[X Newbies] converting wordperfect files to Word v.X

[Randy B. Singer]

Scott said:

>> I asked this on the X-apps list but it seems that that list is not very
>> active.
>>
>> Since Wordperfect discontinued development of WP for mac.  Anyone have
>> any thoughts on how to open the files in word without losing 
>> formatting.
>> This is trivial in Word for PC. but I could not see how to do this on
>> the mac.
>
>Dataviz MacLink Plus might be worth a try. Some of the formats 
>available are:
>
>	ï 	WordPerfect (DOS) 5.0, 5.1, 6.0
>	ï 	WordPerfect for Windows 6.0 through 11.0
>	ï 	 WordPerfect Works for Windows 2.0, 2.1


I'm the head of a very large Mac user group for attorneys, and this 
question has come up often, because attorneys used to love WP/Mac.  Most 
have long since switched to Microsoft Word.

DataViz's MacLink converters do an okay job translating WP/Mac files, but 
they are terrible if your files contain complex formatting.

Another option is to save the orginal file in RTF format within WP/Mac.  
(WP/Mac runs nicely in Classic under OS X, but some folks have reported a 
nasty file corruption bug.)  However, this solution has the same problem 
as with the DataViz product.

A really nice recent solution is to download and use the new FREE 
opensource OS X version of AbiWord.  You may even like AbiWord enough to 
use it instead of Microsoft Word.  But in any case AbiWord includes some 
very effective translators.  It can open and save as Word, WordPerfect, 
and several other formats.

AbiWord Download page
<http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/abiword/AbiWord-2.1.1-Jaguar.dmg.bz2?do
wnload>

AbiWord Home
<http://www.abisource.com/>



Randy B. Singer
Co-Author of: The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th and 6th editions)

How To Deal With Common OS X 10.3 Panther Problems
http://www.macattorney.com/panther.html