Converting PC Word Files to be read by the Mac

imac david

Hi all,



I have a problem, and I hope you guys are the ones to sort it out!



I convinced a friend of mine some time ago to buy an CRT iMac, running OS9. She is totally not interested in knowing how and why a computer works - she just wants to surf, read e-mails and write the odd letter.



Right, I thought, iMac is perfect. And it is, but for one thing. Occasionally she will receive a word attachment via e-mail from work. As such, it is a PC wod document. I upgraded her Appleworks to v6 (I'll spend £50 for that - not the £100's of pounds for Office seeing as she writes one letter a month!) as I knew that came with conversion software, MacLink.



Now, my problem is that on my iMac (G4 running OS X) when I receive a PC word document all I do is double click and that fires up MacLink, does the conversion, and it appears in Appleworks.



But on her iMac G3 OS9 that doesn't work - we get a message saying that no application is associated with it and please try Clarisworks.



Yes, we can save the attachment to the disk, remembering to keep the .doc suffix and truncating the file name if necessary, then open Appleworks, then open the document by using the file open/filetype option. But, she doesn't want to remember that (remember, she is totally uninterested in remembering paths, filetype, program types etc).



So, my question is:



Why doesn't double clicking work? Is there an option in MacLink I haven't found (believe me, I have looked). Does she have to go to OSX for that to work? Is there something obvious I have missed?



Thanks for any comments!



David

defiant

wouldn't it be better if you just got her a copy of office 2001 ? (faster for sure)

stunned

Thinkfree Office is a cheaper alternative, if u refuse to buy Microsoft office.

booker t rat

I'm not sure if this will help you but I had to use set up an off-site machine for a client which had to read the Word files being sent to them from PC and Mac users. I used a shareware programe call <a href="http://www.versiontracker.com/moreinfo.fcgi?id=8524&db=mac"; target="_blank">IC Word</a> and it worked without any trouble. IIRC it's $19.95 shareware.



...but to answer the first question, have you tried to change the allocated application in the File Exchange Control Panel? That may help you to launch the appropriate application.



[ 12-28-2002: Message edited by: Booker T Rat ]</p>

imac david

Thanks for the comments guys.



No, office won't be bought as it is too expensive just to generate a letter a month and read the odd attachment!



I've just noticed that there is an Applewoks 6 upgrade that mentions improved Word compatibility, so maybe one I download that it will be better.



And I think I have the right option in the prefernces pane, as the translator does fire up but says "this filetype is unknown". Of course, once I save manually and open manually the very same translator works.



Thanks,



David

defiant

did the update fix it ?

imac david

I don't yet know. I'll post as soon as I do it, which won't be for a few days.



I have got the memory and the software updates ready, so next time I see her I'll try to persuade her that me sitting n a corner 'playing' with her computer is a sensible way for us to spend the evening together



Of course, being a Mac and not a PC I anticipate that this upgrade should take 15 minutes at most........

neutrino23

It has been a long time since I played with OS 9, but let me add a few comments.



My guess is that the files coming as attachments do not have type or creator entries. This is why the other programs will not recognize them though you can open them with AppleWorks if you force it to do so.



If this is correct then I can think of two solutions.



One, use a wonderful piece of shareware called Default App (http://www.merzwaren.com/da/). This will let you associate any file with any app.



Another alternative would be to set the type and creator fields to appropriate values. This would take a little investigation but then you would wind up with a droplet that would set these and then open the file with AppleWorks.



Third alternative (should have been first). I recall that in the internet control panel in OS 9 you can associate extensions with applications. I never tried it but it would be a good thing to look into.

defiant

and ?

imac david

Success!



I first upgraded to OSX, and then re-installed Appleworks 6 (without the upgrade). Just doing that means that double clicking Word attachments fires up MacLink, the translator does its stuff, and Appleworks gives me the document.



Odd, but there you go.



David

kickaha

Yup, sounds like neutrino23 nailed it.



In 9, if it doesn't have the type/creator, it'll get confused.



In X, it breezes past the lack of the above, and uses the .doc extension to figure it out.



So how does she like X compared to 9?

imac david

Loves the switch, except for having to use Mail instead of Outlook Express. See new thread for why (but basically because Mail doesn't show her what's coming in in terms of size. As she's on dial-up it helps her to know that she has 5kb out of 112kb come in ........)



Cheers



David