Workaround: open Macpaint file in Windows 7

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Workaround: open Macpaint file in Windows 7

Decades ago I owned a MacPlus and made a few files in MacPaint, which I have doggedly copied from computer to computer, ending up on a Windows 7 PC. Feeling nostalgic, I figured out a way, albeit crudely, to get those old MacPaint files saved as JPGs.

1. Save old MacPaint file as filename.mac (.mac extension).

2. (Download and) Open Quicktime for Windows. Mine glitches when it opens and I find I have to minimize it, then maximize it again to get the full window.

3. Then go File-> Open File and navigate to your filename.mac folder.

4. change filetypes to all files (*.*) and select your filename.mac

5. Mine just opened up the MacPaint file and there it was--my 30 year old picture in all its Steve Jobs-vision glory!

6. Make the QT window as large as possible then use the Snip-it tool to save a JPG screen capture of your picture. (There may be a better way than this, but that is all I could figure out, and the original is pretty low resolution to begin with).

Alas, it only seems to work with MacPaint files. For MacDraw files I was able to open them in Adobe Illustrator, although the fonts and some of the lines were wrong. Not bad for 30 year old files though!

Posted on Mar 30, 2015 11:02 AM

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Answer 1

Mar 31, 2015 11:51 PM in response to Margthecar

Dear Margthecar

Thank you for the sharing. I have some figures created in 1994 on my old Mac SE, as you did i copied the files many times from computer to computer, from Mac to PC. I would like to recover those images to be saved in jpgs so i can publish them in a journal paper (yes, the information is still relevent due to difficulty to obtain those results), open those files whatever on a Mac or preferably on a PC. I could not remember they were done in paint or draw, could you I ask you a favor to have a look at my files and if possible, convert them to a format i can handle now?

it seems i cant attach anything here, i might need your email address offline to send you the files.

Ping

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Answer 2

Margthecar Author

Level 1

5 points

Apr 1, 2015 9:17 AM in response to pingfromdarwin

Ping,

Sure I will give it a try. I used to be a researcher myself so understand how important old data can be. What field are you in? This Community does not allow private messages, so I will have to post my email here. I am adding spaces and ***'s to confuse any bots trying to harvest emails. Just take those out for the email address *** the*drsjunk *** A*t g*ma*il do*T ***Co M*

Marg

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