Migrate to new Macbook, and to Bento Appleworks won't open

Question

I recently tried to open an appleworks database I have used (infrequently) for many years so I could migrate the database to another database. I'd like to try Bento and if I can't create all the layouts I need I'll use Filemaker.
Appleworks starts to open but crashes when it opens the recent items. I downloaded the latest version since I am running 6.2.7 not 6.2.9, but the installer says it can't find an installation to upgrade.
Do I need to reinstall Appleworks because some library files or something didn't migrate to my new computer?
I've read the details of exporting data from Appleworks and importing to another database. Is there any database that will import my layouts??
Jim

Answer 1

As Yvan said, you likely downloaded the International/UK updater. Since AppleWorks was designated "end-of-life" it is difficult to find the updaters (especially the US/North American) on Apple's site. Here is the page with the links I have for the 6.2.9 updater. The page has a link to the North American updater in the upper right (the blue 15.8 MB) & links to other languages further down. AppleWorks 6.2.9 for Mac
After you do the update, & especially because you've had crashes of AppleWorks, it's a good idea to do two maintenance tasks, one for the system (Repair Permissions) and one for AppleWorks (delete preferences). (Thanks to Barry for this way to format this very common answer.)
To Repair permissions, launch Disk Utility, found in the Utilities folder in your Applications folder, click on First Aid, then on Repair Permissions.
To delete AppleWorks’ preference files, go to HD > Users > (your account) > Library > Preferences. Find and delete the file com.apple.appleworks.plist. Find and open the folder AppleWorks in this Preferences folder, then delete all of the enclosed files (with the exception of the Button Bar Preferences if you have customized the Button Bars). AppleWorks will recreate the preference files as it needs them.