Opening Appleworks 5 in Vista

Question

I am a teacher and just switched schools. All my files at my old school were made on Appleworks 5 (I prefer that version to Appleworks 6) but my new school uses Microsoft Works. Is there any way I can open all my Appleworks 5 doccuments and convert them to Microsoft Works Word Processor? I would hate to lose all that work! Thanks, Mary

Answer 1

Hi.
This is how i would do it...
1. Methodically gather all of the files into a folder on your Mac desktop. The fewer folders you sort them into, the better.
2. Open Applscript Editor on your Mac and copy the following into the blank window...
property theTranslator : "Word Windows 97, 2000, XP 2002 "
try
tell application "Finder"
set thisFile to choose file
duplicate thisFile
if kind of thisFile is not equal to "Folder" then
set FileName to (name of thisFile) as text
set Filenamelength to length of FileName
set Suffix to ".doc"
if file type of thisFile is "CWWP" then
-- set currentPath to currentFile as text -- AW6 wants a path, not an alias -- alias ref is ok
if FileName ends with ".cwk" then
set nameCount to count of characters in FileName
set FileName to ¬
(characters 1 through (nameCount - 4) of FileName as string)
end if
if Filenamelength > 27 then
set TopLimit to (Filenamelength + (27 - Filenamelength))
copy characters 1 through TopLimit of FileName as string to NewFilename
set NewFilename to NewFilename & Suffix
else
set NewFilename to FileName & Suffix
end if
try
set the name of thisFile to NewFilename
on error
set name of thisFile to the text returned of (display dialog "You have duplicate file names. Please rename this file. If the file name entered here is already in use the operation will end and you will need to check for any files not converted." default answer NewFilename)
end try
end if
try
set theCounter to 0 -- initialized variable theCounter
tell application "AppleWorks 6"
activate
open thisFile -- alias reference is ok
save thisFile using translator theTranslator with NewFilename -- fixed the reference
close front document without saving
set theCounter to theCounter + 1
end tell
on error theError
display dialog theError
end try
else
(display dialog "This is not an Appleworks document and will not be converted")
end if
end tell
end try
display dialog "Congratulations! " & (theCounter as string) & " files have been converted from AppleWorks 6 file format to Microsoft Word file format." buttons {"OK"} default button 1
3. Run the script for each folder of AppleWorks files. It will convert your files while retaining the originals.
4. Duplicate the folder on your desktop once you have all files converted.
5. Go through one of the folders, sorting by file type, then deleting the cwk files from one and the doc files from the other.
6. Store your cwk files safely and then move the doc files to your Vista PC.
7. Follow the instsruction found here
http://www.ehow.com/how4869590open-file-using-microsoft-works.html
to open the doc files in MS Works.
Good Luck!