Convert Documents Created in WordPerfect on Mac

[ajg19]

Help - how do I open a .wpd file (which I believe is a Word Perfect file format) in Office for Mac v.X
thanks
regards
Alex Grossma
(e-mail address removed)

 

[Clive Huggan]

Hello Alex,

The best solution is MacLink Plus by DataViz. It's very good software, but
be prepared for a less-than-perfect conversion if the document is complex --
you will get a readable file, but the formatting will be off and certain
objects simply won't convert.

To quote/paraphrase MVP John McGhie: There used to be a converter in Word,
but it was discontinued because a WordPerfect file does not contain enough
information to make a Microsoft Word document out of it, so the converter
never worked reliably. The problem is that a WordPerfect file is a stream of
commands embedded in the text, while a Word file is a nested series of
containers and properties: radically different structures.

If you only have one file to do, download WordPerfect (www.corel.com) or
send it to someone who has WordPerfect, open the document and save it as an
RTF file.


-- Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
============================================================
* A suggestion: If you post a question, keep re-visiting the newsgroup for
several days after the first response comes in. Sometimes it takes a few
responses before the best or complete solution is proposed; sometimes you'll
be asked for further information so that a better answer can be provided.
Good tips about getting the best out of posting are at
http://word.mvps.org/FindHelp/Posting.htm

* Before posting a question about a topic, search Google Groups
(http://groups.google.com/advanced_group_search?q=group:*mac.office.word) --
it may have been comprehensively answered already.

* Please post all comments or follow-on questions to the newsgroup for the
benefit of others who may be interested. If you need to send an e-mail to me
directly (although that would be exceptional), remove the uppercase letters
from my address above. Please note that e-mails with an attachment will be
automatically rejected.

* If anyone is still reading down this far, here's a question: is it time
for you to back up your Normal template and all your Word settings files?
(This should be on a medium other than the internal hard drive and, if you
also want to protect against theft and fire, stored in a different
building.)
============================================================


(e-mail address removed) at (e-mail address removed) wrote on 21/2/04
5:41 PM:

Help - how do I open a .wpd file (which I believe is a Word Perfect file
format) in Office for Mac v.X thanks
regards
Alex
Grossma

(e-mail address removed)

 

[ajg19]

Clive
Thanks for the suggestion. however, I went to www.corel.com and didn't see any kind of Mac version of Word Perfect to download. Any suggestions? Do you have Word Perfect or MacLinkPlus
Alex Grossman

 

[ajg19]

 

[Clive Huggan]

I don't have either, Alex.

I based my reply re MacLink Plus on repeated advice on this newsgroup by
experts who aren't around right now, knowing that it may otherwise be some
time before someone got back. They describe MacLink Plus as being good value
for money.

As to a free download of WordPerfect, this is from a thread on this topic on
Feb 13 this year:

==========================

One thing you can do, as Dayo suggests below, is to get the free
WordPerfect for Mac, install it, open the WP files and save as Mcirosoft
Word 6.0/95 format. Some formatting is lost, but the basics are there.
Then you can open these in whatever version of Word you use, and save in
the more current file format. (It works with Office 98).

Another source for the download is ftp://ftp.r8ix.com/WP-L_Stuff/

This is a full version I believe, and is even enhanced over what Corel
sold. There are also some conversion files that allow the conversion to
Word format.

There is an archive of WP items, macros, and other useful items there.
There is a list you can subscribe to at http://www.r8ix.com/lists.html
that has good people contributing.

People on that list say WordPerfect (an OS 9 app) runs well in Classic
environment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The final version of Mac WP can be downloaded (free) from this link:
http://acmfiles.csusb.edu/corel/wpmac.html
WP3.5 which will only run in Classic and is not entirely a full version. I
don't know what backwards compatibility is like in WP but it sounds as
though you have older files anyhow, so opening them up in that version and
resaving as RTF or something might also work.

================================

Again, we haven't heard feedback about any problems with this solution.

I hope this helps!

-- Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia

* A suggestion: If you post a question, keep re-visiting the newsgroup for
several days after the first response comes in. Sometimes it takes a few
responses before the best or complete solution is proposed; sometimes you'll
be asked for further information so that a better answer can be provided.
Good tips about getting the best out of posting are at
http://word.mvps.org/FindHelp/Posting.htm

* Before posting a question about a topic, search Google Groups
(http://groups.google.com/advanced_group_search?q=group:*mac.office.word) --
it may have been comprehensively answered already.

============================================================

(e-mail address removed) at (e-mail address removed) wrote on 22/2/04
2:06 AM:

Clive

Thanks for the suggestion. however, I went to www.corel.com and

didn't see any kind of Mac version of Word Perfect to download. Any
suggestions? Do you have Word Perfect or MacLinkPlus

Alex Grossman

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word]]

If funds are tight, look around for someone with a copy of PC Word 97 or
2000. These still had a WordPerfect converter (as did Mac Word 98).

It doesn't work properly (which is why they took it out) but it will get the
text out for you.

Other than that, you can use Recover Text From Any File in Word to dig the
plain text out of the WordPerfect file, and format it in Word. This usually
gives you the best result: none of the converters do a very good job.

Failing that, if you can find someone with WordPerfect, have them save the
file as Word Document format for you: all later versions of WordPerfect will
do this. Or as RTF, which you will be able to read.

Emailing RTF may not be such a good idea: it's a very bulky format, it may
overflow your mailbox.

Hope this helps


This responds to article
<[email protected]>, from

Clive,
Thanks for the suggestion. however, I went to www.corel.com and didn't
see any kind of Mac version of Word Perfect to download. Any suggestions? Do
you have Word Perfect or MacLinkPlus?
Alex Grossman

--

Please respond only to the newsgroup to preserve the thread.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. GMT + 10 Hrs
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]