help with file recovery?

[Dave Stevens]

Hi,

I have a MS Word file from several years ago that I want to look at. I can not 
open it with OpenOffice Writer, Abiword, gedit. All give a message that 
indicates there is something wrong with the file format - character encoding, 
damaged file etc. But when I use less to view the contents I get an initial 
warning that the file may be binary (fair enough, it is) then it shows me the 
content I more or less expected, though horribly unformatted and hard to 
read. 

It is all text that I want, no figures or graphics. As far as I know I could 
cut and paste from less, or use a hex editor, but that is horribly tedious 
for 35 pages or so of text. Anyone have a suggestion?

dave
ps - F7 up to date

-- 
In modern fantasy (literary or governmental), killing people is the usual 
solution to the so-called war between good and evil. My books are not 
conceived in terms of such a war, and offer no simple answers to simplistic 
questions.

-- Ursula K. LeGuin