ancient excel files now unix exec - salvageable?

Looking at the file Cops95 it seems to strongly indicate it is a Microsoft Access 1.0 or 2.0 database file (.MDB).

None of the viewers I can find though handle MS Access files pre-MS Access 97.

On top of that though, MS Access did not exist for the Mac which makes the situation even more confused. I will say since it was suggested this was an MS Works file, that MS Works was (thankfully) never released for the Mac, so I don't think it could be that.

You did say that you used this with Excel, but you also said you weren't sure exactly how it was created. Ancient versions of Excel on the Mac were able to open and work on database files such as Dbase III. I did try to run it through a very good DBF converter (https://www.whitetown.com/dbf2xlsmac/) but that did not work.

If you aren't sure, I would again reaffirm that this strongly appears to be an early MS Access 1.0/1.1/2.0 database file and I would proceed from that assumption.

If this were me and I really wanted to get access to this I would get a copy of MS Access 2.0 and install it on a Mac using a trial version of Crossover (Windows emulator) and see if it can open the file. MS Access 2.0 was part of the Microsoft Office Professional 4.3 software package. Just be sure to get it on CD and not diskette. I see one on Ebay for $20. You could probably even pick up cheap Windows laptop if you don't have access to one to avoid having to do any kind of Windows emulation or virtual machine.

Also, I will clarify that I am basing my conclusion it was an MS Access database file by the fact it has the MsysIndexes and MsysColumns text in it, which appears to only have been standard in MS Access files.

Get the current, free LibreOffice (v6.2.4). As a one-time ritual after it is installed in /Applications, right-click on the LibreOffice icon, and select Open from the secondary menu. The operating system will verify it (progress bar), and a new dialog with an Open button will appear — click Open. LibreOffice will launch. Quit LibreOffice for the moment.

Select one of your EXEC Excel files, and press option+command+i. On this inspector panel, you will see a section named Open With. Set the application to LibreOffice, and click through the Change All… button. If you have ancient Word or Excel files that also have this EXEC icon, LibreOffice will open them too.

That old Excel file should now lose the EXEC icon, and you should be able to double-click that file and have it open in LibreOffice Calc. Then a File menu : Save As

to get that old document into the new Excel document format. Same drill for old Word and Powerpoint files too.

The headers of the two files are 08 78 01 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 10 00 00 00 and 03 e6 01 00 00 00 02 00 00 00 10 00 00 00 00 00 ;

1. libmwaw can not convert them, so we can probably exclude all spreadsheet/database applications found in https://sourceforge.net/p/libmwaw/wiki/Home/
2. it is possible to find old specifications of the dBASE format at https://www.clicketyclick.dk/databases/xbase/format/index.html, I do not find any format which begins like that.

Looking at this files, these are probably some database files. So maybe you can search in a abandonware site for the database software to see if you remember using one (for instance http://macintoshgarden.org/search/node/database ) : 4th dimension, FoxBase+, Claris FileMaker Pro 1x, ...?

Thanks, VikingOSX.

I've been playing around with one of the sample files the OP is trying to open. I've tried every Office and Works extension, and even tried the .cwk extension for the last version of AppleWorks in Snow Leopard. But that said the file was damaged.

At the moment, I'm at a loss where these files came from. If they did come from Office or Works from the old Mac, they may not even be spreadsheet files, but rather an old Word document. Or maybe an old FileMaker document.

Being from OS 9 or older, they should have Type and Creator codes, but those for some reason are blank. I was hoping to see what those were, which would have lead us right to the source. Maybe possible those were stripped when sent to DropBox? If so, losing the resource fork will definitely destroy the files.

nessus95, could you please retrieve the original Cops95 and Cops96 files, put them in a .zip file, and then put that on DropBox? Thanks.

Get Hex Fiend to open one & report the 1st 200 Bytes or so...

https://ridiculousfish.com/hexfiend/

It may be your old Mac software was Microsoft Works, rather than Office. MS sold Works as a cheaper alternative to Office. Why, I don't know. But the main downside of the suite was it didn't even write files in the same format as Office.

To test, take one of your old Excel files and give it a .xlr extension. Then it would be a matter of whether or not LibreOffice can read an Excel Works document.

If that doesn't help, and assuming they really are Works documents, see if this free online converter will help.

I do not think that are corrupted, only that we do not know which application has created them ; you can look if in the same directory there are some hidden files : ._Cops95 or __MACOSX/._Cops95 (ie. if they exist there contain the original file information and its ressource fork). Finally, if you still have the "original disk", doing an image of the total disk may help ; of course, if all files can be shared....

Notes:

• these files do not look as Excel 97-2013 file which normally were stored in 1997 in a OLE container (ie. begins with d0cf11e0) ; I am pretty sure that I checked some year ago, if LibreOffice know how to open oldest mac Excel 1 files and that it accepts to open them...
• these files do not look as Quattro Pro spreadsheet files, ie. normally .wb3, .qpw are also stored in a OLE container,

while .wb2 files begin somewhat like "00 00 02 00 02 10 c9 00 02 00 00 06 4c 00 02 00" and .wb1 files with "00 00 02 00 01 10 c9 00 02 00 01 00 06 00 08 00". Moreover, recent versions of LibreOffice must accept to open the oldest version (.wq1-2, .wb1-3 and most .qpw versions).

I am basing the conclusion (or strong presumption rather) that it was a Microsoft Access database file based on the presence of the text "MsysIndexes" and "MsysColumns" in the Cops95 file.

Tried several Apps & adding different extensions, bot much luck though.

You could painfully glean some info by opening it in BBEDit, here's a small part of cops62...

0WHAT IS A.G.?

*V O I D''(

()*+PTHIS PUP MARKED D1 LATER DETERMINED TO BE THE PUP OF #123, NOT ALL RECS UPDATED

:SUCKLED 2 PUPS

**8S. FLETCHER SAT#9003 & DAT- TRANSLOC. -SHIP- NO RETURN.

)7S. FLETCHER SAT#9003 & DAT- TRANSLOC. -SHIP- NO RETURN*?S. BLACKWELL SAT# 9002 &HRVTDR TRANSLOC. -BIG CREEK- RETURNED.) )+S. BLACKWELL HR & ACT. MONITOR, S '94.++0:>BS. BLACKWELL HR & ACT. MONITOR, S '94, SL & AG ON 25 MAR '94.>ES. BLACKWELL HR & ACT. MON., R. EYE SCARRED, JENNER BEACH F'94-SICK.:

PHYSIO. FEM.))NOT SURE IF HER PUP +IS FWL CORRECT?:5FEMALE WAS NOT SEEN UNTIL JAN 5 - CHECK BREED CHART!+F#?*0000:>F#276>F# 303, CHECK SIDE0F #?:F #31405D.CROCKER SAT# 9005- TRANSLOC. -BIG CREEK- RETURNED.)4D. CROCKER SAT#9003- TRANSLOC. -BIG CRENTS

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You could ask if someone on my site has an old Excel or Appleworks version running on an old Mac...

https://x704.net/bbs/

File formats supported in Excel for Mac...

https://support.office.com/en-ie/article/file-formats-supported-in-excel-for-mac-f9970726-bb98-489c-afe2-6d876873945a

I also tried importing it from a number of formats including every Excel version that v.X can read (Excel versions 3, 4, 5, Excel for Windows, Excel 97-2002 and X Worksheet) and although I can extract text in more or less the same fashion as BDAqua did its contents are no more useful than he already posted.

I also tried AppleWorks 6... no joy.

From its contents I'm wondering if it's a database file, not an Excel document. I don't have any particular database software to try.

This may only be a happenstance match, but I looked up MSysIndexes and the only match to that phrase is related to Microsoft's SQL Server database. However, any attempt to open them as that file type fails. At least with the various methods I tried. But they're also not likely to be SQL files to start with.

Oops! Forgot to mention Works also used the .wdb extension for Excel Works files. Does LibreOffice mention that file type?