WordPerfect

[Scott Medling]

I am fairly new to the Mac community, having used Linux and before
that Windows. I still have some old WordPerfect files that I would
like to open. I would have expected them to be easily recognizable by
Word v.X as they are at least 3 years old. However, Word v.X does not
appear to support WordPerfect file types. Can any of you think of a
way for me to convert these files?
Thanks.

Scott Medling
kf6auf(at)hotmail

 

[Clive Huggan]

Hello Scott,

If you can't conveniently open the files in WordPerfect and save them in RTF
format, general opinion on this newsgroup is that you should buy DataViz's
MacLinkPlus Deluxe. (Even then, I understand that not *all* features are
preserved -- not sure what, since I don't use it myself.)

John McGhie said this about why there is no longer a filter in Word itself:

'The real reason it is missing is that there is no way to get it to work
properly. Microsoft was losing money on all the support calls.

They tried very hard, but the difference between WordPerfect and Word is a
paradigm, not just an approach. The "converter" got bigger and bigger, and
still there were WP documents that would not convert properly.'

-- Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
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[Dayo Mitchell]

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.

DM

 

[Steven P. Driska]

Scott,
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.

Good luck.
-Steve

 

[Gene van Troyer]

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.

This will work for older files from the Mac of course, and for Windows
Word Perfect up until around the time Corel killed the Mac version, but
you'll have problems with files from newer version of WP for Windows.

DataViz has at its website a features list of supported formats that
MacLinkPlus Deluxe (anf the Windows version of same) that are supported.

Gene van Troyer