help with file recovery?

[Todd Denniston]

Dave Stevens wrote, On 05/09/2008 03:02 PM:
> Hi,
> 
> I have a MS Word file from several years ago that I want to look at. 

Are you sure it is Word and not Write or Works?
I had one from Write which a decade later I wanted the data from, I ended up 
having to find an OLD version of Word (the new ones did not handle it) to open 
the file and then save as Word95, so I could then use OOo.
I expect similar or worse from a Works document.

> 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?
> 
If you have a friend who is still infected with MS products, you could ask for 
help converting to a newer format.

But since you don't care about the figures/graphics the easiest Unix way is:
strings file.doc > file.unformatted.txt
then pull that into your favorite editor to apply formatting.

-- 
Todd Denniston
Crane Division, Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC Crane)
Harnessing the Power of Technology for the Warfighter