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

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Q: Any way to open AppleWorks .cwk files?

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  • by christopher rigby1,

    christopher rigby1 christopher rigby1 Mar 13, 2014 3:46 AM in response to fosnola
    Level 4 (2,146 points)
    Mar 13, 2014 3:46 AM in response to fosnola

    Hi fosnola

     

    I don't know if you should even bother trying to convert AW 'Paint' files? These are just bitmapped images and can be opened in any halfway decent graphics editor - if they were saved as 'PICT' format, I believe these can still be opened in a few applications?

     

    I don't believe it matters that AW 'Drawing' files are opened in LibreOffice's 'Writer' module. As I observed above, the individual drawing objects are preserved, whether they are vector graphic frames, or text frames. If they need further manipulation, they can presumably be 'Select All' Copied, then Pasted into a new LibreOffice Draw document?

  • by Roger Wilmut1,

    Roger Wilmut1 Roger Wilmut1 Mar 13, 2014 3:54 AM in response to christopher rigby1
    Level 9 (77,925 points)
    iTunes
    Mar 13, 2014 3:54 AM in response to christopher rigby1

    If people still have access to a working copy of AppleWorks, they can export Paint documents as PICTs, PNGs, TIFFs or JPEGs among others, Spreadsheets in Excel format, Documents in Rich Text, and the data (though not the formatting or calculations) of Databases in ASCII.

     

    The problem most people in this situation are facing is that they have upgraded beyond Snow Leopard without exporting their documents, and now cannot open AppleWorks. LibreOffice appears to be the only way of accessing Paint documents, and databases cannot be opened by anything (other than by opening as text which will show all the formatting codes).

  • by fosnola,

    fosnola fosnola Mar 13, 2014 4:41 AM in response to christopher rigby1
    Level 1 (126 points)
    Mar 13, 2014 4:41 AM in response to christopher rigby1

    Hello again,

    as a paint file contains only a classic header and a standard bitmap(*) and as I needed to retrieve embedded bitmap's content and convert them in another fomat ( in fact, in ppm), ...  Now concerning LibreOffice 4.2, it must recognize almost all paint files(**) and convert them in a text file which contains this bitmap(***) .

     

    Previously, as libmwaw can only generate text files, the only solution was to convert the drawing files in text files. Now, as it begins to generate graphic and spreadsheet documents, in some near/far future, I plan to change the code to generate drawing files as graphic files: this is more natural and will probably be must better when some graphics shapes appear on many pages...

     

    (*) which shares the same format as the bitmaps which can appear as embedded bitmap in a text document, drawing documents, ...

    (**) excepted some bitmaps which have less then 16 colours, this is corrected in the lastest version of libmwaw but not in the current version of LibreOffice

    (***) with a very small size, ie. a bitmap which needed to be enlarged by a factor ~10 and which need to be copied in some other graphic applications if you want to modify them

  • by theskyisblue,

    theskyisblue theskyisblue Apr 18, 2014 3:29 PM in response to BigTarantula99
    Level 1 (77 points)
    Apple Music
    Apr 18, 2014 3:29 PM in response to BigTarantula99

    WARNING: You may expirience problems with this conversion, as parts of your document may not show properly. I only suggest using this technique if all else fails.

     

    If you open these files with TextEdit you can choose format, then make rich text. After doing this, save and then close the document and open with TextEdit again. Now you may now choose format, then choose make plain text. From this point onwards, you can now open the document with pages.

     

    P.S. To choose which aplication to use when opening a document, right click and choose open with, then other.

  • by MlchaelLAX,

    MlchaelLAX MlchaelLAX Apr 25, 2014 5:02 PM in response to Roger Wilmut1
    Level 4 (2,256 points)
    Apr 25, 2014 5:02 PM in response to Roger Wilmut1

    Roger Wilmut1 wrote:

     

    The problem most people in this situation are facing is that they have upgraded beyond Snow Leopard without exporting their documents, and now cannot open AppleWorks. LibreOffice appears to be the only way of accessing Paint documents, and databases cannot be opened by anything (other than by opening as text which will show all the formatting codes).

    Except of course for continuing to run Appleworks 6.2.9 in Snow Leopard Server in Parallels; a $99 solution to be able to export your paint documents and database data while in Lion, Mt. Lion and Mavericks:

     

    Appleworks in SLS.png

                                  [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

  • by TomWinn,

    TomWinn TomWinn May 18, 2014 9:08 AM in response to BigTarantula99
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 18, 2014 9:08 AM in response to BigTarantula99

    So, I just made the mistake, apparently, of thinking that after upgrading to Mavericks and buying Pages 5.2 from the AppStore, that I'd be able to open and convert all my AppleWorks 6.2.9 files to Pages. Not only does it not seem easy, going through each one, but Pages won't even open the most simple word processing file.

    Firstly, when I enter Pages and choose Open, all files are greyed out.

    Then when I change the default app for the .cwk file and try opening it, I get the message “let TWinn resignation.cwk” could not be handled because Pages cannot open files of this type.

     

    What is Apple doing? Making us all switch to Word? I hate word! I want my AppleWorks back!

     

    So, is there any solution out there, or is Pages just a worthless app?

  • by fruhulda,

    fruhulda fruhulda May 18, 2014 9:16 AM in response to TomWinn
    Level 6 (15,126 points)
    May 18, 2014 9:16 AM in response to TomWinn

    IT is PAges 5.x that doesn't open AW WP documents. Earlier Pages versions do. Use the free LibreOffice to open you AW documents.

  • by Roger Wilmut1,

    Roger Wilmut1 Roger Wilmut1 May 18, 2014 9:17 AM in response to TomWinn
    Level 9 (77,925 points)
    iTunes
    May 18, 2014 9:17 AM in response to TomWinn

    The current version of Pages cannot open AppleWorks files. If you previously had Pages on your Mac it should still be in the iWork folder and this will open AW6 Word processing documents (not other types).

     

    If you don't have it you may be able to get the previous version of iWork in a box set from Amazon or independent retailers.

     

    Failing that, your only option is to use Libre Office or to follow Michaels method above (if you are able) and install Snow Leopard on another partition or disk, or run it in emulation using Parallels. Please read his information very carefully before proceeding.

  • by MlchaelLAX,

    MlchaelLAX MlchaelLAX May 18, 2014 10:37 AM in response to Roger Wilmut1
    Level 4 (2,256 points)
    May 18, 2014 10:37 AM in response to Roger Wilmut1

    Yes, if your Mac can natively install, boot and run Snow Leopard (purchased before July, 2011):

     

    Always do a complete backup or clone before any of the following:

     

    1)  If Snow Leopard is already installed, partition your hard drive or add an external drive and install Mavericks there.  Do not install Mavericks over Snow Leopard, as that will destroy your Snow Leopard environment.  Use the "dual-boot" method (System Preferences:Startup Disk) to determine which OS X, Snow Leopard or Mavericks, you boot into.

     

    2)  If you have already installed Mavericks over Snow Leopard, restore your Snow Leopard backup or clone and follow the directions in Step 1).

     

    3)  If you have already installed Mavericks over Snow Leopard and cannot restore your Snow Leopard backup or clone, follow the instructions in Step 1) but instead of Mavericks, install Snow Leopard (with the optional Rosetta) into the new partition or drive and install Appleworks (and other PowerPC apps) there.

     

    These "dual-boot" solutions do not allow you to run Appleworks concurrently with Mavericks.  If you desire to do so, follow my linked instructions in my post above to install Snow Leopard Server into Parallels to provide this capability.

  • by MlchaelLAX,

    MlchaelLAX MlchaelLAX May 18, 2014 1:56 PM in response to Roger Wilmut1
    Level 4 (2,256 points)
    May 18, 2014 1:56 PM in response to Roger Wilmut1

    Roger:

     

    Check out this thread.  There seems to be some work on a LibreOffice plug-in that will allow it to open Appleworks spreadsheets and perhaps drawing files as well as its ability to natively open word processing files!

     

    https://discussions.apple.com/message/25767750#25767750

  • by Roger Wilmut1,

    Roger Wilmut1 Roger Wilmut1 May 18, 2014 2:01 PM in response to MlchaelLAX
    Level 9 (77,925 points)
    iTunes
    May 18, 2014 2:01 PM in response to MlchaelLAX

    That'll be interesting if they can get it to work better than Paint does at the moment.

  • by MlchaelLAX,

    MlchaelLAX MlchaelLAX May 18, 2014 2:03 PM in response to Roger Wilmut1
    Level 4 (2,256 points)
    May 18, 2014 2:03 PM in response to Roger Wilmut1

    ... and of course the "nothing" that opens up spreadsheet files at the moment, either!

  • by fosnola,

    fosnola fosnola May 19, 2014 12:54 AM in response to Roger Wilmut1
    Level 1 (126 points)
    May 19, 2014 12:54 AM in response to Roger Wilmut1

    Hello Roger and all,

    if you want to do some testing, it is always possible to download the standalone application, mwawOSX(*) in http://sourceforge.net/projects/libmwaw/files/ .

     

    Concerning the spreadsheet's and the database's conversion, it only tries to retrieve the cells/reports' content(**) and formatting of the main spreadsheet/database.

     

    (*) I try to compile regulary a new version with "-mmacosx-version-min=10.6 -arch i386 -arch x86_64", so I excepted that it will work on most Macs.

    (**) ie. the text, the number and the formula but it does not try to retrieve any embedded button/graphic/video/... or any embedded chart/frame/filter/report...

    (***) if you want to "simplify/comment/make more lisible" the AppleScript which launchs the executable, you are welcome...

  • by MlchaelLAX,

    MlchaelLAX MlchaelLAX May 19, 2014 4:22 AM in response to fosnola
    Level 4 (2,256 points)
    May 19, 2014 4:22 AM in response to fosnola

    The thinking is with regard to the following situations:

     

    1)     A longtime Appleworks spreadsheet and database user sees the new Dialog Box that comes up from the App Store update and offers him a "free" upgrade to Mavericks with the only option "Details."  Having reviewed the Details, this user upgrades and to their horror discovers that they can no longer access their Appleworks spreadsheets nor databases in Mavericks.

     

    2)     Another longtime Applewoks user's Mac fails and they purchase a new Mac that can only run Mavericks, migrate their data over to this new Mac and to their horror discover that they can similarly no longer access their Appleworks files.

     

    Their only option, at least in the database situation, is to open the database file in Appleworks to EXPORT the data for IMPORT into another database, such as Filemaker.

     

    For the first example, their solutions are:

     

    a)     Revert to Snow Leopard

     

    b)     Revert to Snow Leopard and install Mavericks in a new partition or external drive and "dual-boot"

     

    c)     Run Appleworks in Snow Leopard Server installed in virtualization, such as Parallels

     

    For the second example, their only solution is c)

     

    So if there is a new plug-in/stand-alone module for LibreOffice that can accomplish the desired result, it would be helpful to know that so as to add it to the list of solutions.

     

    So when you say:

     

    Concerning the spreadsheet's and the database's conversion, it only tries to retrieve the cells/reports' content(**) and formatting of the main spreadsheet/database.

     

    Will this conversion provide satisfaction in these situations?

  • by fosnola,

    fosnola fosnola May 19, 2014 4:53 AM in response to MlchaelLAX
    Level 1 (126 points)
    May 19, 2014 4:53 AM in response to MlchaelLAX

    Hello,

    So if there is a new plug-in/stand-alone module for LibreOffice that can accomplish the desired result, it would be helpful to know that so as to add it to the list of solutions.

     

    So when you say:

     

    Concerning the spreadsheet's and the database's conversion, it only tries to retrieve the cells/reports' content(**) and formatting of the main spreadsheet/database.

     

    Will this conversion provide satisfaction in these situations?

    The main purpose of libmwaw ( one of the http://www.documentliberation.org projects ) is to convert many old mac forgotten formats and files. After clearly, there are soo many formats to work on and it is very hard to find old files to build some correct test bases, that things can only move slowly and unexpected problems are difficult to foreseen...

     

         For giving satisfaction, even if we try do to what we can, this clearly depends on the files(*) and on the user (**).

    After this is a open source project, it is free, anybody can provide feedback, improvements..., so it is a little to the users to test and see if this is ok for their need and to report the issues if not :-)


    (*) for instance, if the files contains only a basic spreadsheet/database, probably. Now if the database/spreadsheet is only a small part of the document, clearly not....

    (**) some want perfection, others can be very content even if only the text of a document without any formating is retrieved, ...


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