I recently lost the hard drive on my older mac laptop. The only reason I kept it was so I could open up some of my old Appleworks files.

Please post back with what you have tried. Be specific, I might be able to find something that will work.

It is a very bad idea to post your e-mail in a public forum & I have asked the hosts to remove it. You can put it in your public profile where it can be only visible to logged in users, thus deterring spambots.

I am also going to ask the hosts to move your post & my reply to its own topic.

Read Roger Wilmut's excellent series of articles, Abandoning Appleworks:

http://www.wilmut.webspace.virginmedia.com/notes/aw/page1.html

also, a brody's: AppleWorks for the modern day, a migration tip

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-2522