ASCII Filter Option dialog box when attempting to open .odt

[elizabethc]

Hello,

I've searched through the forums and have attempted to find an answer to my problem. None of the other threads really provide the right kind of solution, and I'm hoping that someone could help me.

I am trying to open a file that I saved early last week, but cannot open anymore in OpenOffice Writer. It was saved as a regular .odt file, and I have no problem opening any files that had been written before or after this particular file was saved. This document was created with the latest stable version of OOo.

I have looked at it through Hexplorer, but since I don't really understand what I'm looking at, there's nothing I can do at this point. [In Hexplorer, the columns are filled with different letters, numbers, and symbols.] I have attempted to rename it with different extensions (.doc, .rtf, .wpd, or no extension at all) but none have succeeded in opening the file.

Would anyone be able to help me find a way to open this file?

Here is the link to the file: http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=ee8c6bc93af6a78cd9d5c56d04dfa8b0e04e75f6e8ebb871

Thank you for any help you can provide!

EDIT:
Some extra information that might be needed:
I am using Windows Vista. I looked for backups, but there are none in the directory that many people have already mentioned. I haven't kept any backups of my own, which I will try to do in the future. I have attempted to open the file in Wordpad and Microsoft Works.

[PromptJock]

It's entirely possible the file became corrupted when it was saved. I suggest you try these steps to recover as much information as you can:

1. RENAME the file so it has a ".zip" extension.
2. UNZIP, or otherwise "open" the "zip" file with Vista's Explorer.
3. Look for a file with the SAME NAME as your original file and an ".xml" extension - this is where the "text" of your file resides.
4. COPY that ".xml" file to your disk, preferably not in the same folder you normally store your OOo documents.
5. CHANGE the extension to ".txt"

Now, using OOo, notepad, or even Vista's Wordpad, open the renamed ".txt' file. If you're lucky, you should see all your original file's TEXT, but you'won't see any formatting, embedded graphics, etc. Unfortunately, you'll also see lots of XML "tags" embedded with the text - you'll have to manually delete those tags and "semi-format" the text into paragraphs, etc.

It'll take time, trust me!

When you're done, save the edited file (Just In Case, make a "backup" copy!) and use OOo to open it and recompose, etc. the original document. Assuming you're able to do this, you can go back to the aforementioned ".zip" file and "root around" in the other folders to search for embedded graphics and whatnot.

FYI: These are the same steps I had to do to recover a clobbered Writer document. It took time, but I was able to recover all the TEXT information in it.

Good luck and I hope this helps...
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I'm making perfect sense - you're just not keeping up!

[elizabethc]

Thank you for the advice, but Vista's Explorer won't let me open the "zip" file after I've renamed it.

It's interesting because I finally see a small preview of the actual info in the document, but I can't access it. That preview doesn't show up when the file is in .odt format.

Does that mean my data's still in there, since the preview is correct?

Either way, no luck in unzipping :/ I'll attempt it with a different zipping program and post how that turns out. If this works, I'll be so grateful :)

EDIT:

Nope, doesn't work at all, even with other zipping/unzipping programs. :(

[PromptJock]

Try making a copy the "offending" .odt file and see of OOo can open it. It's also possible part of that file is sitting on an "iffy" cluster and, in many cases, just making a copy restores it.

If you haven't already, run Scandisk on your drive (or the partition that the "offending" document resides) and see if it can recover the file (assuming it's on an "iffy" cluster).

It's interesting that, after renaming the file's extension to ".zip", Explorer won't display its' contents when you double-click on it. BTW: the file that holds your text is called "content.xml" (I just verified it - sorry for the misinformation on the previous post).

Anyhoo, that's the best I can offer. I wish you the best of luck in recovering your data...

ADDENDUM: I accessed your file from the link you provided and, unfortunately, the file is CORRUPTED - I don't think there's any way to recover the data. I'm sorry, but this is the best I, personally, can do...
_________________
I'm making perfect sense - you're just not keeping up!

[esperantisto]

I tried to restore the file as a zip archive with WinRAR. No luck.
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AOO 3.4.1, LibO 4.0 / Windows 7 & openSUSE Linux 11.3, 12.2

[elizabethc]

Aw :(

Thank you both so much for trying, anyway! At least now I know what to try if it ever happens again.

[lundorff]

I got the same problem. I have been using Open Office 3.2.0 for a while now without experiencing this problem. However, the last document I saved, I could not reopen. When opening the document, I got the dialog box "ASCII Filter Option". However, no matter what I selected, I could not recreate the document. I checked the file, and it has a size of 0 bytes. I checked that I had plenty of diskspace - that is not the problem.

I then starting rewriting the document. I saved the document early on, to check that I could open it.... And I got the same dialog box "ASCII Filter Option". I tried with several charset settings, but I am getting "General input/output error" no matter.

The file size is not zero in this second case. The strange thing is, that I CAN open the document, if I select the file in my file browser - and it then starts Open Office Writer. However, I get the error, when I open the document selecting it from the "Recent Documents" menu in Open Office Writer.

A hint to the source of the problem might be, that I changed my language and locale settings from English (USA) to Danish just before this started happening. I also changed the document page margins.

I can supply the offending document. I am not interrested in recovering text. I am interrested in understanding why the problem occurs, so I might be able to workarround it, until the bug is fixed. Right now my confidence in Open Office is shaken, and I do not feel I can use it, as I do not trust my work will not be lost.