cmilwright

Q: Need to reinstall ClarisWorks 4.0

I had a lot of AppleWorks documents on a blue G3 running 10.3.9.  Some of them had been created when I had ClarisWorks 4.0, but I had upgraded to AW 6; yet if I clicked on one of the older ones, AW6 would still open it.  I would just get a message saying that 'it had been created with an older version, and if I saved any changes it would add the suffix v6 to the file'.  Usually I was not making changes, just reading; therefore many of these I did not bother to re-save.  AND NOW....I have an iMac running 10.6.5.  I installed AW 6 on it and it works, and will open documents I created with AW 6 on the G3.  BUT!!! It seems that the older documents will no longer open to be read, not even with the warning about older version.  Instead, if I click on any of them, AppleWorks just "unexpectedly quits".  (This happens on the G3 also; probably since I upgraded it to 10.3.9.)  So I guess what I need is to somehow reinstall AW 4.0 on the G3 or the iMac, so that I can open these files at least long enough to save them with v6.  Unfortunately my 4.0 install discs are floppies, and neither of these computers has a floppy drive.  SO, can anyone here tell me where I might be able to download AW 4.0?  Or can anyone suggest another way for me to access the older documents with what I've got?

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.5)

Posted on Aug 25, 2011 11:28 AM

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Q: Need to reinstall ClarisWorks 4.0

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  • by Peggy,

    Peggy Peggy Aug 25, 2011 2:38 PM in response to cmilwright
    Level 8 (38,720 points)
    Applications
    Aug 25, 2011 2:38 PM in response to cmilwright

    I'm assuming you're using AppleWorks 6.2.9 in OS X. Reinstalling ClarisWorks 4 is not really going to solve the problem because they would still be ClarisWorks 4 documents. AppleWorks 6.2.9 (the current version) can't open all ClarisWorks 4 or earlier files. It gives an I/O error. There doesn't appear to be a way to predict which files will cause problems. I've had it happen & not happen with all AppleWorks file types.

     

    These files can be opened by any other version of AppleWorks 6, including the OS 8/9 component 6.2.8. If you have the retail version of AppleWorks 6.2.9 or an earlier version of AppleWorks 6 that you have updated to 6.2.9 & have Classic installed on the G3, you can "Force" AppleWorks 6 to open in Classic to open the files, save them as AW 6 files & then open them in the OS X version.

     

    Also, if you have Classic installed & have AppleWorks 5, this can be used to open the ClarisWorks files & save them as AppleWorks 5 which AppleWorks 6.2.9 can open.

     

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  • by cmilwright,

    cmilwright cmilwright Aug 25, 2011 2:57 PM in response to Peggy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 25, 2011 2:57 PM in response to Peggy

    Actually, it's AW 6.2.4 that I have, if that makes any difference.  I don't have AW5 anywhere.  I figured if I had CW 4 back, then the documents could be opened, and then CW 4 could save them as text or something that could open otherwise.  Tomorrow I will attempt your suggestion about forcing Classic on the G3, I hope it works, I will let you know.  [But Classic hasn't been working too well on it lately:  I think I've just upgraded it too many times for its little brain to handle.  Lots of times it just stops in the middle of opening Classic, and simply returns to OSX without even giving an error message! ]

  • by Peggy,Solvedanswer

    Peggy Peggy Aug 25, 2011 8:54 PM in response to cmilwright
    Level 8 (38,720 points)
    Applications
    Aug 25, 2011 8:54 PM in response to cmilwright

    Since it is AppleWorks 6.2.4 you would not have the I/O error of 6.2.9, so forcing it to open in Classic isn't necessary.

     

    It could be that the files are corrupt. Could you send me a couple & I'll see what I can do on my G5 running Tiger & Classic with AppleWorks 6 & AppleWorks 5. That should help narrow down the issues & possible fixes. Click my name in blue next to this post & you can find my e-mail address in the biography section.

     

    Peggy_sig.png

  • by cmilwright,

    cmilwright cmilwright Sep 3, 2011 6:41 PM in response to Peggy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 3, 2011 6:41 PM in response to Peggy

    I thought I would just post an update here on the forum, in case anyone else ever comes by with a similar problem wondering about the answer.  Peggy and Yvan both looked over some of the documents which were giving me this error, and ended up using their own systems to translate back to a file I could use.  They are wonderful people!  And geniuses!  For the record, it appears that the problem is that these documents were spreadsheets containing pie charts of two series (or, two pie charts from one series, if you look at it that way).  'Numbers' cannot handle charts like that, and neither, it seems, can AppleWorks 6 in OSX.  My genius friends here ended up using older OS and AW versions in varying combinations till they could save something that my AW6 and Numbers could read.  I don't know why, but forcing my own AW to open in Classic just wasn't enough; but if anyone else comes along to this thread with a similar problem, that's the issue in a nutshell.  You will need a version of AppleWorks that OS 9 can run, in order to read older Claris spreadsheets if they have a double-pie-chart.