BigTarantula99

Q: Any way to open AppleWorks .cwk files?

I was going through some old files on a flash drive and I noticed there were a few old .cwk files.  Of course, there isn't AppleWorks anymore, instead there's iWork.  Unfortunately, I can't open these old files with iWork.  Is there still some hope for converting and opening .cwk files?  Any help is appreciated greatly.

Posted on Jan 3, 2013 12:15 PM

Close

Q: Any way to open AppleWorks .cwk files?

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

first Previous Page 6 of 7 last Next
  • by baffledfromma,

    baffledfromma baffledfromma Oct 29, 2015 3:17 PM in response to Roger Wilmut1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 29, 2015 3:17 PM in response to Roger Wilmut1

    I just checked and have the '09 version, hadn't thought to look that up.  Still have Office for Mac 2011 with updates. So if I get the latest version just out, that will cause this problem?  If I convert to Pages as above, will that prevent the problem?

  • by baffledfromma,

    baffledfromma baffledfromma Oct 29, 2015 3:28 PM in response to Roger Wilmut1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 29, 2015 3:28 PM in response to Roger Wilmut1

    Realize I was garbling iWord and Office.  Anyway, will my converted-to-Page docs be opened in v5 of Pages?

  • by Roger Wilmut1,

    Roger Wilmut1 Roger Wilmut1 Oct 29, 2015 3:46 PM in response to baffledfromma
    Level 9 (77,925 points)
    iTunes
    Oct 29, 2015 3:46 PM in response to baffledfromma

    If you've converted an AP document to Pages 4, then Pages 5 will open it, converting it to Pages 5 format in the process (at which point of course Pages 4 won't open it).

  • by descargasmega1link,

    descargasmega1link descargasmega1link Jan 13, 2016 1:12 AM in response to christopher rigby1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 13, 2016 1:12 AM in response to christopher rigby1

    Pages will open AppleWorks 6 word processing documents, if there open with AppleWorks 5 it don't works.

  • by Roger Wilmut1,

    Roger Wilmut1 Roger Wilmut1 Jan 13, 2016 1:39 AM in response to descargasmega1link
    Level 9 (77,925 points)
    iTunes
    Jan 13, 2016 1:39 AM in response to descargasmega1link

    Pages v5 - the current version - will not open any AppleWorks documents.

  • by MlchaelLAX,

    MlchaelLAX MlchaelLAX Feb 12, 2016 11:58 AM in response to Roger Wilmut1
    Level 4 (2,256 points)
    Feb 12, 2016 11:58 AM in response to Roger Wilmut1

    Roger, in an update to your article, Abandoning Appleworks, you suggest:

     

    LibreOffice can now open at least some Database documents, which it does in the form of a spreadsheet. In order to transfer a Database into other programs you have to save it as ASCII text (or select all and copy your records and paste into a plain text document, which comes to the same thing). Obviously in the process all layouts, text formatting and calculations will be lost. There is no workaround for this: you can transfer data but you will have to build the database itself again from scratch.

     

    But isn't that always true of exporting data from an Appleworks database file?  That is, it will always lose "all layouts, text formatting and calculations" so that this statement is superfluous?


    BTW: I am aware that spreadsheet programs traditionally offer calculations, but what "calculations" did the Appleworks database offer?

     

    Here is another thread where we successfully advised a prior Appleworks database user, who now has an OS X Lion Mac, on how to use LibreOffice to transition his Appleworks database data to FileMaker Pro.  After opening the Appleworks database file as a spreadsheet, I used the TEXT:CSV Save As function in LibreOffice to create the text file to be opened in FileMaker Pro:

     

    https://discussions.apple.com/message/29775034#29775034

  • by Roger Wilmut1,

    Roger Wilmut1 Roger Wilmut1 Feb 12, 2016 3:26 PM in response to MlchaelLAX
    Level 9 (77,925 points)
    iTunes
    Feb 12, 2016 3:26 PM in response to MlchaelLAX

    The statement isn't superfluous for people for people who are completely unfamiliar with the situation.

     

    The AW database module included the ability to make calculations.

     

    db.jpg

  • by MlchaelLAX,

    MlchaelLAX MlchaelLAX Feb 12, 2016 3:40 PM in response to Roger Wilmut1
    Level 4 (2,256 points)
    Feb 12, 2016 3:40 PM in response to Roger Wilmut1

    Roger:

     

    Thank you, as always, for up to date, accurate information.

     

    Does FileMaker Pro contain a similar ability to enter formulas in a database field?

  • by Barry,

    Barry Barry Feb 12, 2016 6:48 PM in response to MlchaelLAX
    Level 7 (32,271 points)
    Feb 12, 2016 6:48 PM in response to MlchaelLAX

    "Does FileMaker Pro contain a similar ability to enter formulas in a database field?"

     

    Yes.

     

    Regards,

    Barry

  • by MlchaelLAX,

    MlchaelLAX MlchaelLAX Feb 12, 2016 8:15 PM in response to Roger Wilmut1
    Level 4 (2,256 points)
    Feb 12, 2016 8:15 PM in response to Roger Wilmut1

    Is there any way to export an Appleworks Database file with such calculations, with both data and calculations intact (with an eye to possibly import both data and calculations into Filemaker Pro)?

  • by Barry,

    Barry Barry Feb 12, 2016 9:48 PM in response to MlchaelLAX
    Level 7 (32,271 points)
    Feb 12, 2016 9:48 PM in response to MlchaelLAX

    To the best of my knowledge, no. But I haven't checked (and don't have AppleWorks available to me at the moment). It may be possible to go to the Define Fields page, where all fields in the file are listed, and (if memory serves) the formula for each calculation field is also listed. It might be possible to copy all or part of the page and paste it into a text or word processor document to use in building a new database or spreadsheet doc based on the AW database doc.

     

    If the formula(s) can't be copied directly from the list, you can certainly copy each one individually from the formula editing box on that page.

     

    Regards,

    Barry

  • by Roger Wilmut1,

    Roger Wilmut1 Roger Wilmut1 Feb 13, 2016 12:12 AM in response to MlchaelLAX
    Level 9 (77,925 points)
    iTunes
    Feb 13, 2016 12:12 AM in response to MlchaelLAX

    FileMaker Pro has considerably advance calculation facilities - you can do a number of interesting things you can't do in AW, including for example changing the colour of the text or the background of a field dependent on its contents. The formulae are expressed in a different syntax from AW - when I converted to FMP I had to remake the entire database in each case, importing the data but reconstructing the layout and re-entering all the calculations in the new syntax.

  • by MlchaelLAX,

    MlchaelLAX MlchaelLAX Feb 13, 2016 7:45 AM in response to Roger Wilmut1
    Level 4 (2,256 points)
    Feb 13, 2016 7:45 AM in response to Roger Wilmut1

    This is very helpful information, thank you.

     

    My database experience has been limited to flat databases, that were essentially a spreadsheet in a database form.

     

    Initially I used Appleworks on my various Apple ]['s.

     

    Then with the acquisition of a Mac, I used Overvue, and its successor, Panorama.

  • by Roger Wilmut1,

    Roger Wilmut1 Roger Wilmut1 Feb 13, 2016 8:08 AM in response to MlchaelLAX
    Level 9 (77,925 points)
    iTunes
    Feb 13, 2016 8:08 AM in response to MlchaelLAX

    fmpro.jpgThe AW database is remarkably powerful. It's not a relational database like Filemaker Pro, but you can get some of the same functionality by the use of layouts, so that though all the fields are in the one database different layouts show only some of them. Almost the first thing I did when I bought my first Mac in 1993 was to create a database of my jazz records (insanely ambitious for a newbie) which I subsequently recreated in FMPro (picture, right). It had I suppose around two thousand entries then - by now there are 3,755 (including alternative takes). In those days I printed it for references, so I used sliding fields to produce a tidy print version.It's a tribute to AW that I was able to work all that out at that stage (it was quite a bit more difficult with FMPro but I was a lot more experienced by then). I gave up the print version some years ago, it was getting unmanageable thick.

     

    It's become quite the fashion for people to use spreadsheets instead of proper databases, but you get nothing like the functionality. Even a basic database is more useful - I have one of all the films I've ever seen (pretty well) so that I can check when I last saw something, or group all views of one film together, or note when I've shown a film to a visiting friend so I know what he's seen and what he hasn't, and so on. (That one has over 16 thousand entries - includes repeat viewings - try handling that on a spreadsheet).

     

    FMPro is very good and powerful (and expensive) but it's a lot harder work to make it interact with, for example, a word processor to produce a printable report.

     

    The most impressive thing about AppleWorks is that in 1993 I'd never handled a computer, although I had done some research into Word Processors (such as Wordstar) so I understood the principles: my local Curry's let me play with a 'Performa 400' (an LCII) unsupervised, and without any manual I was able to open a word processing document, type in it, format it with different fonts and styles, and so on - just by using intuition. Try that with some of Apple's current software when you have to dig for hidden facilities.

  • by MlchaelLAX,

    MlchaelLAX MlchaelLAX Feb 13, 2016 8:23 AM in response to Roger Wilmut1
    Level 4 (2,256 points)
    Feb 13, 2016 8:23 AM in response to Roger Wilmut1

    Are you sure that is a Jazz database, or one about your culinary delights!!!

first Previous Page 6 of 7 last Next