How to restore corrupted files?

Question

I have a file that I can't reopen because MMa was "Not Responding" and I had to shut it down.

I executed those two instructions in a new notebook, but no "NotebookRestore dialogue" appeared, whatever that is.

What am I missing here?

http://mathematica.stackexchange.com/search?q=[notebooks]+corrupted — Dr. belisarius, Sep 02 '15 at 07:27
@belisarius Not one useful answer in any of that. I tried Daniel W's CleanNotebookOpen[] program, but the Import[] failed because of the corruption. — Jerry Guern, Sep 02 '15 at 08:02
@belisarius MMa seems to be upset that the file doesn't end properly, so it won't open it at all. Is there some way I can just pick a spot in the text file and insert an is will like? — Jerry Guern, Sep 02 '15 at 08:04
I don't know of anything of general applicability, sorry. Been there a few times with different outcomes.Mostly an artisan trade. — Dr. belisarius, Sep 02 '15 at 08:13
I'd use a simple ASCII editor to open the file and see whether it would be possible to salvage complete cells from it and perhaps try to close unclosed (because of missing closing brackets) function code. — Sjoerd C. de Vries, Sep 02 '15 at 08:43
Can you try the following, but with a copy of your corrupted file: Needs["AuthorTools`"]; NotebookRestore[] — , Sep 02 '15 at 09:11
@Lou THAT WORKED!!! Thank you, you saved me many hours of pain and irritation. If you want to put that into an Answer, I'll Accept it and your heroism will receive wider acknowledgment. — Jerry Guern, Sep 02 '15 at 10:47
Be sure to use something like https://github.com/joshburkart/mathematica-autobackup in the future. — masterxilo, Mar 10 '17 at 22:18

score 31 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 02 '15 at 13:05

31

You can try the following, but with a copy of your corrupted file:

Needs["AuthorTools`"] 
NotebookRestore[]

which opens a new window.

N.B.: works on "10.0.2.0 for Mac OS X x86 (64-bit) (December 4, 2014)"

answered Sep 02 '15 at 13:05

THAT WORKED! Thank you! – Jerry Guern Sep 02 '15 at 14:22
1

If you type Import a Browse icon will pop up, then if you click on your corrupt file, MMa will fill in the complete path to the file, which you can then cut-paste into the brackets in NotebookRestore[]. – Jerry Guern Sep 02 '15 at 14:28
1

@JerryGuern there's also the Insert>File path menu – Sjoerd C. de Vries Sep 03 '15 at 17:02
@SjoerdC.deVries I had a feeling that if I posted my clunky method someone would post something better. Thank you! – Jerry Guern Sep 03 '15 at 17:17
2

link to this on the support site http://support.wolfram.com/kb/12423. One does wonder why the front end doesn't just offer to do this automatically. – george2079 Aug 26 '16 at 14:03
THAT WORKED! Thank you! i do not how wolfram support not change the help center his page do not work – antonio asis Sep 13 '17 at 22:36
thank you so much for this!!! – user49047 Feb 13 '18 at 12:03

1 Answers1