Wife will not update to El Capitan for fear of losing Appleworks files.Can we convert Appleworks files to a newer application?
Will we lose Appleworks files by upgrading from OS 10.6 to ElCapitan?
Yes you will lose it. It was never written for Intel Macs; the only reason you can use it now is that OS 10.6 has something called "Rosetta" emulation that allows older software like AppleWorks written for pre-Intel Macs to run on the early Intel models. That emualtion disappeared wth OS 10.7.
How to proceed depends on the type of files you have. Example: word processing files can be converted to Word format or .rft format BEFORE upgrading. Then they will open with newer packages like MS Office:Mac or the excellent (and donationware) LibreOffice suite.
Rather than reinvent the wheel, I refer you to this excellent site maintained by one of or most valued contributors here, Roger Wilmut. He is a real "Life after Appleworks" guru:
http://rfwilmut.net/notes/aw/page1.html
One thing to keep in mind is that older Intel Macs are hardware-constrained to running no higher than OS 10.6 or 10.7. Before trying to upgrade, make sure your Mac meets the requirements for a newer Mac OS version. We can help there. Please do "About this Mac" from your Apple menu (left end of menubar) to get this window:
Note the "More Info..." button I've circled. Click it to launch System Profiler. Its opening screen will look like this:
Please tell us what code your computer shows at the line I've indicated with the red arrow, "Model Identifier." While in that screen, also tell us how much RAM is installed, from the line labeled "Memory" farther down. If your Mac is older you may need to add RAM to run El Capitan.
With those items we can better advise you on an upgrade path if available.
