Windows batch converted .txt files to .xml

[TeachGeek1]

Hi

 

I've had an email from our Finance team to say that all of the .txt files that they use within FMS have been converted by Windows to .xml files, which is causing an issue as the supplier that they use only sends and receives in .txt files. I've been told that the conversion has messed the formatting and is rendering these files essentially useless. I've tried converting the files to .txt manually but they don't fix the formatting issue.

 

The main issues I am having is that a) having not seen what the files looked like previously (and all of the files were converted) I can't tell what the formatting is supposed to look like and b) there is no sign that the windows server (where the files are stored) has modified them in the slightest as none of them have modification dates for when this happened (some of them haven't been opened since 2019). Is there any way to convert these files back to where they were or are these files forever lost?

[chaplic]

Seems the finance team is quick to assert that windows somehow magically decided to change file format on a disk

 

Backup, do you have previous versions of the file (right click on properties)?

 

Based on no evidence at all, I suspect your earliest backup will still have these as XML files..

 

But to answer your question assuming it's not a random encoding, and you cannot find the app that's changed these, and you can get a 'known good' .txt file, writing a bit of powershell to turn XML back into txt (CSV, tab delimited ?) is pretty straighforward (obviously depends on how complex the data set is).

[southhamster]

I've found Notepad++ useful for looking at formatting issues. It saved the day once when our school payroll file was inexplicably sent as little endian not big endian and we identified and converted it perfectly in Notepad++.

[6Foot2]

... The main issues I am having is that a) having not seen what the files looked like previously (and all of the files were converted) I can't tell what the formatting is supposed to look like and b) there is no sign that the windows server (where the files are stored) has modified them in the slightest as none of them have modification dates for when this happened (some of them haven't been opened since 2019). Is there any way to convert these files back to where they were or are these files forever lost?

Can you restore some (or all) of the "converted" files from backup, prior to "conversion", to an alternate location?

 

While the restored files may not be current (in that they may not hold the latest data) it will allow you to see:

 

• The correct formatting prior to "conversion"
  
• The expected (correct) format for the files.
  

Edited August 18, 2023 by 6Foot2

[Steve21]

Are you sure by txt they don’t mean docx files?

 

Never seen FMS using txt files, but sometimes the office xml handler has a wwobbly and can open them as xml rather than docx etc

 

Steve

[Roberto]

Is there any way to convert these files back to where they were or are these files forever lost?

 

Are you not backing these files up? It seems to me that a quick look at backups from before the files were changed will tell you everything you need to know about their correct format, etc. Not to mention that you can presumably just restore 99% of the files there?