can't open .xls files in Mac OS 9 classic

[cklyne]

Hi! I recently bought this OS 9 application which uses excel for data
storage. However, I cannot open the excel file in the classic
environment and OS 9 doesn't recognize that it's an excel file (i.e.
instead of having the microsoft excel icon, it appears to just have a
white rectangular box icon beside it). When I open any excel file in OS
X, I can easily do so.

I have Microsoft Office 2004 installed and a Powerbook G4 Mac OS X
10.4.4.

Do you think I installed Mac OS 9 completely when I used custom install
and just clicked on English in the 2nd installation disc? How can I
open an excel file in the classic environment?

Thanks!

 

[Bob Greenblatt]

Hi! I recently bought this OS 9 application which uses excel for data
storage. However, I cannot open the excel file in the classic
environment and OS 9 doesn't recognize that it's an excel file (i.e.
instead of having the microsoft excel icon, it appears to just have a
white rectangular box icon beside it). When I open any excel file in OS
X, I can easily do so.

I have Microsoft Office 2004 installed and a Powerbook G4 Mac OS X
10.4.4.

Do you think I installed Mac OS 9 completely when I used custom install
and just clicked on English in the 2nd installation disc? How can I
open an excel file in the classic environment?

Thanks!

It sounds like you will need a copy of Office 2001 or other older version
to run Excel in Classic. Office 2004, will certainly read and write the
file. However. OS 9 won't recognize the file as an Excel file unless there
is an OS 9 compatible version of Excel installed in the OS 9 partition. When
running in classic, does your application able to recognize and open the
file?

 

[cklyne]

When I'm in classic mode (OS 9), it doesn't recognize the .xls file.
Only in OS X can it be recognized.

Do you really think I should have an older version of office so it
could run in the classic mode? Do you know exactly which version is
compatible with OS 9 and where could I get it?

Thanks!

 

[Bob Greenblatt]

When I'm in classic mode (OS 9), it doesn't recognize the .xls file.
Only in OS X can it be recognized.

Do you really think I should have an older version of office so it
could run in the classic mode? Do you know exactly which version is
compatible with OS 9 and where could I get it?

Thanks!

Yes, that's correct! It can't recognize Excel, because you have no
application under classic that can run the .xls file. Since you have Office
2004 installed it will recognize it under OS X. All this is correct
behavior.

I don't know if you need another version of Office for Classic. You said you
had a classic application that works with Excel files. You should be able to
create these files and do whatever you need to do under OS X, and then start
the classic application that uses the file and point it to the output from
Excel. Or, Point classic to your application based on the Excel file.

 

[larry]

Do you think I installed Mac OS 9 completely when I used custom install
and just clicked on English in the 2nd installation disc? How can I
open an excel file in the classic environment?

Thanks!

It's a flaw with Excel 2001, unless the file type is "XLS8" (and the
name is 31 characters or less, which is not a bug as much as a
limitation of an OS9 application) Excel won't open the file.

Also it seems that OS-X also has an issue with Excel as many of our
machines we have to coax it to run it with excel (Excel never shows up
as a "preferred application", when you use the open with settings.)

here is an applescript that can do the trick, save it as an application
and put it on your desktop and drag questionable files to it when
needed. Also adds .doc, .ppt and .xls to old files without extensions.

Larry

on SetTypes(fileList)
tell application "Finder"
repeat with x in fileList
copy name of x as string to FileName
set oldFileName to FileName
copy file type of x as string to FileType
-- copy file creator of file x as string to FileCreator
-- check for Excel
if FileName ends with ".xls" and FileType is not equal to "XLS8"
then
set file type of file x to "XLS8"
else
-- check for Word
if FileName ends with ".doc" and FileType is not equal to "W8BN"
then
set file type of file x to "W8BN"
else
-- check for PowerPoint
if FileName ends with ".ppt" and FileType is not equal to "SLD8"
then
set file type of file x to "SLD8"
else
-- check for missing extensions
-- check forWord
if FileType is "W8BN" then
if FileName does not end with ".doc" then
set Suffix to ".doc"
set FileName to FileName & Suffix
end if
else
-- check for PowerPoint
if FileType is "SLD8" then
if FileName does not end with ".ppt" then
set Suffix to ".ppt"
set FileName to FileName & Suffix
end if
else
-- check for Excel
if FileType is "XLS8" then
if FileName does not end with ".xls" then
set Suffix to ".xls"
set FileName to FileName & Suffix

end if
else
-- check for AppleWorks
if FileType is "CWWP" or FileType is "CWGR" or FileType is
"CWSS" then
if FileName does not end with ".cwk" then
set Suffix to ".cwk"
set FileName to FileName & Suffix
end if
end if
end if
end if
end if
end if
end if
end if
copy length of FileName to Filenamelength
if Filenamelength > 31 then
copy characters 1 through 27 of FileName as string to NewFilename
copy characters (Filenamelength - 3) through Filenamelength of
FileName as string to Suffix
set FileName to NewFilename & Suffix
end if
set the name of file x to FileName
end repeat
end tell
end SetTypes

on open fileList
SetTypes(fileList)
end open