LibreOffice Writer file will not open -- "file format error found at __,__ (row,col)"

LibreOffice Writer file will not open – “file format error found at , (row,col)”

A similar question was asked 9/8/13 (Can't open LibreOffice Word file: get message file format error found at 6520,7. How can I salvage this document please?), but the answer given there does not work now: “seem to have solved it by starting new Writer file and inserting the old file I couldn’t open” and “Fix was to open a new Writer window, choose menu INSERT/TEXT FROM FILE and point to the sick document. It displayed correctly so I saved as ODT.” There is no “Insert text from file” that I can find in the current version. What can I do? Incidentally, I saved the original file as rtf, in case that matters.

How was the file produced?

There is no “Insert text from file” that I can find in the current version.

Oh yes: Insert>Insert text from file... [Version: 6.4.2.2 (x64)]

  1. A document can have infinite number of ways to get corrupted. If one corruption could be solved using some technique, doesn’t necessarily mean that another corruption can also be solved like that. Possibly only providing the file to check its structure could help.
  2. Another problem is if LO produces such corrupt files. That would definitely be a bug. If you know which your operations/contents gives that, please file a bug.
  3. Anyway, bugs/incomplete support is much more likely in foreign formats, and it’s not advised to use external formats for day-to-day usage. Using ODF and only exporting to external formats when absolutely necessary (keeping original in ODF) is the recommended way.

Although there was no “Insert text from file,” under Insert in the dropdown menu at the bottom of the list of 27 items was “document.” It didn’t occur to me at the time to try that. Today I did, and the whole document pasted, but a small window popped up saying, “Read error. Error reading file.” After I clicked OK I saved it with a new name, and I was able to reopen it with no problems. That was a relief. The document was very important.
Thanks to the people who offered suggestions.