Quoted from Shelton The "Unexpected File Format" message sounds like it's trying to open the file with something other than FD.  Can you right click, select "open with", then choose FD from a list?

Yeah, it was set to open in something else, but yes, I had tried
Open With" before my previous message.

Quoted from Scar Tissue Films I had this problem very recently, the day before a very important deadline. The fucker deleted my whole file. Do you have any other hardrives attached? Or a pen drive? It sometimes saves a little bit of the file onto something it's not supposed to. Put them all back in and search again. For me it just suddenly decided to work again on about the third time I restarted my computer

It was saved directly to my external. Full search of the computer came up with nothing.

Quoted from Breanne Mattson I had this happen once with Final Draft 8. I closed the program and opened my documents and found it with all my other Final Draft files. I opened it from there and voilà, it was back. Breanne

I hope that happens, but I'm honestly not holding my breath.

Trouble is, I found it. I mean, I have it. It just won't open in FD despite being a .fdr file. Are there any file-type converters that I could change it to, then change it back?

-Sean

Quoted from Mr. Blonde Yeah, it was set to open in something else, but yes, I had tried Open With" before my previous message.

Okay.  The way it was described sounded like you tried it a different way.  Which version of FD are you using, and did you have a previous version at some point?

As far as conversion goes, you may be able to right click the file, then use the save as option to save it as an rtf doc.

Quoted from Shelton Okay.  The way it was described sounded like you tried it a different way.  Which version of FD are you using, and did you have a previous version at some point? As far as conversion goes, you may be able to right click the file, then use the save as option to save it as an rtf doc.

I'm using 7 and no.

I'll try the Save As. Thanks.

-Sean

Ok, I'm starting tofigure this out.

It seems with this recovery program that every file I retrieved (I got other old ones; files and videos), they are all corrupted and won't open.

Corrupted, to me, means it's dead, for all intents and purposes.

Now, the question becomes, "How to uncorrupt?"

-Sean

P.S. I hate this.

Once things are corrupted it is very unlikely to be able to uncorrupt them.  The exception would be something like a zip file which has tools to let you uncorrupt it.  I don't think final draft has any uncorrupt tools.

Quoted from mcornetto Once things are corrupted it is very unlikely to be able to uncorrupt them.  The exception would be something like a zip file which has tools to let you uncorrupt it.  I don't think final draft has any uncorrupt tools.

Thanks, Michael.

On that note, I'm out of the 7WC. Lol.

-Sean

Keep trying different ways.

Like I say, it did this to me and then one time it simply opened up as normal.

Also try opening it in final draft itself, rather than clicking on it.

Did you try making a PDF of the file you have?  Try right clicking it and going to PDF view or print PDF.  See if you can get a hardcopy of it.  Or split it with HJ split and put it back together... That has worked wonders for me in dealing with broken html code before.

I had this problem before except with all my scripts over all my devices they are backed up on and after all the people who tried to help here and the customer support at FD... you are pretty much screwed.

I lost a script that I had written and it didn't save and rewrote all over again just to have "Unexpected File Format" ruin the thing.

Sounds like the same problem, you should check everything else just in case.

Sean, we have to find out whether it's the file or the program.

If you want to send me the file via email (if you trust me!) I can try and open it in my FD. If it opens, it's your program. If it doesn't open, it's the file.

Please do not give up now, when there are heaps of suggestions here.

Hey, I have a text editor that I opened a good fdr file in and I scrolled down a bit t find the entire text of the script in perfectly readable format. Sometimes, you just have to scroll past the garbage. You can also send the file to me and I'll see if I can do anything with what I have. I've done my share of hacking. mailto:willson3@valornet.com

Continue to not give up. Don't delete it yet.

Wes's problem was an utter corruption. His file had a complete set of null characters, so he was completely screwed. Maybe you'll be luckier. If you send it, I can tell you pretty quick whether it's worth it or not.

Quoted from Tommyp Sean, we have to find out whether it's the file or the program. If you want to send me the file via email (if you trust me!) I can try and open it in my FD. If it opens, it's your program. If it doesn't open, it's the file. Please do not give up now, when there are heaps of suggestions here.

Quoted from George Wilson Hey, I have a text editor that I opened a good fdr file in and I scrolled down a bit t find the entire text of the script in perfectly readable format. Sometimes, you just have to scroll past the garbage. You can also send the file to me and I'll see if I can do anything with what I have. I've done my share of hacking. mailto:willson3@valornet.com Continue to not give up. Don't delete it yet. Wes's problem was an utter corruption. His file had a complete set of null characters, so he was completely screwed. Maybe you'll be luckier. If you send it, I can tell you pretty quick whether it's worth it or not.

Thank you both. E-mails were sent.

And, thank you to everyone who offered to help or gave a suggestion. I really appreciate it. =)

-Sean