Opening AppleWorks documents

From NeoWiki

Unfortunately, the AppleWorks file formats are completely closed and no other applications can open those files natively. However, AppleWorks is able to export some of its files in formats that NeoOffice can read. If you have MacLinkPlus, it provides additional translation options.

Contents 1 Word Processing 2 Spreadsheet 3 Drawing 4 Painting 5 Presentation 6 Database

Word Processing

Save your AppleWorks word processing files as RTF or the latest version of Microsoft Word for Windows supported by your version of AppleWorks.

Spreadsheet

Save your AppleWorks spreadsheets as the latest version of Microsoft Excel for Windows supported by your version of AppleWorks. Be sure to include the appropriate file extension (.xls) as the spreadsheet import filters in OpenOffice.org (and thus NeoOffice) do not have "extended type detection" and instead rely solely on the file's extension.

Drawing

NeoOffice supports vector PICT files and can edit them in NeoDraw just like any other vector graphics format; unfortunately, recent versions of AppleWorks no longer export vector PICT files and instead only offer bitmap export, both via save and copy-and-paste. If you need your drawings to be editable, your only option is to save the drawing as a ClarisWorks 4 file and save the file as a PICT from ClarisWorks 4. Be sure to give the final file the .pct extension, since the graphics import filters in OpenOffice.org (and thus NeoOffice) do not have "extended type detection" and instead rely solely on the file's extension.

Painting

Save your painting file as a TIFF or PNG to prevent compression artifacts; you can then insert the file (but not edit it) in any NeoOffice module by using the Graphics: From File… item in the Insert menu. Again, be sure to use the appropriate extension when saving the file.

Presentation

The best option here is to copy the presentation slides into individual drawing files and import these files using the process outlined in the Drawing section above.

Database

Moving your AppleWorks database to NeoOffice requires several steps: exporting the data from AppleWorks, importing the data into NeoOffice as a spreadsheet and, optionally, moving your data from the spreadsheet into a NeoBase database and recreating any forms you had in AppleWorks.

First, save your AppleWorks database as "ASCII Text" (this actually creates a tab separated values file, in one of the legacy Mac OS character sets). In the Finder, rename the file with a .csv (Comma Separated Values) extension so that Calc's import dialogue will properly identify the file. Drag the file to the NeoOffice application or Dock icon; in the import dialogue that follows, change the character set to "Western European (Apple Macintosh)" (or other encoding as appropriate), and tick the "Tab" box and untick the "Comma" box in the "Separated by" section. You will now have a NeoCalc spreadsheet with the contents of your database.

Alternatively, save your AppleWorks database as a ClarisWorks 4 database format and then use MacLinkPlus to translate your database to dBase format (.dbf) or to Comma Separated Values (.csv) or Tab Separated Values (.tsv); in the latter two cases, select the "Windows" option for best results. NeoOffice supports .dbf databases and can import CSV and TSV files into spreadsheets, which can be used as simple data sources; see Creating a Database for more info.

To move your data from the Calc spreadsheet into a NeoBase document, follow these additional steps:

1. If the first row in the new Calc document is data, insert a new row and add column names in each cell. This step is important as in the next step Base will use the first row to create the column names in a new table.
2. Open a new or existing Base file. Then, go back to the Calc document, select the entire Calc spreadsheet (choose Select All from the Edit menu, and drag the selected cells into the Tables section of the Base window.
3. A dialog should appear asking you to set the name of the table and if you want an autogenerated primary key in the table. Set the table name, make sure that the Description and data and Create primary key checkboxes are checked, and press the Create button.

See Creating a Table From a Spreadsheet for more detailed information about this process.

For more information about recreating your AppleWorks form elements in NeoBase, see the To Base and Back Again tutorial’s sections on forms, e.g. Creating a Simple Data Entry Form and Using Combo Boxes in a Form. In addition, this thread at trinity contains tips on re-creating AppleWorks database form elements in NeoOffice.

These tips generated based on NeoOffice 1.2, AppleWorks 6, and MacLinkPlus Deluxe 13.0002; older or newer versions of MacLinkPlus may have additional or fewer translation options, as translators are dropped and added in each release.