Can't open .asd file

The strange thing about Microsoft Word is that if you try to open a '.asd' file that is not in the Recovery Folder (usually %AppData%\Microsoft\Word), then it will refuse to recognize it altogether! But if you put the very same file in the Recovery Folder (or even in a subdirectory of the Recovery Folder), then Word will open it without so much as a whisper of complaint! So:

1. Open an Explorer window, paste %AppData%\Microsoft\Word into the Address Bar and hit Enter.

   

2. Copy and paste your *.asd file into the open folder and open it.

3. It will ask, 'How do you wish to open this type of file (.asd)?'

   

4. Choose 'More options'

5. Tick the box for 'Use this application for all .asd files'

6. Scroll down to 'Word (desktop)' and click on it.

   

7. Home and dry! Your file can now be recovered! You just need to save it as a word document.

   

If ms word crashed due to some reason, and you had set autosave duration to some very small value, like 1 min, then this last file saved 1 minute ago, and additional text (since the 2 min ago auto saved version), but, this file doesn't open successfully in ms word.

As soon as it opens, the event that caused the previous crash, somehow reoccurs every time, and the warning window appears that "search online for solution/ close file and restart word."

And that window doesn't allow you to access original ms word window, in which this file is very much open and is clearly visible in text.

So, some NON-MS Word option is required to open this last autosaved version with "crash code" inbuilt in that.

Say, asd files are zipped files, like docx, xlsx files, and those can get openeing in .7z and show 4-5 individual files, in which one file "Worddocument" is the biggest, meaning that has the full text.

But if you view/ open that file in some text editor or wordpad, that appears as junk characters, meaning word has used some compresion/ coding technique in that.

Ms word viewer is not able to open that, saying it is created in a newer version of ms word.

And that WordDocument file doesn't open in Ms word, as trying to open that file in ms word brings error message saying this is part of autosaved version, so use Recover option within Ms word, that brings us back to square one, as trying to recover in ms word will crash that again.

So, 1. If we can bypass that warning window with "search online for solution/ close file and restart word." and access the already open and visible file, we can just copy paste the text and save it somewhere.

2. If we can decompress/ decodify this Wordcument found within asd file, we can recover full text, upto 1 min ago.

3. I wonder if other office brands (star office, Libreoffice use the same technique and can open that, I have not tried, but as they are already able to convert docx/ xlsx files to their own formats, that is a possibility.

The above method doesn't work for this crisis situation. Hope someone will suggest some method for this.

Though I wonder how do you get such a "crash" file for trying.

I have one such "crash" file, but that is client's private data, I can send for trial by private mail to some of you willing to explore that subject to a gentleman's promise from you that you will keep it private and shall not share it.