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Converting Appleworks 6 documents to Pages

I have to convert a large number of Appleworks 6 documents to Pages, since I understand that OS 10.7 (Lion) won't support Appleworks. Is there any way to open Appleworks 6 documents in Pages so that Pages doesn't totally destroy all of the Appleworks paragraphing and formatting?

IMAC 21.5, Mac OS X (10.6.6)

Posted on Jul 19, 2011 3:02 PM

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15 replies

Jul 19, 2011 4:32 PM in response to Robert Winckler

Have you tried opening your AppleWorks 6 word processing documents in Pages at all? If you have, have you been getting errors or having other problems? I've not had any problems opening AppleWorks 6 word processing or spreadsheets in Pages & Numbers. Everything looks as it did in AppleWorks only better.


You will have much better luck retaining any formatting of AppleWorks documents by opening them in Pages than you would saving as any other format. Remember that 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, EazyDraw, can open AppleWorks draw documents. If you still have access to AppleWorks you can copy the contents of draw documents, paste them into an AppleWorks word processing document in object mode (click the arrow in the tool panel), save the WP document & then open it in Pages. You can copy & paste from AppleWorks to Pages but you would have to do it object by object or it will be one big uneditable object.


There is nothing other than AppleWorks that can open paint or database documents. Database data can be copied & pasted into an AppleWorks spreadsheet, saved & opened in Numbers or saved as ASCII/plain text & opened in most any spreadsheet, database or word processing program. Paint documents can be saved as one of many different formats to be opened in most image editing programs. I recommend using PICT for best results.


Yvan Koenig has written a number of AppleScripts that can do batch converting of AppleWorks documents to Pages or Numbers. Check his iDisk for scripts you can download. Start with the "for iWork" folder.


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Jul 19, 2011 6:07 PM in response to Peggy

Thanks Peggy,


I only have Appleworks 6 word processing documents to convert. After trying to drag and drop the text from the Appleworks document to Pages, which resulted in a lot of jumbling of paragraphs and headings, I changed the Appleworks 6 document opening application from Appleworks to Pages. But when Pages opens the Appleworks documents, I get the same kind of rearranging of headings and paragraphs. And, once the document has been opened by Pages, trying to put the document back into its original format is a real pain, since the tab settings, borders, etc. are all set differently. I assume that my primary problem is that I haven't used Pages enough to become familiar with it.

Bob

Jul 19, 2011 8:13 PM in response to Robert Winckler

Could you send me one of those problem AppleWorks files & the resulting Pages file? Perhaps I can see what might have happened. You'll find my e-mail address in the biography section of my profile page.


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 27"/3.4 GHz i7 iMac; 15" unibody MacBook Pro 2.4GHz, Mac OS X 10.6.8

 G5 2.3GHz, Mac OS X 10.4.11;
 iPhone 3GS, iPad 1, 2GB iPod nano, 5G iPod video, 60 GB iPod Photo
 AirPort Extreme dual band, G5 iMac, G4/700 iMac, PB 1400, Apple IIgs

Jul 20, 2011 2:34 PM in response to Robert Winckler

I received two files &, as you said, the problem is in the way you formatted the document with all of those tabs. Saving as Word or RTF would not make any difference, the problem is in the original AppleWorks document. Pages doesn't seem to have the same default tab spacing as AppleWorks, but that wouldn't be a problem if you set your own tabs. Like an old-fashioned typewriter, there are tab stops every hald inch or so, but if you set your own, those invisible default tabs are no longer used. At first glance the AppleWorks file looks like the data was originally in a spreadsheet & then copied & pasted into a word processing document or was written by someone used to using Microsoft Word.


You did use center alignment for some paragraphs but not others. I don't think it will be too difficult to "fix" this document in Pages creating & using a couple of styles. You could also fix it in AppleWorks by copying & pasting rulers to the different rows. I will do the one you sent & return it to you. You should then be able to import the styles into other problem documents & apply them. It will take some time & work, but it should be a process you can learn from & use in the future. When I get it done, I will post a screenshot of the document.


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Jul 20, 2011 4:57 PM in response to Robert Winckler

Hi Peggy,


Thanks for all of the work that you put into this!


You're correct! The information in this document was originally in a Excel spreadsheet, which I originall opened in Appleworks. The spreadsheet contained about 40 pages of data and the information in this document was at the end of the spreadsheet, and not too readable. So I extracted it and reformatted it in Appleworks as a stand-alone document.


I'm going to have to start at square one with Pages to learn how to use it, since I will no longer have Appleworks. Most of the documents that I'll need to convert that have a lot of tab spacing, etc., I'll just convert to .pdf's, and save them for historical purposes. Those documents, like this one, that will need continual updating, I'll convert to Pages.


I really appreciate your help with this,

Bob

Aug 3, 2011 1:11 PM in response to bernadinefromsalmon

You may find this answer elsewhere in this topic, but the way I was advised to open AppleWorks documents in Pages was to 1) highlight the AppleWorks file that you want to open, 2) go up to "File" and when it opens, scroll down and click on "Get info." That should open a long window on the left side of your desktop. 3) Scroll down in that window to "Open with:" and click on the bar that should be labeled "AppleWorks 6.app." 4) In the list that opens, you should see "Pages.app." Click on that. 5) Below that bar you should see "Use this application to open all documents like this one." and a bar with the label "Change All." 6) Click on that bar if you want all of your AppleWorks documents to be opened by Pages. That should do it. My AW's documents have all opened in Pages and the only problem that I've run into are with AW documents where I had imported a lot of tab settings from other documents into AppleWorks. Have fun! Bob W.

Aug 3, 2011 3:20 PM in response to bernadinefromsalmon

Bernadine,


Do you have iWork installed, particularly Pages & Numbers? If you do, double-click on one of your AppleWorks files. If it is an AppleWorks 6 word processing or spreadsheet document Mac OS will try to open it with either Pages or Numbers.


You don't have to use the longer process posted by Bob W. Although there is nothing wrong with it, it's just complicated. Because AppleWorks won't run in Lion, Mac OS will choose the best application that will run & be able to open the file. The problem is that unless you know for sure what kind of AppleWorks document it is, choosing to change the application to open all documents like the one may lead to problems. If I don't know what kind of AppleWorks document it is, I'll try right-clicking on the file in Finder & see what the options are in Open With…


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Feb 10, 2012 6:28 PM in response to Peggy

Just tried all of the above and have had zero sucess!

I can open AW in Word '11 with RTF, but you know what that gets.

Seems to me that there should have been a workaround, but I guess that's what Lion users have to discover; READ THE DOWNSIDE before upgrading. I wish I could get back to Snow Leopard!

Maybe you know how to do that!?

Paul

Feb 10, 2012 10:45 PM in response to it7s

As I stated several times in this thread & others, Pages can only open AppleWorks 6 word processing documents & Numbers can only open AppleWorks 6 spreadsheets. They cannot open AppleWorks 5 documents or any ClarisWorks documents.


Rather than going back to Snow Leopard, consider installing Snow Leopard & AppleWorks on an external drive & start up with that system to convert your AppleWorks documents. I specifically kept one Mac running Snow Leopard as well as a couple PPC Macs running even older systems.


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Apr 12, 2014 11:53 AM in response to Jefferutah

Specifically what help do you need?


Here is some information I recently posted for another query:



Read these excellent articles on Appleworks migration:


Appleworks for the modern day, a migration tipby a brody; and


Abandoning Appleworksby Roger Wilmut.


If you want to continue to run Appleworks 6 in Mavericks; for example to export some data from a database, which cannot be opened by any other program, or otherwise:


a) If your Mac will still boot into Snow Leopard, partition your hard drive (or add an external hard drive) and install Snow Leopard (and the optional Rosetta) into it and use the "dual-boot" method to boot into Snow Leopard and run Appleworks 6; or



b) Install Snow Leopard Server into Parallels and run Appleworks 6 concurrently with Lion, Mt. Lion and Mavericks:


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[click on image to enlarge]


More information here:


http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1365439


Installing Snow Leopard Server into Parallels for DUMMIES!:


http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=17285039&postcount=564

Converting Appleworks 6 documents to Pages

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