Saved format changed to Unix Executable

I have a file saved on a CD that I wanted to get in to but found it is now a Unix Executable file. I have no idea what is going on with this - it was originally (probably) a simple text or text edit file .... maybe a word file but doubt it.
Why is it now this Unix file format - any ideas how something like this happens.
Very confused here.
MDD 1G-DP; G4 450; FP iMac 800; Cube Mac OS X (10.4.1)

Doing some detective work in google and found some info. Does anyone know the type and creator codes for SimpleText or TextEdit.
This link
http://www.leisterpro.com/doc/version8/questions/answers/upgradeproblems.php
has a link to some freeware that may be what I need if I knew the type and creator codes.
TY

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Files changing to unix executable files in leopard!

I'm having files show up as UNIX EXECUTABLE FILES in Leopard. these are Quark Xpress files and a few tiff files.
These were backup files sent from a client on a Mac, there were compressed using Zip software. Also the same files that were not compressed are DOCUMENT files.
What is happening that Leopard can not recognize these files?
I tried removing "com.apple.LaunchServices" files

I found that a number of Windows files copied across to an external HFS+ hard disk from a Windows PC using MacDrive showed as Unix executables.
It turned out that they files had Execute permissions set for all users.
You can change the "Execute" setting using chmod in the terminal, but a simpler solution is to install FileUtilsCM, a free context menu control available from http://www.abracode.com/free/cmworkshop/file_utils.html
It offers a variety of high level controls, including remove file type and creator; remove resource fork; clear "execute" Unix attribute.
I found this fixed the problem for my files. The "clear execute" control fixed the file type, and the "remove type & creator" command converted the type back to Plain text from Document.
I don't know if it will work for your problem, but could be worth a try. Works in Leopard 10.5.1 for me.
Slightly more control is available from Super Get Info from Barebones http://www.barebones.com/products/super/index.shtml
That's not free, however, but it does allow you to set the file type and creator.
DN

File type changed to Unix Executable File

Hello:
I restored a corrupt Word file from a back-up drive (files are backed up using a special rsync that splits data and metadata forks. I did not assemble the two forks before copying the file back to the production volume) into a production folder in a local machine. Now when I browse the volume from my networked computer all Word files without extensions show up as Unix Executable Files. I've cleared the Launch services in the networked machine with no results. If I browse from other networked computers file types are set correctly. The problem seems to be with this specific networked machine. What an I do to restore file types as they should be? Please, note the problem seems to be with the client machine not the file server.

Thanks, Kappy. I've tried that but I get an error message saying "An error ocurred while changing...because not enough information is available." Could that mean that the action cannot be done because these files don't have extensions? When I go ahead and select to use Word to always open the file it only takes effect on that file. But the file remains a Unix Executable file.
Could anyone provide any further help with this issue?
Message was edited by: Karkula

HELP! Indesign changes to Unix executable file

I have a Mac Xeon Dual core quad pro running an older Mac OSX and have recently bought a Macbook running OS 10.6.
On my old mac I use Indesign / Illustrator / Photoshop CS3 (no money to upgrade yet) and all works fine.
This week I transferred some Indesign files to my laptop to work in another office. The files show up as Unix executable files. They have the correct tags on the end of filenames and work fine on the old mac. Indesign and Illustrator have also been crashing on startup and I have had to dump out prefs twice now.
Illustrator files show up as Unix executable file as well and all have a grey icon.
I migrated everything over from the old mac to the laptop.
It is driving me mad as I have to trust that I can work on this out of the office.
If I upgrade to a newer version of the programmes will it solve the problem?
Any help gratefully received please!
PS I am a designer, so please use simple language - I do not have a lot of techie knowledge about macs
Thanks!

Thanks, Kappy. I've tried that but I get an error message saying "An error ocurred while changing...because not enough information is available." Could that mean that the action cannot be done because these files don't have extensions? When I go ahead and select to use Word to always open the file it only takes effect on that file. But the file remains a Unix Executable file.
Could anyone provide any further help with this issue?
Message was edited by: Karkula

Unix executable documents

I was in the process of transfering documents from one Mac (eMac OS10.2) to an iBook (OS10.0 but mostly use classic 9.2). I used a travel drive that I have used numerous times with no problems. Some of the documents (word & powerpoint) changed to Unix Executable Documents while others did not.
I have no idea how this happened but I really need to open these documents! I have average comupter knowledge but this one stumps me as I have never seen this before. Can anyone help me at all...PLEASE?

What version of Mac OS were you using when you wrote the files to the FAT32-formatted drive: OS X or OS 9?
If you were using OS X when you wrote the files to the drive, you must use an OS X computer to "look" at the files. Only an OS X Mac will be able to "see" the files properly. If you attempt to use the drive in an OS 9 Mac, the files written to it in OS X will appear improperly and won't work.
On the other hand, if you were using Mac OS 9 when you wrote the files to the drive, you will only be able to "see" the files properly from another OS 9 Mac. If you attempt to use the drive in OS X, the files written to it in OS 9 will appear as generic documents or as UNIX executable files, and will not be usable.
You've mentioned OS X 10.2, 10.0, and OS 9, but there's no way a file could appear as a UNIX executable file in any version of OS X prior to OS X 10.3.x, as that is when Apple first started labeling files as such. Prior to that, they would simply be a generic document.
It's quite possible that your files are not corrupt, and are still accessible, but we need precise details on what versions of Mac OS you were using and are currently using.
PS. Using the Get Info window to mark your preferred application is unlikely to fix this issue, since there is an underlying problem that we need to deal with. But we need more details to even begin with that.
Dual 2.7GHz PowerPC G5 w/ 2.5 GB RAM; 17" MacBook Pro w/ 2 GB RAM - Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Unix executable file- in backup email files

Hello,
I've searched the discussions and found a few posts that resemble my question but nothing exactly/ nothing suggested has worked so far.
I have entire email files backed up to a LaCie drive- 2 actually. All of the email backup icons have been changed to "Unix executable file"- the icon is a grey box with "exec" on it.
The promising side is that the files are still large- 301 mgs, etc- so I would think there is still information in the file.
I've tried going into "Info" and changing "open with" to entourage or thunderbird. Or even Excel to see if I could get a tab delimited file and convert. Nothing has worked so far.
I've seen this before with other types of backup files as well. I haven't changed operating systems, have only been working on Macs, this has happened both on a wireless ethernet disk and a firewire drive.
Any suggestions? Thanks!
jz

Hi,
Never fear! Your original MacOS disks should include the developer tools. They call it xcode these days. By default it should install extra command line utilities in /Developer/Tools. So really the command should look like:
/Developer/Tools/SetFile -t 'TEXT' -c 'CSOm' your_mbox
You can add /Developer/Tools to your $PATH variable to avoid the extra typing. But you can do that later. Just replace your_mbox with the path to one of your Eudora mail boxes that you've copied back to your harddrive.
Cole

TextEdit files' Kind is "Unix Executable"--how do I change this?

For some mysterious reason, a whole bunch of my TextEdit files now show up as Unix Executable files! I'd like to change the Kind of these files, so they once again are identified as Rich Text Format (RTF) or SimpleText documents.
I was able to change their extension, so at least they now open up in TextEdit when I double-click them, but I'd like them to show up as well when I search for Kind, or list files by Kind.
Any suggestions of how to change this would be welcome!

OK, I figured out a quick and dirty method. Open each file in TextEdit and save it. It changes the kind back to TextEdit.
First, open several files at once in TextEdit (do that by dragging the files to the TextEdit icon--if you double-click they'll open up the Terminal which you don't want.) Then, it's a simple matter of keeping your finger on the Apple (command) key, while you alternate between pressing S (for command-s for save) and W (for command-w for close). You can sit there mindlessly going through the rhythm, back and forth, and process dozens very quickly!
In case anyone else runs into this problem, here's a way of finding all the Unix Executable files. Go to your Documents folder. Do a Find (command-F), pick Documents folder, select Search by Kind, select Other, and type in Unix Executable. Voila! A list of those files. Save the search so that you can repeat this as needed. (I also discovered that you can search for contents and type in Unix Executable and find them.)
WARNING: BE CAREFUL! Some of the files may not be textedit files! Or you'd rather have them open up in another program such as Word. So, you'd have to do the open, save, close shuffle via that other program.
Alright! I just discovered some more in another folder (I hadn't started with Documents). So I'm off to fix those, too!
Still, there must be a good batch processor somewhere (freebie hopefully) that would convert the Kind quickly. (And here I don't mean the type and creator as some of these files showed TXT and .txt but still had their Kind as Unix Executable.)

Pages is not saving document correctly. After saving the changes either do not appear or you can not open the file. The error is "not a valid format" I am in Pages '09 4.1 (923). I also use Parallels. Anyone having similar issues?

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I'm not sure that Lion AutoSave feature apply to network servers.
I'm just sure that the Versions feature doesn't.
Yvan KOENIG (VALLAURIS, France) samedi 21 janvier 2012
iMac 21”5, i7, 2.8 GHz, 12 Gbytes, 1 Tbytes, mac OS X 10.6.8 and 10.7.2
My Box account is : http://www.box.com/s/00qnssoyeq2xvc22ra4k
My iDisk is : http://public.me.com/koenigyvan

Format Changes In Chart Anlyzer Not Saved

Post Author: Ray Brack
CA Forum: Charts and Graphs
I have created a vertical bar chart in CR v8.5 and have made several formatting changes using Chart Analyzer, changed the height of the graph, fonts, font rotation, etc. However after saving the changes and previewing the report most of the changes are lost. Furthermore those changes that did stick are limited to a single graph, the remaining graphs within the group retain the original settings.
Does anyone have a solution to this problem or is charting in CR v8.5 as flaky as it seems?
Thanks in advance...

Post Author: Ray Brack
CA Forum: Charts and Graphs
In case anyone else comes across this problem:
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Fonts changed to Unix files when saved to a remote server

Hi all, I read an archived thread regarding this, but not sure if my situation is related somehow. The issues others have had was that their font files were converted to Unix files at 0KB, when stuffed.
My issue is I backed up fonts (PS and TT) from my Mac to a remote server (PC based). When that server is accessed by Mac users, some saw the file as a Unix file at 0KB. However, there were some (including myself) that saw the actual font file.
That was a few months ago, we've retired that server since, but before doing so I transferred all the fonts to a new server. It's now a raid drive run off a Mac Xserve. After the transfer, I checked to see if the fonts were still okay, and they were showing full Mac file (no Unix). I didn't go into the new server for a couple of months, but when I did I noticed that all the fonts had been changed to Unix files. Some were at 8KB, others at 60KB. But no 0KB files. +Note: because the initial transfers was a success, the original files from the old server were deleted along with it. So there is no way of retrieving the original files. As well, were were running 10.4.10 with the original server and files. Switched to 10.5.x when files were transferred to the new server.+
I've tried the tips here (using the Terminal method and the FileUtilsCM script) http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=6041364 but to no avail. I'd hate to think these fonts are scrap. As they were all purchased (and there's a whole load of them). Any input in saving these files would be of great help.
Thanks in advance.

The real font information is stored in a resource fork, not the data fork fo the file. Depending type type of file system you copied them to, how you copied them, and what method you are using to look at them, you may not be seeing the resource fork.
You can see more detail about files usng a Terminal command such as
ls -leaO@ file
If there is a resource fork, it will be displayed.
If the file system was not a Mac OS X external file system, then you might want to look for a file with a similar name only starting with a leading period to make it invisible to the Finder
ls -leaO@ /the/directory/with/your/fonts

When I send open office documents to a PC user (even saved and sent in the word format), the document reaches with serious format changes and is rendered unusable to the PC user. How to overcome the problem??

When I send open office documents to a PC user (even saved and sent in the word format), the document reaches with serious format changes and is rendered unusable to the PC user. How to overcome the problem??

I don't use OpenOffice (I have it on my internal just to play around with, but seldom even open it). I do use MS Word and have few problems sharing files - it's usually a font issue so I tend to use MS fonts for documents that I know will need to be shared.
Unless you need to make collaborative changed to the document, you could always save it as a pdf file. With Acrobat Pro you can even save a pdf file to a Word document with very little change in formatting.
If I were you - and you have a need for .doc or .docx files to travel and play nicely - I'd just invest in MS Office. If you don't have to send a Word file, try pdf.
Clinton

Unix executable files out of nowhere

About 1.5 weeks ago, my Mac suddenly started telling me that files belonging to the Preps application (a prepress app) were Unix executables. This version of Preps runs in Classic. These files are generated from a Windows PC and saved to an XServe. It has been fine for months and months and then suddenly switched over. The files can only be opened through the File Menu. If the files are resaved with Preps on the local Mac directly to the XServe, all is well again. The file names all have the appropriate extensions. The Get Info method does not stick. Cocktail doesn't work. Clearing caches, repairing permissions, rebuilding the Desktop– none of it resolves the issue. Nothing was changed on the Mac, the server or the PC prior to the problem.

Harley:
Welcome to the Apple Discussions. In the file export window have you selected jpg or "original format" and have the Add extension checkbox checked?
Do the exported files have a extension? If so and it's jpg, then select on and bring up the Info window for it (Command-I). Then under default application select Preview and click on the Apply to all.. button. If you prefer to use a 3rd party editor like Photoshop or PS Elements then select that and click on the Apply to all... button. But the files should have an extension.
Do you Twango?
G5 Dual Core 2GHz, 2G RAM, 250G HD; G4 Dual 1Ghz, 1.5G RAM, 80G HD, Mac OS X (10.4.6) 22 LCD Display, 200G & 160G FW HDs, Canon S400, i850 & LIDE 50, Epson R200

Old Quark files converted to Unix Executable

I am trying to open an old Quark file saved on a CD from 2004 and it shows up as a Unix Executable file. I changed the suffix to .indd and .qxd and it says "It is missing a plug-in" or InDesign "may not support the file format." Any ideas on how to restore this to a Quark or, preferably, and InDesign file? Thanks!

The Unix icon only shows up if you don't have a copy of QX on your HD if I'm not mistaken. I don't have Quark on my imac and I see the Unix exe icon myself. Bringing the file over to my machine with Q2ID and QX to see if I can open it. Back in a flash.
I'm back. The icon showed up correctly on my other mac but I only have QX6 and file is QX8. I couldn't open the file. Q2ID wouldn't open it either but it's been several years since I updated the plug in. I only have 2 clients with QX and I showed them both how to export to PDF correctly so I don't use QX at all.
So if you buy the most recent Q2ID you should be good to go.

UNIX EXECUTABLE FILES (S.O.S. I've lost my data!!)

Hey! This is what happened.
I bought my mac and I used it perfectly. After 6 months I decided to format the computer. I stored all my data in an external hard drive. I installed everything I needed, and when I transpassed the external drive's data to the MAC I got a bunch, a lot of EXEC or Unix executable files. I tried changing the extension but it says error, file corrupt or something. I'm really worried, HELP PLEASE!!!
Thanks!!!

To save complete system data in a movable and relocatable form,
and have it seen as a system again, it should be either archived
as a disk image (disk utility can do this) and then reimported to
the computer later, or as a clone. Free-running clone utilities of
widely known worth include Carbon Copy Cloner, & SuperDuper.
{You can clone the data off the computer, and then clone it back}
An external drive for storage should be formatted in a Mac
friendly format; though a windows format may work in a pinch.
I think the files you have, were changed due to a different one
on the external drive than the computer's OS would prefer.
Now that these files have been copied (by drag and drop?) to
another drive, they may be broken beyond repair or reuse.
The files not related to running the OS X or the apps may be
recoverable, since you probably had work or projects saved
and they may have copied over OK from the computer to an
external drive...
Sorry, that I do not have an easy answer for this; perhaps another
reader may find they have a more adequate answer given the
circumstances you now face.
Best regards, in any event...
Good luck & happy computing!
{ edited }

Final Cut Pro Unix Executable file??? what do i do?

Hey All,
So I wanted to dig up an old movie i edited in 2003 so i took out the old IMac. I found the Final Cut Pro 2 sequence on there but because all the footage (capture scratch, etc.) is saved to an external hard drive i need to reconnect the material to the sequence. i hooked up my WD My Book drive to my G5 to find the clips and sure enough i backed them up on this hard drive (37 gb worth) awhile ago but for some reason all the clips say they're Unix Executable Files? Why did this happen when i backed them up instead of them staying as Quicktime files?
So here are my questions...
Tonight when i go home I want to be able to open up the FCP sequence on Final Cut Pro Studio 2 (fcp7)...will this be possible to open up an FCP 2 sequence that many versions later?
Also, please tell me why the quicktime clips did this? When i do File-->Get Info-->change open with Terminal to Quicktime they play but how will i get them to reconnect to FCP?? Do i need to go one by one and add .mov extension??
I'm very confused...i would rather not have to do the editing on the 2003 machine..i'd like to get it to work on my newest computer (27inch imac).
Can i attach a newer external that the clips are on to the old mac?
Thank you,
Jenna

..will this be possible to open up an FCP 2 sequence that many versions later?
Yes.
Do i need to go one by one and add .mov extension??
Use my [Automator Action|https://files.me.com/nikholmes/0ge9cr] which will rename them for you -Just choose the correct folder in the "Start At" section. Link is a direct download from my iDisk.
Can i attach a newer external that the clips are on to the old mac?
Of course.

Saved format changed to Unix Executable

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