, I see mostly jibberish, but with some regular English words like:
meta:initial-creator><meta:creation-date>2012-05-05T12:27:26.93</meta:creation-date><dc:date>2013-08-05T14:19:08.90
OpenOffice/4.0.0$Win32 OpenOffice.org_project/400m3$Build-970
Any suggestions for opening this file, or has it been fried?
Thanks
Re: Can't open .ods file
Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2013 7:26 pm
by Hagar Delest
Can you upload it here (see
How to attach a document here)?
Re: Can't open .ods file
Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2013 7:30 pm
by RoryOF
Can you make, save and reopen a trivial OpenOffice file? If not, start TarkManager (Ctrl Shift Esc) and kill all soffice processes shown running on the processes tab.
Re: Can't open .ods file
Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2013 7:30 pm
by Malibu
I could, but it's a personal diary! Can I email it to you privately?
Re: Can't open .ods file
Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2013 7:32 pm
by RoryOF
Also, having done my suggestion above, if the files are still not opening, delete or rename your User Profile.
Details are in
[Tutorial] The OpenOffice User Profile
Re: Can't open .ods file
Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2013 7:32 pm
by Malibu
RoryOF wrote:Can you make, save and reopen a trivial OpenOffice file? If not, start TarkManager (Ctrl Shift Esc) and kill all soffice processes shown running on the processes tab.
Yes, I'm able to do that.
Re: Can't open .ods file
Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2013 7:34 pm
by RoryOF
Then try the User Profile.
Re: Can't open .ods file
Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2013 7:44 pm
by Malibu
I reset the profile. I still cannot open the .ods file
It starts to load and says this in the bottom left corner:
Loading document
Adapt Row Height
Then crashes.
Re: Can't open .ods file
Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2013 7:46 pm
by Malibu
I forgot to say, that I found 2 backups of that file in the profile for version 4 and in version 3.
C:\Users\User\AppData\Roaming\OpenOffice\4\user\backup
C:\Users\User\AppData\Roaming\OpenOffice.org\3\user\backup
Are those of any use?
Re: Can't open .ods file
Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2013 7:50 pm
by Hagar Delest
The one in C:\Users\User\AppData\Roaming\OpenOffice\4\user\backup should be the latest one. You can try to see if it has not lost too much. Make a copy and rename it as .ods.
Re: Can't open .ods file
Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2013 8:34 pm
by Malibu
Hagar Delest wrote:The one in C:\Users\User\AppData\Roaming\OpenOffice\4\user\backup should be the latest one. You can try to see if it has not lost too much. Make a copy and rename it as .ods.
I tried both backups and even renamed as odt as well as ods. All tests failed - the program still crashes on that particular file.
Re: Can't open .ods file
Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2013 10:17 pm
by Malibu
I installed LibraOffice and the file loaded - so far. I attempted to export as a PDF, but it's taking really long to finish that, already over an hour. Once that settles down, I'll try opening the .ods again in Libra calc and if it goes OK, I'll post back here asap.
Thanks
Re: Can't open .ods file
Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2013 11:09 pm
by Malibu
Back again. . . the pdf export finally finished. While in Libra, I copy and pasted all the text into a brand new calc doc, then renamed it, then closed it. I opened (or tried to) using OpenOffice calc, but this file also crashed. There are over 223 pages, so maybe that's a problem? Looks like I will have to use Libra for this document.
Thanks for helping, Rory and Hagar.
Re: [Solved] Can't open .ods file
Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2013 11:13 pm
by RoryOF
I think the problem may be some construct to do with Row Height, but I'm not a Calc user, so don't offer this as a definite diagnosis.
Re: [Solved] Can't open .ods file
Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2013 11:31 pm
by Malibu
RoryOF wrote:I think the problem may be some construct to do with Row Height, but I'm not a Calc user, so don't offer this as a definite diagnosis.
There is quite a lot of weird formatting (as I'm looking at the cells in Libra), with empty line above text in some cells. Maybe you're on to something!