Cannot open old CWK files on Pages 2.0.2

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Level 1

0 points

Cannot open old CWK files on Pages 2.0.2

I am transferring files from an older computer with Appleworks 6. I burned them to a disk using disk utility. When I put the disk into my Macbook, the files are all listed. When I select the file I want to open it states-- The document " __" couldn't be opened. I have tried opening Pages and then going to the File-Open route and clicking on the file on the disk to open the files. Everywhere I have looked it states that Pages opens CWK files, so this is baffling to me.

Any advice or help?
Thanks.

Posted on Aug 13, 2008 11:29 AM

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Answer 1

Walt K

Level 4

2,940 points

Aug 13, 2008 1:07 PM in response to ME6

Welcome to Apple Discussions

Click on one of your cwk files and then Get Info (Cmnd+I). Then set Open with: to Pages and click on Change All. Now all your cwk files will open with a double click. (You must convert older files to AppleWorks 6 to open in Pages.)

Walt

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Answer 2

Peggy

Level 8

41,601 points

Aug 13, 2008 1:09 PM in response to ME6

Welcome to Apple Discussions

The iWork applications - Keynote, Pages & Numbers - can only open AppleWorks 6 presentation, word processing & spreadsheet documents, respectively. They will not open any other type of AppleWorks 6 files or any AppleWorks 5 or any version of ClarisWorks files.

The third-party application, EasyDraw, can open AppleWorks draw documents. There is nothing other than AppleWorks that can open paint or database documents.

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Answer 3

ME6 Author

Level 1

0 points

Aug 13, 2008 7:23 PM in response to Peggy

Thank you to both Walt and Peggy for their advice.

I did do the Get Info steps to have all opened with Pages. They still display the same message. They are Appleworks Word processing documents, not spreadsheets or databases.

The odd thing is that one document from 2007 will not open on my laptop, while another from 2005 will open! They all work on the old computer with Appleworks still on it, but someday I may not have that computer, so I would like to save my files in the new Pages format.

I tried copying the files to a jump drive, but they still do not open on my laptop. There are quite a few of them to go through, but I suspect some may open but most do not. I would really like to be able to keep them in an Apple format which I can edit later in time as opposed to making them all PDFs which will make them compatible but not changeable.

Any further advice?
Thanks

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Answer 4

Peggy

Level 8

41,601 points

Aug 13, 2008 9:38 PM in response to ME6

Since you have so many files, you might consider installing AppleWorks 6 on your Mac. 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, so a good choice would be AppleWorks 6.2.4. AppleWorks 6.2.4 is the earliest version stable in OS X. Avoid 6.2.7 - very, very, very buggy! Hardcore Mac is selling AppleWorks 6.2.4 the last time I looked. You also can sometimes find AppleWorks 6 on eBay, but it might be difficult to be sure it's no newer than 6.2.4 and has an OS X-aware installer.

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