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Corrupted file in Libre Office

Xolotl Posted messages 51 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention   -  
trotte-menu Posted messages 904 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention   -

Hello,

I am using Windows 11.

I work with Calc from Libre Office.

Last night, I worked on an important file (I often work on it), everything was normal. I closed Calc as usual. This morning, Calc won't open this file and Excel tells me it is corrupted.

Using "open and repair" didn't help, changing the extension from xls to xlsx didn't either.

The size of this file was about 500 KB and now it shows up as 36 KB.

How can I recover this file?

Thank you for your help.

3 answers

  1.
    georges97 Posted messages 14578 Registration date   Status Contributor Last intervention   2 922
     

    Hello,

    I have no doubt that another participant will suggest a method to recover a corrupted file. I haven't tried any.

    However, having experienced the incident with some Excel or Word files, I have gotten into the habit of never saving an important file under the same name during its various updates, but instead giving each new version a name followed by the date (in the file title), or even the time of saving for multiple versions on the same day.

    This way, you preserve the possibility of losing only the last version.

    This only applies if none of the files of the same type are affected by any virus, which hasn't happened to me in over 40 years of practice.

    This is not a way of telling you "you should have done...", but rather indicating that everyone has faced losing files this way and it's only afterward that we adopt a belt and suspenders approach.

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  2. trotte-menu Posted messages 904 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention   349
     

    Hello,

    Indeed, it is possible to recover certain corrupted files and I can do it, BUT as the file size has gone from 500 KB to 36 KB, you will have little chance of recovering it, especially if it has gone back and forth between Calc and Excel without applying the following rule:

    An Excel file can be opened with Calc but must be immediately saved in .ods format.
    Then you work in the native format (.ods).
    Once the modifications have been made, you save them and only then can you re-save in Excel format.

    So, if this hybrid usage is a necessity, please follow this rule and above all, make backups of your files.

    A very useful extension: incremental backup.
    https://forum.openOffice.org/fr/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=18566

    MBP + macOS Ventura
    OpenOffice, LibreOffice

    1
  3. trotte-menu Posted messages 904 Registration date   Status Member Last intervention   349
     

    without the following rule being applied

    You will have corrected: without the rule being applied the following rule.

    MBP + macOS Ventura
    OpenOffice, LibreOffice

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