Missing data from wordpad docs.

[magic123]

A little while ago i opened up one of my wordpad documents that was 7 pages long and to my great surprise all the data i had previously saved in this document was missing! I swear i did not delete the 7 pages of data myself. Today i opened up another wordpad document and guess what all the data i had saved in this doc was no longer there too! http://extremetechsupport.com/images/icons/icon9.png Whats going on here?!!! How is my laptop machine deleting this data?! Is there any way of retrieving the lost data or is it lost for good? I repeat i definitely did not delete the data knowingly myself.

 

[RandyL]

Hi magic.

Maybe Wordpad is corrupt. The data may still be there.

 

Try using a different program to open a file. Right click a file and select "Open with" then choose a different word program.

 

Make sure you untic the box to "Always open with" to avoid file association issues.

 

Programs you can try are Microsoft Works Word Processor or Notepad. If you have Microsoft Office you can try Word. If you need a free program try OpenOffice.

[magic123]

Hello. The affected files when opened with notepad do not have the data in them. When opened with MS word(unlicensed version) the files have pages of square boxes instead of the pages of text and numbers that should be there. Possible data has been corrupted? By a virus perhaps?

[RandyL]

If the data is not corrupted then Microsoft Works Word Processor if you have it and OpenOffice will open Wordpad files. Give those a try.

 

I'n not sure about Word but notepad can't open the files if they were saved in Rich Text Format.

[magic123]

The files were saved in RTF. I don't have Microsoft Works Word Processor. When i opened the files with open office the data was not there just pages of lines. Looks like data corrupted. So whats the next step?

[wellies]

If the files are corrupted and can't be opened in any sort of text or word program, I wonder if it might be possible to see the writing in a Hex viewer/editor? If so, you'd be able to copy/paste the text content into another text/word file and save it. Use an Open Office document since you now have it installed. Not an ideal solution (if it works) but at least you wouldn't have to type all of the text again.

[magic123]

Hi. Im not famliar with hex viewer/editors. Which one should i download? Once downloaded do i need to open the affected files in the hex viewer or do i need to open the affected files with open office and copy and paste the contents into hex viewer?

[wellies]

I haven't needed a Hex viewer for a good while, so can't recommend any particular one. There is this one from Softpedia, a reliable download site:

 

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Programming/File-Editors/Hex-Viewer.shtml

 

The procedure would be to start the Viewer, then browse to and select the file to open. When open, lots of code will be displayed but if you scroll through it you may find written text. There may even be a filter for finding the text in the viewer's options. It would be this that you could copy into a new Open Office document. You would have to rearrange the text into sentences and paragraphs again but at least not type it all.

 

I suggest this procedure in the absence of there being any other solution suggested. See if there is for a while maybe. If no other suggestions are made and it seems that the file is otherwise lost, then you have nothing further to loose by trying a Hex viewer to see if anything is retrievable.

 

When downloading free software, beware of any unwanted programs that may be bundled with it. Always choose the 'Custom' or 'Advanced' installation option. Examine the installation stages carefully and un-tick or deselect any unwanted programs.