Office file assoiciations lost on Windows server

[Shari]

We recently migrated from a Novell to a Windows 2003 server and all of
the files (primarily Word and PowerPoint files) copied to the
directories that do not have extensions (as they were created by Mac
users) lost their associations.

The only way that they are reassociated is if we add file extensions or
each file is opened and closed (which changes the date).

As we have tens if not hundreds of thousands of files, the manual
approach is impossible.

Is there a program for OS X or Microsoft Office that recognizes the
proper associations and adds a file extension or just reassociates the
files, displaying the proper icon?

I found one program, but you have to specify the type of file.

I'd appreciate any help.

Thanks.

Shari

 

[bobbycox]

When you copied to Windows 2003, looks like you lost the resource forks
of the files. The easy way to get it all back is to copy again with an
utility that keeps resource forks.

 

[Shari]

Thanks! Do you have any recommendations?

Shari

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]]

Hmmm... If you perform the copy from the Windows server with the Novel
drive mounted as a share, Windows should prompt you that the files have
resource forks and ask if you want to keep them.

However, this should not be a huge problem even if you cannot get them back:
double-clicking the file in either Mac or Windows will cause either OS to
hand the file off to the correct application.

If that's not happening for you, you may need to check your file
associations on the client.

cheers

Thanks! Do you have any recommendations?

Shari

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Consultant Technical Writer
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410

 

[Tim Murray]

We recently migrated from a Novell to a Windows 2003 server and all of
the files (primarily Word and PowerPoint files) copied to the
directories that do not have extensions (as they were created by Mac
users) lost their associations.

The only way that they are reassociated is if we add file extensions or
each file is opened and closed (which changes the date).

As we have tens if not hundreds of thousands of files, the manual
approach is impossible.

Is there a program for OS X or Microsoft Office that recognizes the
proper associations and adds a file extension or just reassociates the
files, displaying the proper icon?

I found one program, but you have to specify the type of file.

If the Novell is still available -- a sensible IT dept would keep it around
for a while, just in case -- use (for example) Spotlight or File Buddy to
find all the Word docs, then churn them through a file-rename utility (File
Buddy or third party) and add a .doc extension. Do the same for PowerPoint
..ppt, and so on.

 

[Shari]

Novell is availble, but we have more than 100,000 files. Do either of
these utilities find all of the files of that type or do you have to
identify them?

Shari

 

[Tim Murray]

Novell is availble, but we have more than 100,000 files. Do either of
these utilities find all of the files of that type or do you have to
identify them?

I'm thinking you use File Buddy (www.skytag.com) to locate all files of
creator MSWD (for Word) and type W8BN for regular docs. File Buddy has a
handy file-rename feature right there, and could easily add .doc to the end.

The problem with Spotlight is that there is no batch operation process you
can run at the end, although you might be able to pass the search results off
to another tool using Automator.