How can I open Appleworks files in Leopard?

Question

I installed Leopard as an upgrade on my MacBook without problems. Everything seemed to open and print on my Epson Stylus CX7800 without problems; I was able to scan and print from a scanned file without difficulty; there was even an enhanced print dialog which was great. HOWEVER, when I opened files created with Appleworks 6.2.9, or created and successfully saved a new document and I attempted to print it AppleWorks and the print dialogue either locked up or crashed. I tried massaging everything I knew of but still was unable to print any AppleWorks document. I get the print screen and click print but nothing, nada happens. I cannot print to PDF on the left hand dropdown either.
I repaired permissions (both before and after installing Leopard) and have also dumped AppleWorks preference file, then restarting all to no avail. I cannot open the Appleworks files with either Pages or Keynote (did not even recognize the word processing files). When I attempt to, they crash after appearing to open a word processing file but all I got was gibberish! I attempted to open the files with Adobe 8 but it would recognize them and seemed to open them but then I got a "cannot open" message.
I have heard that trying to use Leopard with AppleWorks can cause a corruption of the hard drive. Is this true? I did find a way to solve my immediate problem but it is not one I like at all. I finally wiped one segment of my external 250GB drive and installed Tiger on it, then copied all my files to that segment. I can load and print Appleworks normally as before. I guess that is one kind of "fix" if a bit unwieldy since I prefer to use my MacBook from my reclining chair because of severe arthritis. ( I will again be out of the loop for awhile as my right knee is being replaced tomorrow.)
I am so curious as to why some seem to be able to use their AppleWorks. I did install Leopard as an update rather than wiping my HD and doing a new install. Should I delete AppleWorks and all associated files and reinstall AppleWorks and reinstall Leopard from scratch? Do you think that would help? I would appreciate any help anyone can give me as there are other problems with Leopard but less onerous than this one. Anyone out there to help the thousands of us who have used AppleWorks extensively as educators?
MacBook 2GHz Intel Core Duo with 2 GB 67 MHz DDR2 SDRAM and Leopard 10.5.1

Answer 1

I have heard that trying to use Leopard with AppleWorks can cause a corruption of the hard drive. Is this true?
No, not at all. AppleWorks actually runs better in Leopard on both my PPC & Intel Macs than it did in Tiger. I have found AppleWorks to be faster & more stable in Leopard on an Intel than any other system I've used.
I repaired permissions (both before and after installing Leopard) and have also dumped AppleWorks preference file, then restarting all to no avail.
There are more than one AppleWorks preferences to delete. Only deleting the .plist or just the files in the AppleWorks folder in Preferences will not work. They must all be deleted at the same time. Take a look at this user tip, AppleWorks has stopped working correctly.
Deleting the preferences often fixes printing problems. Also, make sure you have the newest driver for your printer from the manufacturer's web site.
I did install Leopard as an update rather than wiping my HD and doing a new install. Should I delete AppleWorks and all associated files and reinstall AppleWorks and reinstall Leopard from scratch?
Possibly. I chose to do erase & install with migrating users & data for all of my Macs. I did try the upgrade with the MacBook Pro & it was a disaster with failure to start up after installing Leopard. I was willing to take the chance because everything on my MacBook Pro is on my desktop Mac.