Why won't Pages open old AppleWorks files?

I have some very old word processing files which I wrote in AppleWorks. I'm having trouble opening these files.
When I attempt to open them in Pages, I get the following message:
IMPORT ERROR
"The document was created with an unsupported version of AppleWorks."
Any sugestions?
Many thanks.
Mac OS 10.8.3
Pages '09 v 4.3

1. Read Roger Wilmut's excellent series of articles - Abandoning Appleworks:
http://www.wilmut.webspace.virginmedia.com/notes/aw/page1.html
2. Consider running Appleworks 6 in Snow Leopard Server installed in Parallels 8 in Lion or Mt. Lion:
[click on image to enlarge]
Apple is now selling Snow Leopard Server for $19.99 + sales tax & shipping costs at 1.800.MYAPPLE (1.800.692.7753) - Apple Part Number: MC588Z/A (telephone orders only).

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VDonkers wrote:
Thanks for your reply. When I try opening an AppleWorks documents with Pages as you suggested I get the message that the AppleWorks document is damaged.
Ahh...then it may actually be damaged. All of my old AppleWorks docs (word-processing docs) are opening just fine with Pages. On the other hand, if the AW doc is a drawing or database doc then Pages might not be able to open it. If the AW doc is a spreadsheet, it might open with Numbers.
Would you suggest that I use Migration Assistant to transfer my older files from my iMac to my MacBook (rather than using the thumb drive?) Will it ask me about overwriting files? My concern is that it may erase some changes to newer versions of documents that were on the thumb drive.
I do have the installation disk for my MacBook and all disks for the iMac.
No, If you still have your AppleWorks installation disk, I would suggest installing it and trying to open the 'damaged' docs that way. Later, if an item won't open in Pages but will open in AW, then resave it in AW as a generic format that Pages will open. In this way you can move these docs from the now unsupported AW and into Pages format. If we wait too long, we may not be able to install AW at some point in the future and then your old docs will be orphaned.

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Welcome to Apple Discussions Jolene
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