Q: Appleworks "unexpectedly quit" cannot relaunch

If you are trying to open it from the Dock, try opening it from the Applications folder. The Dock may have 'lost' its link.

Have you tried deleting the com.apple.appleworks.plist from you user library (home folder)/Preferences?

Have you tried deleting the application and re-installing it?

Try setting up another admin user account to see if the same problem continues. If Back-to-My Mac is selected in System Preferences, the Guest account will not work. The intent is to see if it is specific to one account or a system wide problem. This account can be deleted later.

Isolating an issue by using another user account

Try going to (user)/Documents/AppleWorks User Data/Starting Points/User Data and deleting the enitre contents. This folder will get more and more filled up as time goes on and AW can choke on it.

Which is odd because there should be, anyway...try deleting (user)/Library/Preferences/AppleWorks/AppleWorks 6 Preferences - though if the Guest account also fails that may not help.

You would probably be better off in the AppleWorks forum as there are a few experts who are more likely to see it there: I'll ask the Hosts to move the thread.

Hi Mr. I,

What version of AppleWorks do you have?

Some of this will repeat what you've already done. If so, please do it again.

Delete the Preferences files:

In Finder, go to your home folder (left sidebar, showing the house icon, and open each of these in turn:

Home > Library > Preferences

In Preferences:

Locate and delete the file com.apple.appleworks.plist

Locate and open the folder AppleWorks.

In this folder:

Select and delete the files:

AppleWorks 6 Assistants Cache

AppleWorks 6 Button Bars

AppleWorks 6 Preferences

AppleWorks 6 Translators Cache

Return to your Home folder, then open this path:

Home > Documents > AppleWorks User Data > Starting Points > Recent Items

In Recent Items:

Select and delete all or most of the items in this folder. These are aliases to every file you have saved (from AppleWorks) since last emptying the folder. Deleting them has no effect on the files themselves.

Close all folders and re-launch AppleWorks.

If the problem persists:

Reinstall AppleWorks from the original disk OR by copying the AppleWorks 6 folder (and its contents, of course) from the Applications folder on a computer where it is working to a thumb drive, then from there to your Applications folder, replacing the one that is there.

Regards,

Barry

You need to delete more than just the AppleWorks plist. To delete all of the AppleWorks’ preference files, go to HD > Users > 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.

Hi Ben,

Before going on, here's one more test to do: Try opening AppleWorks in a different user account. If you have ony one user registered on your machine, go to Apple menu > System Preferences > Accounts, and add a second account. When it is added, close the preferences pane, go to the Apple menu and choose Log out. Wait for the Log in window, choose the new account, log in, then try to launch AppleWorks. If successful, it indicates the application is OK, and that the problem is in your regular account, and probably in one of the 'missing' files.

The current behaviour does pique my curiosity (not the simultaneous failure of another application so much—could be coincidence, or common cause. And I am throwing up one hand...to scratch my head.

"AppleWorks 6" covers a number of AW versions. Although the six is useful, the rest of the digits are also significnt. With AppleWorks running, you can find the full version number in About AppleWorks, the first item in the AppleWorks menu. If it won't stay open long enough to look there, locate the application in your Applications folder, click once to select it, and press command-I ('eye', not 'one') to Get Info. You'll find the full version number in the first section of the Info window.

"I have therefore downloaded the whole thing from my backup site onto a new folder & tried launching from finder window.....same result. A "Appleworks Unexpectedly Quit" window pops up with a suggestion button (blue) that says Reopen & clicking it doesn't work. The other option on this window is an OK button (white) which makes it disappear when clicked."

What is "the whole thing"?

If you are installing a copy of an existing (and working) copy, all that should be moved is the (closed) AppleWorks 6 folder found in the Application folder on the machine where it is working. AppleWorks builds the rest of the files mentioned as it needs tham.

Before starting the move, Quit AppleWorks on both machines, and delete the files in my earlier post (and in Peggy's list) from the Snow Leopard machine. The Cache and Preferences files should be in a folder named AppleWorks, and that folder should be in your Preferences folder, inside your (user) Library folder.

If the folder and files still can't be found, try adding a new folder to the Preferences folder, and naming it "AppleWorks" (exactly as shown, but without the quotation marks). If you get an alert message that "The folder AppleWorks already exists," then there is an AppleWorks folder in that folder, and it should contain the 'missing' files. If you do nt get that alert, youhave successfully added a folder named ApleWorks to the folder you are in.

Click on the "Name: bar at the top of the list to sort the lit by name, then scroll to the new AppleWorks folder.

What are the names of the folder or file) immediately above it and the one immediately below it?

Once you have determined that the plist file and the files in the AppleWorks folder in Preferences have been removed, and that the AppleWorks 6 folder has been removed from your Applications folder, you are ready to copy the AppleWorks 6 folder from Applications on the other machine to the Applications folder on your Snow Leopard machine.

If you have a direct connection between the machines, Drag the AW 6 folder from the source machine to the Applications folder on the target machine and wait for it to copy.

If you do not have a direct connection between the two machines, copy the folder onto a thumb drive, then copy it from the thumb drive to the Applications folder on your Snow Leopard machine.

Regards,

Barry

Does anything visible happen between the time you double click the file and the time you see the 'unexpectedly quit' message?

Sound like there's still a copy of AppleWorks on your computer.

You could try a Spotlight search for appleworks. If you get a hit in the "Applications" category, click Show All in Finder, In the Finder window, control click AppleWork and choose Open Enclosing Folder from the contextual menu.

Check the name of the folder that opens.

Drag that copy of AppleWorks to the Trash, then go back and double click the file again. You should get a different message this time. What is it?

Regards,

Barry