Files will not open

[wtb32141]

I'm interested to see the reactions I get to the following info about this thread's 2-sided problem: Writer's awfully long times taken to (1) save files and (2) open files. This morning I reread some of the comments I have gotten over the past 3 weeks. Schwarzer Kater asked, "Did you try if this also happens with a new file (the files themselves could be corrupt)?" I tested a "new file" once, but this morning I decided to test it again. I have told Writer not to save my work automatically every X minutes as I create a document (Tools > Options > Load/Save > General > the box for Save AutoRecovery Information Every ... minutes) is NOT checked, but Writer saves it anyway. So I was creating a new test document. I had typed some, but not much, text on page 1, and I was on page 2. All of a sudden, Writer begins the autosave feature. A progress line appeared at the bottom of the screen, and it took Writer 8.5 minutes to save that untitled text. This situation differs from the ones I previously have reported in this thread. I don't know enough about computers to understand the significance of this new info, but I'll bet some of you do. I'm looking forward to your comments.

[wtb32141]

Jeff, I agree with you about the quality of flash drives. PNY is my number 1 choice. I use GRSYNC to back up my work. It has worked well for me, but it too has a learning curve.

[JeffRedd]

Word processors are notorious for corrupting large files? Why? Because most likely the document has been edited a lot. Direct formatting like Bold, Italics, etc., can corrupt the files as well as inserted pictures. The Microsoft website says this about Microsoft Word.

A Word document can become corrupted for several reasons that will prevent you from opening it. This behavior may be related to damage to the document or to the template on which the document is based. This behavior might include the following:

Repeatedly renumbers the existing pages in the document
Repeatedly redoes the page breaks in the document Incorrect document layout and formatting
Unreadable characters on the screen
Error messages during processing
A computer that stops responding when you open the file
Any other unexpected behavior that cannot be attributed to the typical operation of the program


Although you are using LibreOffice Writer, all word processors have these familiar themes when it comes to corrupted files. Again, it is almost always happens when the files become very large and seldom happens in smaller document files.


Just remember that pure ASCII text will strip away all the embedded characters. This means that it WILL remove bold, italics and pictures. Headers, footers and endnotes will look different but the text should all still be there. I know that using a backup is a pain in the neck and many things will have to be redone but you will still have your coveted text, which is like Gold! You should also consider some good quality USB thumb drives. And back it up to drives if you have to. Stick with the best brands like, SanDisk, PNY, Samsung and Kingston Data just name a few and these are always rated among the top 10 brands in the reviews I read. Also good backup program like FreeFileSyc is always handy to have on hand but it does have a learning curve.

Open up your worst files and save it as text and then try opening it again and see how much faster it opens. This will prove that there was file corruption.

Word processors are not good at knowing if a file is corrupt and will usually not see any message at all. Sometime it can be the word processor but if LibreOffice Writer is working fine on some files and not on others then it is a file corruption problem. Like I said open your worst file and and save it text only and not text with encoding. Get out of the file and load it again. It should load much faster and this might become your new master but read it careful to make sure that there is no missing text. Good luck my friend

P.S. I know about these things because I have had these same problems over the years.

[wtb32141]

Jeff, thanks for the advice and your sympathy for me. From now on, I'll save 2 versions (an .odt version and a .txt version) of every file. I've written 5 books with Writer, and the current problem is the first really serious problem I've encountered. It took me 10 months to write (in 2006) the first book; so I've been using Linux and LibreOffice for 17+ years. The current book (on Einstein) has 43 files (40 chapter files, a front-matter file, a sources file, and an index file). This problem will get even worse if I find that my backup copies are corrupt! If Writer is unable to open a file, why doesn't it issue a message to that effect and tell me the source of the problem? Ditto re a corrupt file. I've been left completely in the dark re the source of the problems (one on opening a file, and one saving a file).

[JeffRedd]

I would also recommend saving every document file you have in plain ASCII text (without embedded characters) as a backup for every file. The files are very small this way and they very rarely get corrupted. In other words you have your regular “Chapter 37.odt” and then saving another copy of “Chapter 37.txt” and make sure you save the text file without the encoding under file type when you go to save it, it will say Text (.txt).

This may be enough to help clean up those files that may have some corruption that you can’t see (in the document). I hope things get better for you soon.

[wtb32141]

Schwarzer Kater, please excuse my delay in responding, but several items arose that required my immediate attention. This morning I did the things you wanted me to do. I opened Konsole. I used it to open LibreOffice, and I left Konsole running while I worked with LibreOffice's Writer. When Konsole launched LibreOffice, it gave this warning: "Warning: failed to launch javaldx - java may not function correctly."

I turned my computer off last night; so when I started it this morning, it opened (or recovered) 7 Writer files, which were open when I turned it off last night. Those 7 files were opened a week or more ago. This morning I opened 2 files (A.odt) and (A.pdf). Those 2 files have the exact same content, which is about 2/3 of 1 page. It took Writer 19 minutes and 38 seconds to open the A.odt file. The pdf version of that file opened immediately! After the A.odt file finally opened, I looked at Konsole. Nothing new was there! To be safe, I just looked again at Konsole. Still, nothing new is there!

Late yesterday afternoon, I tried to open 3 Writer files: Chapter 1.odt, Chapter 2.odt, and Chapter 3.odt. Writer would not open any of those 3 files. I looked at Konsole after each of the 3 attempts, and nothing new was there beyond the warning mentioned supra.

I have gotten no message from Writer, Konsole, or anything else re this problem with opening and saving Writer files.

I have some thoughts about this problem, but I'll remain silent until I hear from you.

[Schwarzer Kater]

Perhaps this is easier to understand:





After pressing [Return] in the second screenshot LibreOffice should launch and then you can open the files from the "File -> Open" menu in LibreOffice.
Leave the Konsole window open and proceed as written above.

[wtb32141]

Schwarzer Kater, I'm having trouble doing what you want me to do. The best I have been able to do is to launch Dolphin and then hit F4. That splits the screen into 2 parts. The top part has Dolphin; the bottom part has the terminal. I try to launch LibreOffice from the top part (by selecting a file and then telling the computer to open it with LibreOffice, but it won't open the file--it won't launch LibreOffice!).
In the bottom part (the terminal part), I entered "LibreOffice". It answered, "Command not found".

Before I tried that stuff, I used Writer to edit a file. I have told Writer not to save my work as I'm working on a file, but it does it anyway! The first time it took 48 minutes and 29 seconds to save the 5-page file. The second time it saved it, it took 45 minutes and 30 seconds. Then I opened a different .odt file, and it took Writer 22 minutes and 7 seconds to open the file!

I'm open for suggestions, and I genuinely appreciate your efforts (and those of others on this forum) to help me.

[Schwarzer Kater]

Schwarzer Kater, you asked if the file opened when I used a terminal within Dolphin. No, the file did NOT open. I should add that never before had I done that; so I did not know what to expect. Maybe I should have waited longer or looked down at the bottom of my screen to see if a progress bar had opened.

I think concerning the terminal output to find out what is going on we should go back to the basics - just use it as a standalone output.

• open the Konsole terminal emulator from -> Application Menu -> System
• enter libreoffice (nothing else) in Konsole to open LibreOffice
• work with LibreOffice as you usually would do and leave the Konsole window open all the time
• when something does not work as expected (e.g. when it takes a long time to save a file) look at the Konsole window afterwards and report back any output here

[Snowhog]

If this were me, I’d uncheck the Save with password on each of the files. Given your issue, that might take some time, but it might yield favorable results. Just a guess, but doing so won’t hurt anything. You do have a good backup?

[wtb32141]

Snowhog, I use Save As, but I never have used Save As With Password. Until I saw your post just a minute ago, I was unaware of "Save As With Password", but it makes sense under some circumstances. I live alone; so no one fools around with these files except me. If everything were to go smoothly, a total of 43 files would exist: 40 chapter files, a front-matter file, a sources file, and an index file. I never have all of the files open simultaneously, but I often have 10 to 15 files open simultaneously. I have written other documents on writing a book; so some of those documents often are open along with the book files. File size is not the problem. All of my files are less than 1 megabyte, and most of them are far less than a megabyte. I also doubt that file corruption is the problem. One of my posts addresses the corruption issue. I believe it's Chapter 37. I changed "A. Sommerfeld" to "Arnold Sommerfeld", and I saved the document. It took forever to save that file. When it finished saving the file, I rebooted my laptop. I then reopened that file, and I restored "Arnold Sommerfeld" to the original "A. Sommerfeld". Then I saved the file, and the saving went perfectly! If that file were corrupted, surely the second saving would not have gone smoothly (perfectly)! The text that was changed the 2nd time is the exact same text that was changed the first time. That one change was the only change I made to that file. The first time it worked horribly; the 2nd time it worked beautifully. That dual behavior does not sound like a corrupted file to me!

[Snowhog]

-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 16 15:17 '.~lock.3-col_index--Paper Book file--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 5 17:14 '.~lock.Chapter 11--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 19 13:32 '.~lock.Chapter 1--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 5 17:11 '.~lock.Chapter 13--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 5 17:12 '.~lock.Chapter 14--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 5 17:01 '.~lock.Chapter 15--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jun 18 12:44 '.~lock.Chapter 18--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 5 17:08 '.~lock.Chapter 19--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jun 30 05:38 '.~lock.Chapter 20--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 5 17:04 '.~lock.Chapter 21--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 1 19:43 '.~lock.Chapter 22--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 3 03:00 '.~lock.Chapter 24--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 5 16:18 '.~lock.Chapter 25--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 3 04:31 '.~lock.Chapter 26--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 18 06:25 '.~lock.Chapter 27--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 16 15:17 '.~lock.Chapter 28--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 5 17:08 '.~lock.Chapter 29--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 6 00:53 '.~lock.Chapter 30--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 5 16:05 '.~lock.Chapter 31--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 5 17:09 '.~lock.Chapter 32--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 8 04:17 '.~lock.Chapter 35--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 5 09:57 '.~lock.Chapter 36--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 17 09:18 '.~lock.Chapter 37--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 18 05:48 '.~lock.Chapter 40--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 2 03:49 '.~lock.Chapter 6--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 5 17:12 '.~lock.Chapter 8--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jun 22 05:05 '.~lock.Chapter 9--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 6 06:13 '.~lock.sources--Einstein book 2023.odt#'

Do you use Save As... and have the Save with password box checked for all of your work in this directory? The .~lock. files above indicate that you do. And, with the testing I've done on my laptop, these .~lock. files are only created when the password protected document is actually opened for editing. With the listing above, that says you have ALL the chapter documents opened at once. Is that true?

[wtb32141]

Schwarzer Kater, you asked if the file opened when I used a terminal within Dolphin. No, the file did NOT open. I should add that never before had I done that; so I did not know what to expect. Maybe I should have waited longer or looked down at the bottom of my screen to see if a progress bar had opened.

[wtb32141]

Snowhog, here's the listing you requested:

bb@bb-Precision-3520:~/Documents/My_5_Books/paper_book_files/Writer_files/Einstein_book--2023$ ls -la
total 5012
drwxrwxr-x 2 bb bb 4096 Jul 19 13:32 .
drwxrwxr-x 9 bb bb 4096 Jul 19 13:39 ..
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 86406 Jul 16 12:08 '3-col_index--Paper Book file--2023.odt'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 40506 Jul 14 04:20 'Chapter 10--2023.odt'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 36066 Jul 5 17:14 'Chapter 11--2023.odt'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 65656 Jul 10 11:44 'Chapter 1--2023.odt'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 54177 Jul 5 17:11 'Chapter 12--2023.odt'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 52923 Jul 5 17:11 'Chapter 13--2023.odt'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 44613 Jul 5 17:12 'Chapter 14--2023.odt'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 65494 Jul 5 17:01 'Chapter 15--2023.odt'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 41559 Jun 11 10:57 'Chapter 16--2023.odt'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 73464 Jul 4 03:58 'Chapter 17--2023.odt'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 47115 Jun 18 12:44 'Chapter 18--2023.odt'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 46810 Jul 5 17:08 'Chapter 19--2023.odt'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 41331 Jun 30 05:38 'Chapter 20--2023.odt'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 40564 Jul 5 17:04 'Chapter 21--2023.odt'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 56269 Jul 8 16:51 'Chapter 2--2023.odt'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 53960 Jul 1 19:43 'Chapter 22--2023.odt'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 45618 Jun 14 08:40 'Chapter 23--2023.odt'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 48362 Jul 3 03:00 'Chapter 24--2023.odt'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 48536 Jul 5 16:18 'Chapter 25--2023.odt'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 69851 Jul 3 04:31 'Chapter 26--2023.odt'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 42451 Jul 5 16:02 'Chapter 27--2023.odt'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 152444 Jul 1 19:46 'Chapter 28--2023.odt'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 39467 Jul 5 17:08 'Chapter 29--2023.odt'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 123089 Jul 6 00:53 'Chapter 30--2023.odt'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 51599 Jul 5 16:05 'Chapter 31--2023.odt'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 46666 Jul 5 17:06 'Chapter 3--2023.odt'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 193824 Jul 5 17:09 'Chapter 32--2023.odt'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 267427 Jul 5 16:55 'Chapter 33--2023.odt'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 51923 Jul 5 17:05 'Chapter 34--2023.odt'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 764620 Jul 8 04:17 'Chapter 35--2023.odt'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 42506 Jul 5 09:57 'Chapter 36--2023.odt'
-rwxrwxrwx 1 bb bb 80627 Jul 17 05:29 'Chapter 37--2023.odt'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 49026 Jun 26 12:40 'Chapter 38.odt'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 65709 Jul 1 13:41 'Chapter 39--2023.odt'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 61725 Jul 14 20:57 'Chapter 40--2023.odt'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 41523 Jun 9 21:43 'Chapter 4--2023.odt'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 1307960 Jul 5 17:10 'Chapter 5--2023.odt'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 59119 Jul 2 03:49 'Chapter 6--2023.odt'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 50390 Jul 3 02:03 'Chapter 7--2023.odt'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 44276 Jul 5 17:12 'Chapter 8--2023.odt'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 59374 Jun 22 05:05 'Chapter 9--2023.odt'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 86534 Jun 18 21:30 'FM--Einstein book--11-26-2022.odt'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 86528 Jul 9 01:57 'FM--Einstein book--2023.odt'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 18552 Jul 16 03:22 'Just xxx.odt'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 16 15:17 '.~lock.3-col_index--Paper Book file--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 5 17:14 '.~lock.Chapter 11--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 19 13:32 '.~lock.Chapter 1--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 5 17:11 '.~lock.Chapter 13--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 5 17:12 '.~lock.Chapter 14--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 5 17:01 '.~lock.Chapter 15--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jun 18 12:44 '.~lock.Chapter 18--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 5 17:08 '.~lock.Chapter 19--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jun 30 05:38 '.~lock.Chapter 20--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 5 17:04 '.~lock.Chapter 21--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 1 19:43 '.~lock.Chapter 22--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 3 03:00 '.~lock.Chapter 24--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 5 16:18 '.~lock.Chapter 25--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 3 04:31 '.~lock.Chapter 26--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 18 06:25 '.~lock.Chapter 27--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 16 15:17 '.~lock.Chapter 28--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 5 17:08 '.~lock.Chapter 29--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 6 00:53 '.~lock.Chapter 30--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 5 16:05 '.~lock.Chapter 31--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 5 17:09 '.~lock.Chapter 32--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 8 04:17 '.~lock.Chapter 35--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 5 09:57 '.~lock.Chapter 36--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 17 09:18 '.~lock.Chapter 37--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 18 05:48 '.~lock.Chapter 40--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 2 03:49 '.~lock.Chapter 6--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 5 17:12 '.~lock.Chapter 8--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jun 22 05:05 '.~lock.Chapter 9--2023.odt#'
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 77 Jul 6 06:13 '.~lock.sources--Einstein book 2023.odt#'
-rw------- 1 bb bb 0 Jul 17 05:16 lu2311iby.tmp
-rw-rw-r-- 1 bb bb 63731 Jul 6 06:13 'sources--Einstein book 2023.odt'
bb@bb-Precision-3520:~/Documents/My_5_Books/paper_book_files/Writer_files/Einstein_book--2023$

[wtb32141]

Claydoh, I posted earlier in this thread text that addresses the corrupt-file issue. That text (in quotes here) is:

"I have some new and interesting info about the long times it sometimes takes to open or save a Writer file on my laptop that’s running Ubuntu 22.04; Libre Office version 7.3.7.2. I began this morning with 3 files open in Writer. The computer had been asleep overnight. Each file is a chapter in a 40-chapter book on A. Einstein that I’ve written with Writer. Chapter 37 has 14 pages. I changed “A. Sommerfeld” to “Arnold Sommerfeld”; then I told Writer to save the file. It took Writer more than 20 minutes to save the file! I timed it with my phone’s stopwatch. Then I rebooted the laptop. I then reopened Chapter 37, and I changed “Arnold Sommerfeld” back to “A. Sommerfeld”, and I saved that change. The length of time it took to save that change was normal (no more than a second). That interesting info tells me that the file containing Chapter 37 is not corrupt—that the file is not the source of the long times it sometimes takes to open or close a file. Unfortunately, it doesn’t tell me the source of the problem, but I’m a step closer to identifying the real problem."

If that file were corrupt, rebooting the computer is not going to fix the corruption!

I have some insurance matters I must attend to now; so I'll be offline for a while. My next job is to get the directory listing that Snowhog requested.