Do I open Libre office in safe mode, or do something else to retrieve the doc that I need desperately?
Here is what I would do in your situation
- Don’t move the document.
- Make a backup COPY of the document in question, in a different place or with a different name (leaving the original file in its original place, with its original name).
- Open LibreOffice normally. Usually at this point a screen will open in which LibreOffice will offer to recover whatever you were working on when the crash occurred. Accept the option to recover the document.
- Once LibreOffice opens and you have your document, SAVE it, and then save it often as you are working on it.
Do not open in safe mode!