Description: Good morning, I'm using LibreOffice 7.6.4.1 on Windows 10. I am re-submitting to you a bug that I already sent to you some time ago (Bug 155472- LibreOffice 7.4.3.2 - Windows 10 - 2023/05/24), and which has just (unfortunately for me) recurred but on another file. At the time, you told me that this could sometimes happen when saving a file on "USB" media and when changing computers!?! But this just happened again using "Calc". All data was erased during saving (data + all sheets), and I am left with a blank "Calc" file. This is very annoying because it was a file that I had for over 23 years!?! The file still exists on my computer, under the same name, in the same location, but it is empty (no more data inside)!?! Can you tell me if this has already happened?? and what to do to try to get it back!?!. For the moment I stopped using your LibreOffice suite and switched back to MsOffice....obligatory!! I've been using LibreOffice since the first versions and this has never happened before. I am really disappointed !! I have recommended your suite to many people and have installed it on several home computers. I think I'll have to backtrack... Thank you, Kind regards, BOB Steps to Reproduce: 1.data entry 2.save file (saving in .xls format) 3.close libreoffice Actual Results: Existing file but all the data it contained is lost! Expected Results: When re-opening the file, it no longer contained any data or sheets! Reproducible: Always User Profile Reset: No Additional Info: Open my original file or tell me there was a problem saving it!
As a __simple user__ as I am, before anything else, I would suggest making a copy of the file that you currently have. Whichever attempts to recover the data with whichever software, you should perform such attempts on a copy of the file, instead of your current file. I wonder whether something different happened this time with this file, different than in the past. Perhaps the problem is generated with a particular version of Calc, whereas opening the same file (now, its copy) with an older version the data would still be shown. In any case, I would suggest "installing in parallel", and never to have 2 versions opened at the same time. Since this file has been around for 23 years, I guess it is an XLS file(?) There might be some regression introduced in some newer version of Calc regarding compatibility with the file format. For instance (and without any kind of direct relation to this particular case that I know in advance), LO Calc 7.4 officially supports 16384 columns, but XLS files support 65536 columns only. Similarly, some spreadsheet functions used to support a limited amount of arguments, which might have been increased over time but the XLS file format might not support. I cannot say that this is what is happening here and that this is the reason for the possible data loss; I am just mentioning this as a potential regression case that might need testing. A different approach (to be attempted on a copy of the file) is to try a different spreadsheet tool instead of LO Calc. Perhaps AOO's Calc might be able to recover the info? I don't know whether the "online" version of Excel (365) supports XLS files, but a some older "offline" version should. I think that Google Sheets does not support the XLS file format, but I am not completely sure. An additional possibility would be to transfer a copy of the file to a different computer and attempt a recovery there, with whichever spreadsheet tool that is known to support the file type that you have been using for 23 years. Specialized recovery tools (as opposed to spreadsheet tools) might have better results, if the spreadsheet tools fail. Again, I am just a simple user. Someone else posting here might have better suggestions.
(In reply to ady from comment #1) > For instance (and without any kind of direct relation to this particular > case that I know in advance), LO Calc 7.4 officially supports 16384 columns, > but XLS files support 65536 columns only. Sorry I messed up that paragraph. Of course I meant 16384 columns vs 1024 columns for older versions of LO Calc, and the XLS format supports only 256 columns.
Do you remember what changes you made to the file before saving? Did Ady's recommendations help in any way? Without reproducible steps, and possibly a sample file, it will be very difficult to pinpoint the issue, unfortunately. I am not aware of any existing issue like yours, confirmed elsewhere. Hopefully you were able to recover the data, or use a backed up version of the file. Note that version 24.2 brings changes regarding autorecovery and backup versions of files: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/ReleaseNotes/24.2#Core_/_General