Michael Spiegelman

Q: Database Program?

Is there a database program similar to that found in Appleworks that will run on Yosemite?

iMac G5

Posted on Dec 6, 2014 8:17 AM

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Q: Database Program?

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  • by Allan Jones,

    Allan Jones Allan Jones Dec 6, 2014 11:19 AM in response to Michael Spiegelman
    Level 8 (35,049 points)
    iPad
    Dec 6, 2014 11:19 AM in response to Michael Spiegelman

    Yes. The free productivity suite LibreOffice has a database component that can read and write MS Access-compatible database files.

     

    http://www.libreoffice.org/discover/libreoffice/

  • by Roger Wilmut1,

    Roger Wilmut1 Roger Wilmut1 Dec 7, 2014 12:22 AM in response to Michael Spiegelman
    Level 9 (77,925 points)
    iTunes
    Dec 7, 2014 12:22 AM in response to Michael Spiegelman

    I have to say that the database section of LibreOffice/OpenOffice etc. isn't much like the excellent AppleWorks one, and when I looked at it some time back I found it horribly unintuitive. As it's free it's certainly worth looking at, but there are better - albeit paid-for - alternatives .

     

    The most satisfactory alternative, and the one I went for, is FileMaker Pro: much of it is familiar from AW including the ability to make layouts; but it does have a pretty steep learning curve to get the best out of it, and it's expensive. On the plus side, it's pretty well the industry standard and is unlikely to be discontinued.

     

    There are other alternatives, though they are from smaller firms so they might last for years or they might not. This page examines the various alternatives:

     

    http://www.wilmut.webspace.virginmedia.com/notes/aw/page5.html

     

    and this one looks in some detail at transferring to Filemaker Pro:

     

    http://www.wilmut.webspace.virginmedia.com/notes/aw/page6.html

     

    What you do need to be aware of is that nothing will open AppleWorks Database files (including AFAIK LibreOffice) so you need to take steps while you can still run AppeWorks - you will have to export your databases as ASCII files and import them into the new database program. In the process you will lose all your formatting, and calculation fields will come over as the result, not the calculation, so a fair amount of work is entailed in transferring them.

     

    If you have upgraded to Yosemite and have AppleWorks documents you cannot open, then you should be able to install Snow Leopard on an external hard disk and start from that (provided that the Mac did not come with anything higher than Snow Leopard originally installed); and success has been reported in running Snow Leopard Server under emulation in Parallels - the method is described here: Snow Leopard Server is (as far as I know) still available in the Apple Store (by telephone) at a reduced price and is preferable to using ordinary Snow Leopard which is quite tricky. I haven't tried this myself: use at your own discretion. You can then run AppleWorks as an emergency measure.

  • by VikingOSX,

    VikingOSX VikingOSX Dec 7, 2014 6:29 AM in response to Michael Spiegelman
    Level 7 (20,618 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 7, 2014 6:29 AM in response to Michael Spiegelman

    It has been mentioned in this community previously that LibreOffice has some support for importing AppleWorks databases. Your mileage may vary. Unfortunately, Apple stopped shipping mySql and Postgres databases with OS X — but there is /usr/bin/sqlite3 for use in the Terminal.

     

    Snow Leopard Server 10.6.3 is a $20 phone-in only order to the Apple Online store — and is required for the Parallels Desktop guest. Should you go this route, you will need to use software update to bring Snow Leopard to 10.6.8. Also, take note of the additional system resources that the Virtual machine, guest, and AppleWorks will require of your existing hardware.

  • by Allan Jones,

    Allan Jones Allan Jones Dec 7, 2014 8:02 AM in response to Roger Wilmut1
    Level 8 (35,049 points)
    iPad
    Dec 7, 2014 8:02 AM in response to Roger Wilmut1

    Roger wrote:

    and when I looked at it some time back I found it horribly unintuitive.


    Of course! I think "unintuitive" is required for Access compatibility

     

    I grew up with FileMaker. I really liked its ease of use. Today, it's priced me out, considering that my retired lifestyle does need much in the way  of databases.