Cannot open project files - Doesn't anyone have a solution?

I am using Project 2003 Pro SP2. I have a bout a dozen inserted projects
using a common resource pool. Yesterday whe I was shutting down (File/Close)
for the day Project prompted me to save the individual inserted projects as
normal and I selectected "Yes To All" as usual. However when the files were
done saving the master project did not close. After a couple of tries it
finally closed.

This morning I came in and opened the master project and it opened normally
however two inserted projects (about 200 tasks each) will not open. I get a
"File cannot be found" message. So I tried opening them up individually from
Project and I get a message that "Project cannot open the file". So I tried
opening them from Explorer and get the same "Project cannot open the file"
message. I checked with the project manager and he did not have the file
open, and no one else did either.

I really need to recover this file as it contains actual and accounting
information. Is there any way to do this? I have read the replies to folks
with the same problem and no one seems to have a solution. I read a posing on
"File Bloat", but the solution will not work for me as I cannot open the
files at all to be able to save them in the database format. Please help!!!

Gary
Wed Nov 02 07:48:08 CST 2005

Kevin:

When files become corrupt, there's not much you can do except revert to a
backup.

--


Gary L. Chefetz, MVP
"We wrote the books on Project Server"
http://www.msprojectexperts.com

For Project Server FAQs visit
http://www.projectserverexperts.com

For Project FAQs visit
http://www.mvps.org/project


"Kevin Newman" <KevinNewman@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:E1BF3DD9-D061-4742-9CF8-F4F4D0FF72FD@microsoft.com...
>I am using Project 2003 Pro SP2. I have a bout a dozen inserted projects
> using a common resource pool. Yesterday whe I was shutting down
> (File/Close)
> for the day Project prompted me to save the individual inserted projects
> as
> normal and I selectected "Yes To All" as usual. However when the files
> were
> done saving the master project did not close. After a couple of tries it
> finally closed.
>
> This morning I came in and opened the master project and it opened
> normally
> however two inserted projects (about 200 tasks each) will not open. I get
> a
> "File cannot be found" message. So I tried opening them up individually
> from
> Project and I get a message that "Project cannot open the file". So I
> tried
> opening them from Explorer and get the same "Project cannot open the file"
> message. I checked with the project manager and he did not have the file
> open, and no one else did either.
>
> I really need to recover this file as it contains actual and accounting
> information. Is there any way to do this? I have read the replies to folks
> with the same problem and no one seems to have a solution. I read a posing
> on
> "File Bloat", but the solution will not work for me as I cannot open the
> files at all to be able to save them in the database format. Please
> help!!!

KevinNewman
Wed Nov 02 08:08:06 CST 2005

Thank you Gary. Thats what I am doing. Our shared drive is backed up daily so
I am having our IT group restore the files from the day before yesterday.
Just wondering if there was a quicker solution. It typically takes a day or
so to get restorations from our IT group.

Thanks again.

Kevin

"Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]" wrote:

> Kevin:
>
> When files become corrupt, there's not much you can do except revert to a
> backup.
>
> --
>
>
> Gary L. Chefetz, MVP
> "We wrote the books on Project Server"
> http://www.msprojectexperts.com
>
> For Project Server FAQs visit
> http://www.projectserverexperts.com
>
> For Project FAQs visit
> http://www.mvps.org/project
>
>
> "Kevin Newman" <KevinNewman@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:E1BF3DD9-D061-4742-9CF8-F4F4D0FF72FD@microsoft.com...
> >I am using Project 2003 Pro SP2. I have a bout a dozen inserted projects
> > using a common resource pool. Yesterday whe I was shutting down
> > (File/Close)
> > for the day Project prompted me to save the individual inserted projects
> > as
> > normal and I selectected "Yes To All" as usual. However when the files
> > were
> > done saving the master project did not close. After a couple of tries it
> > finally closed.
> >
> > This morning I came in and opened the master project and it opened
> > normally
> > however two inserted projects (about 200 tasks each) will not open. I get
> > a
> > "File cannot be found" message. So I tried opening them up individually
> > from
> > Project and I get a message that "Project cannot open the file". So I
> > tried
> > opening them from Explorer and get the same "Project cannot open the file"
> > message. I checked with the project manager and he did not have the file
> > open, and no one else did either.
> >
> > I really need to recover this file as it contains actual and accounting
> > information. Is there any way to do this? I have read the replies to folks
> > with the same problem and no one seems to have a solution. I read a posing
> > on
> > "File Bloat", but the solution will not work for me as I cannot open the
> > files at all to be able to save them in the database format. Please
> > help!!!
>
>
>

Mike
Wed Nov 02 10:59:44 CST 2005

Hi Kevin,

I don't know whether this will work or not, but try opening a new file and
then inserting the bad one. You might be lucky!

Mike Glen
MS Project MVP

Kevin Newman wrote:
> Thank you Gary. Thats what I am doing. Our shared drive is backed up
> daily so I am having our IT group restore the files from the day
> before yesterday. Just wondering if there was a quicker solution. It
> typically takes a day or so to get restorations from our IT group.
>
> Thanks again.
>
> Kevin
>
> "Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]" wrote:
>
>> Kevin:
>>
>> When files become corrupt, there's not much you can do except revert
>> to a backup.
>>
>> --
>>
>>
>> Gary L. Chefetz, MVP
>> "We wrote the books on Project Server"
>> http://www.msprojectexperts.com
>>
>> For Project Server FAQs visit
>> http://www.projectserverexperts.com
>>
>> For Project FAQs visit
>> http://www.mvps.org/project
>>
>>
>> "Kevin Newman" <KevinNewman@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
>> message news:E1BF3DD9-D061-4742-9CF8-F4F4D0FF72FD@microsoft.com...
>>> I am using Project 2003 Pro SP2. I have a bout a dozen inserted
>>> projects using a common resource pool. Yesterday whe I was shutting
>>> down (File/Close)
>>> for the day Project prompted me to save the individual inserted
>>> projects as
>>> normal and I selectected "Yes To All" as usual. However when the
>>> files were
>>> done saving the master project did not close. After a couple of
>>> tries it finally closed.
>>>
>>> This morning I came in and opened the master project and it opened
>>> normally
>>> however two inserted projects (about 200 tasks each) will not open.
>>> I get a
>>> "File cannot be found" message. So I tried opening them up
>>> individually from
>>> Project and I get a message that "Project cannot open the file". So
>>> I tried
>>> opening them from Explorer and get the same "Project cannot open
>>> the file" message. I checked with the project manager and he did
>>> not have the file open, and no one else did either.
>>>
>>> I really need to recover this file as it contains actual and
>>> accounting information. Is there any way to do this? I have read
>>> the replies to folks with the same problem and no one seems to have
>>> a solution. I read a posing on
>>> "File Bloat", but the solution will not work for me as I cannot
>>> open the files at all to be able to save them in the database
>>> format. Please help!!!

Steven
Wed Nov 02 16:39:03 CST 2005

It won't help you today but in future, you can set MS Project to
automatically create a backup for you. That way, you never need to worry if
you have a backup or not or how long it will take tech support to restore it
for you.

"Kevin Newman" wrote:

> I am using Project 2003 Pro SP2. I have a bout a dozen inserted projects
> using a common resource pool. Yesterday whe I was shutting down (File/Close)
> for the day Project prompted me to save the individual inserted projects as
> normal and I selectected "Yes To All" as usual. However when the files were
> done saving the master project did not close. After a couple of tries it
> finally closed.
>
> This morning I came in and opened the master project and it opened normally
> however two inserted projects (about 200 tasks each) will not open. I get a
> "File cannot be found" message. So I tried opening them up individually from
> Project and I get a message that "Project cannot open the file". So I tried
> opening them from Explorer and get the same "Project cannot open the file"
> message. I checked with the project manager and he did not have the file
> open, and no one else did either.
>
> I really need to recover this file as it contains actual and accounting
> information. Is there any way to do this? I have read the replies to folks
> with the same problem and no one seems to have a solution. I read a posing on
> "File Bloat", but the solution will not work for me as I cannot open the
> files at all to be able to save them in the database format. Please help!!!

KevinNewman
Fri Nov 04 13:47:01 CST 2005

Thanks for the suggestion Mike, but Project didn't recognize the corrupted
file.

As a side note I still haven't gotten the backups from my IT folks yet.

"Mike Glen" wrote:

> Hi Kevin,
>
> I don't know whether this will work or not, but try opening a new file and
> then inserting the bad one. You might be lucky!
>
> Mike Glen
> MS Project MVP
>
> Kevin Newman wrote:
> > Thank you Gary. Thats what I am doing. Our shared drive is backed up
> > daily so I am having our IT group restore the files from the day
> > before yesterday. Just wondering if there was a quicker solution. It
> > typically takes a day or so to get restorations from our IT group.
> >
> > Thanks again.
> >
> > Kevin
> >
> > "Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]" wrote:
> >
> >> Kevin:
> >>
> >> When files become corrupt, there's not much you can do except revert
> >> to a backup.
> >>
> >> --
> >>
> >>
> >> Gary L. Chefetz, MVP
> >> "We wrote the books on Project Server"
> >> http://www.msprojectexperts.com
> >>
> >> For Project Server FAQs visit
> >> http://www.projectserverexperts.com
> >>
> >> For Project FAQs visit
> >> http://www.mvps.org/project
> >>
> >>
> >> "Kevin Newman" <KevinNewman@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
> >> message news:E1BF3DD9-D061-4742-9CF8-F4F4D0FF72FD@microsoft.com...
> >>> I am using Project 2003 Pro SP2. I have a bout a dozen inserted
> >>> projects using a common resource pool. Yesterday whe I was shutting
> >>> down (File/Close)
> >>> for the day Project prompted me to save the individual inserted
> >>> projects as
> >>> normal and I selectected "Yes To All" as usual. However when the
> >>> files were
> >>> done saving the master project did not close. After a couple of
> >>> tries it finally closed.
> >>>
> >>> This morning I came in and opened the master project and it opened
> >>> normally
> >>> however two inserted projects (about 200 tasks each) will not open.
> >>> I get a
> >>> "File cannot be found" message. So I tried opening them up
> >>> individually from
> >>> Project and I get a message that "Project cannot open the file". So
> >>> I tried
> >>> opening them from Explorer and get the same "Project cannot open
> >>> the file" message. I checked with the project manager and he did
> >>> not have the file open, and no one else did either.
> >>>
> >>> I really need to recover this file as it contains actual and
> >>> accounting information. Is there any way to do this? I have read
> >>> the replies to folks with the same problem and no one seems to have
> >>> a solution. I read a posing on
> >>> "File Bloat", but the solution will not work for me as I cannot
> >>> open the files at all to be able to save them in the database
> >>> format. Please help!!!
>
>
>
>

KevinNewman
Fri Nov 04 13:48:03 CST 2005

Steven,

Thanks. I've never set it up to create backups.

Does it create a backup for the Resource Pool or for the inserted projects
or both?

Or do I have to set each individual project to automatically create a backup?

Kevin

"Steven Spears" wrote:

> It won't help you today but in future, you can set MS Project to
> automatically create a backup for you. That way, you never need to worry if
> you have a backup or not or how long it will take tech support to restore it
> for you.
>
> "Kevin Newman" wrote:
>
> > I am using Project 2003 Pro SP2. I have a bout a dozen inserted projects
> > using a common resource pool. Yesterday whe I was shutting down (File/Close)
> > for the day Project prompted me to save the individual inserted projects as
> > normal and I selectected "Yes To All" as usual. However when the files were
> > done saving the master project did not close. After a couple of tries it
> > finally closed.
> >
> > This morning I came in and opened the master project and it opened normally
> > however two inserted projects (about 200 tasks each) will not open. I get a
> > "File cannot be found" message. So I tried opening them up individually from
> > Project and I get a message that "Project cannot open the file". So I tried
> > opening them from Explorer and get the same "Project cannot open the file"
> > message. I checked with the project manager and he did not have the file
> > open, and no one else did either.
> >
> > I really need to recover this file as it contains actual and accounting
> > information. Is there any way to do this? I have read the replies to folks
> > with the same problem and no one seems to have a solution. I read a posing on
> > "File Bloat", but the solution will not work for me as I cannot open the
> > files at all to be able to save them in the database format. Please help!!!

StevenSpears
Fri Nov 04 14:11:06 CST 2005

Hi Kevin,
You can set it up globally so that all projects are backed up when they are
created. They become a copy in the same directory you story your files.
What I do is simple move these backups to another directory or disk so that
even if the one directory or disk was corrupted, I still have my projects.
The backup does keep all project information so you would have your resorces,
costs, budgets etc still there within the projects.

"Kevin Newman" wrote:

> Steven,
>
> Thanks. I've never set it up to create backups.
>
> Does it create a backup for the Resource Pool or for the inserted projects
> or both?
>
> Or do I have to set each individual project to automatically create a backup?
>
> Kevin
>
> "Steven Spears" wrote:
>
> > It won't help you today but in future, you can set MS Project to
> > automatically create a backup for you. That way, you never need to worry if
> > you have a backup or not or how long it will take tech support to restore it
> > for you.
> >
> > "Kevin Newman" wrote:
> >
> > > I am using Project 2003 Pro SP2. I have a bout a dozen inserted projects
> > > using a common resource pool. Yesterday whe I was shutting down (File/Close)
> > > for the day Project prompted me to save the individual inserted projects as
> > > normal and I selectected "Yes To All" as usual. However when the files were
> > > done saving the master project did not close. After a couple of tries it
> > > finally closed.
> > >
> > > This morning I came in and opened the master project and it opened normally
> > > however two inserted projects (about 200 tasks each) will not open. I get a
> > > "File cannot be found" message. So I tried opening them up individually from
> > > Project and I get a message that "Project cannot open the file". So I tried
> > > opening them from Explorer and get the same "Project cannot open the file"
> > > message. I checked with the project manager and he did not have the file
> > > open, and no one else did either.
> > >
> > > I really need to recover this file as it contains actual and accounting
> > > information. Is there any way to do this? I have read the replies to folks
> > > with the same problem and no one seems to have a solution. I read a posing on
> > > "File Bloat", but the solution will not work for me as I cannot open the
> > > files at all to be able to save them in the database format. Please help!!!

Mike
Sat Nov 05 10:17:16 CST 2005

That's a shame :( It reinforces the essential need for regular backups!

Mike Glen
Project MVP

Kevin Newman wrote:
> Thanks for the suggestion Mike, but Project didn't recognize the
> corrupted file.
>
> As a side note I still haven't gotten the backups from my IT folks
> yet.
>
> "Mike Glen" wrote:
>
>> Hi Kevin,
>>
>> I don't know whether this will work or not, but try opening a new
>> file and then inserting the bad one. You might be lucky!
>>
>> Mike Glen
>> MS Project MVP
>>
>> Kevin Newman wrote:
>>> Thank you Gary. Thats what I am doing. Our shared drive is backed up
>>> daily so I am having our IT group restore the files from the day
>>> before yesterday. Just wondering if there was a quicker solution. It
>>> typically takes a day or so to get restorations from our IT group.
>>>
>>> Thanks again.
>>>
>>> Kevin
>>>
>>> "Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]" wrote:
>>>
>>>> Kevin:
>>>>
>>>> When files become corrupt, there's not much you can do except
>>>> revert to a backup.
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Gary L. Chefetz, MVP
>>>> "We wrote the books on Project Server"
>>>> http://www.msprojectexperts.com
>>>>
>>>> For Project Server FAQs visit
>>>> http://www.projectserverexperts.com
>>>>
>>>> For Project FAQs visit
>>>> http://www.mvps.org/project
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> "Kevin Newman" <KevinNewman@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
>>>> message news:E1BF3DD9-D061-4742-9CF8-F4F4D0FF72FD@microsoft.com...
>>>>> I am using Project 2003 Pro SP2. I have a bout a dozen inserted
>>>>> projects using a common resource pool. Yesterday whe I was
>>>>> shutting down (File/Close)
>>>>> for the day Project prompted me to save the individual inserted
>>>>> projects as
>>>>> normal and I selectected "Yes To All" as usual. However when the
>>>>> files were
>>>>> done saving the master project did not close. After a couple of
>>>>> tries it finally closed.
>>>>>
>>>>> This morning I came in and opened the master project and it opened
>>>>> normally
>>>>> however two inserted projects (about 200 tasks each) will not
>>>>> open. I get a
>>>>> "File cannot be found" message. So I tried opening them up
>>>>> individually from
>>>>> Project and I get a message that "Project cannot open the file".
>>>>> So I tried
>>>>> opening them from Explorer and get the same "Project cannot open
>>>>> the file" message. I checked with the project manager and he did
>>>>> not have the file open, and no one else did either.
>>>>>
>>>>> I really need to recover this file as it contains actual and
>>>>> accounting information. Is there any way to do this? I have read
>>>>> the replies to folks with the same problem and no one seems to
>>>>> have a solution. I read a posing on
>>>>> "File Bloat", but the solution will not work for me as I cannot
>>>>> open the files at all to be able to save them in the database
>>>>> format. Please help!!!

Rob
Sun Nov 06 12:08:25 CST 2005

Kevin,

You may wish to consider doing your Project mpp backups to your hard
disk c: into a special folder, e.g. c:\backup\, in addition to the
officially-sponsored-but-not-usefull IT-sponsored backup ...

Kevin Newman wrote:
> Thanks for the suggestion Mike, but Project didn't recognize the corrupted
> file.
>
> As a side note I still haven't gotten the backups from my IT folks yet.
>
> "Mike Glen" wrote:
>
>
>>Hi Kevin,
>>
>>I don't know whether this will work or not, but try opening a new file and
>>then inserting the bad one. You might be lucky!
>>
>>Mike Glen
>>MS Project MVP
>>
>> Kevin Newman wrote:
>>
>>>Thank you Gary. Thats what I am doing. Our shared drive is backed up
>>>daily so I am having our IT group restore the files from the day
>>>before yesterday. Just wondering if there was a quicker solution. It
>>>typically takes a day or so to get restorations from our IT group.
>>>
>>>Thanks again.
>>>
>>>Kevin
>>>
>>>"Gary L. Chefetz [MVP]" wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>Kevin:
>>>>
>>>>When files become corrupt, there's not much you can do except revert
>>>>to a backup.
>>>>
>>>>--
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Gary L. Chefetz, MVP
>>>>"We wrote the books on Project Server"
>>>>http://www.msprojectexperts.com
>>>>
>>>>For Project Server FAQs visit
>>>>http://www.projectserverexperts.com
>>>>
>>>>For Project FAQs visit
>>>>http://www.mvps.org/project
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>"Kevin Newman" <KevinNewman@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
>>>>message news:E1BF3DD9-D061-4742-9CF8-F4F4D0FF72FD@microsoft.com...
>>>>
>>>>>I am using Project 2003 Pro SP2. I have a bout a dozen inserted
>>>>>projects using a common resource pool. Yesterday whe I was shutting
>>>>>down (File/Close)
>>>>>for the day Project prompted me to save the individual inserted
>>>>>projects as
>>>>>normal and I selectected "Yes To All" as usual. However when the
>>>>>files were
>>>>>done saving the master project did not close. After a couple of
>>>>>tries it finally closed.
>>>>>
>>>>>This morning I came in and opened the master project and it opened
>>>>>normally
>>>>>however two inserted projects (about 200 tasks each) will not open.
>>>>>I get a
>>>>>"File cannot be found" message. So I tried opening them up
>>>>>individually from
>>>>>Project and I get a message that "Project cannot open the file". So
>>>>>I tried
>>>>>opening them from Explorer and get the same "Project cannot open
>>>>>the file" message. I checked with the project manager and he did
>>>>>not have the file open, and no one else did either.
>>>>>
>>>>>I really need to recover this file as it contains actual and
>>>>>accounting information. Is there any way to do this? I have read
>>>>>the replies to folks with the same problem and no one seems to have
>>>>>a solution. I read a posing on
>>>>>"File Bloat", but the solution will not work for me as I cannot
>>>>>open the files at all to be able to save them in the database
>>>>>format. Please help!!!
>>
>>
>>
>>