Because Microsoft Works aims to offer a less expensive alternative to Microsoft Office, its features are, conversely, not as complex. For that reason, it does not provide a recovery tool, which makes process of retrieving lost files quite difficult. There are several third-party applications that might come in handy for this task, but you will find them very expensive, and therefore, it is more indicated to try solutions within the frame of the Microsoft application itself.
First of all, you might try to add a recognizable extension to the file that you are now dealing with - such as .RTF, .TXT or .DOC. If that does not work, and you are still unable to open the file, you might try using a different word-processing program in order to access it (such as WordPad or NotePad, for instance). One way to proceed is to right-click on the damaged file, then select "Open With," and finally, choose WordPad. Another way to try this recovery method is to first open WordPad itself, then, in the "File" menu, select "Open," and choose the damaged file that you are trying to recover. When the program asks you whether to convert the file, you should choose "No Conversion." If, after these steps, you will finally be able to access the file, you might encounter a stream of jumbled characters in it, alongside your own text. You need not worry about this, just delete the extra characters. Afterward, you should be able to save and, eventually, open the file as a Works WP document again.
