Re: Any way to open AppleWorks .cwk files?

Any version of Pages 5 cannot open any AppleWorks or ClarisWorks files. Pages 4 & earlier can open AppleWorks 6 word processing documents. Your best option would be to download the free LibreOffice & use that. It can open most, but not all, AppleWorks & ClarisWorks files.

Only Pages '09 v4 will open AppleWorks 6 word processing documents. If it is a mixture of AppleWorks content, it may not open it at all.

The latest free LibreOffice is known to open ClarisWorks/AppleWorks 5 and 6 documents including word processing, spreadsheet, graphics, and limited database too. LibreOffice is a MS Office clone that entirely installs (drag/drop) as one application in your /Applications folder. Simple to install. Simple to remove it you ever would want too. Drag and drop your AppleWorks documents on the application icon, it will open it. You can then save as MS Word.

The LibreOffice download will take you briefly to an optional donation page, pause for a few seconds, and then start the download.

I have LibreOffice installed here and will not be uninstalling it.

All versions of Pages from Pages 1/iWork '05 through Pages 4/iWork '09 will open AppleWorks 6 word processing files.

I have never had a problem with Pages opening a "mixed" AppleWorks 6 WP file that includes spreadsheet frames & paint or draw objects. As a matter of fact, I specifically used AppleWorks WP to Pages to transfer AppleWorks draw objects to iWork. Here is the explanation I wrote several years ago:

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 won't be able to edit the objects, but they will be individual objects. 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.

Bookmarked. 😉

There are two possibilities to explain why you can't open the AppleWorks file in Pages. Either it is not an AppleWorks 6 word processing document or you are using Pages 5. I know you said some Terminal command says "it's a 6" so that leads me to believe you are using Pages 5. As said earlier, Pages 5 CANNOT open any AppleWorks or ClarisWorks file. Could you post the Terminal command so others can try it?

I'm glad you were able to recover the contents using TextEdit. You could have saved it as a Word .doc file. Had you used LibreOffice as VikingOSX & I both suggested, you would have ended up with a "prettier" document. Again, saving the file as .doc is a better choice than PDF unless all you ever want to do is read or print it.

Teresia Scott wrote:

I'm having the same problem. Trying to open a .cwk document with Pages...

You can always open the document in Appleworks 6 in Snow Leopard Server installed in Parallels:

[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

Same problem here with my old Mac 10.4.11 AppleWorks 6.2.9 files on my old MacMini...
and getting them into "Numbers (v3.2.2)" files.

This worked!

I still had Microsoft Excel 2008 (V12.3.6) for Mac on the "old MacMini".

I opened a blank Speadsheet in Microsoft Excel 2008 (V12.3.6);

I opened the AppleWorks 6.2.9 ".cwk spreadsheet, and then >select all >copy.

Then going to the blank spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel 2008 (V12.3.6),

I hit >Paste and then saved it as an ".xlsx" file.

I transferred that ".xlsx" file over to the New MacMini (OSX 10.9.5) desktop,

and opened Numbers (v3.2.2),

then >File >Open and navigated to the .xlsx file...

and Saved it as a ".numbers" file.

It worked, but Apple should respect "backward compatibility" for their faithful Mac users and

many of us that go back with their operating systems, firmware and software since day one,
and just make simple file transfers and backward compatibility much easier.
~Gene
http://geneleonemix.bandcamp.com/

Don't make extra work. If you had AppleWorks on that old Mac there was no need to use Excel. All you had to do was save the AppleWorks spreadsheet as an Excel file. All you have to do is go to File > Save As… & choose Excel Windows 97, 2000, XP 2002 as the File Format. Now name the document & add the .xls extension to the file name as AppleWorks won't do it for you. If it gives you an error that the extension is .cwk just OK it or accept both & then change the extension in the Finder to just .xls.