cannot read some documents

[DSJ 2nd]

I finally purchased a new iMac with Leopard OX 10.5.5. My former Mac had OS 9.2. Love the new machine, but I cannot open most of my old documents even after having installed AppleWorks on it. All I get is a message "cannot execute binary file. Logout. Process completed." Good grief! I've got years of work on those old floppies and my Flash Drive. Do I have to redo all my work so that Leopard can read them? Must I save my old computer which can read the docs (all written in AppleWorks by the way)? Does Pages '08 read documents written in AppleWorks?

What hath Steve Jobs wrought?

I apologize if earlier posts have raised and answered this question. I've looked through the Forum and haven't found anything quite like my problem.

[Peggy]

I finally purchased a new iMac with Leopard OX 10.5.5. My former Mac had OS 9.2. Love the new machine, but I cannot open most of my old documents even after having installed AppleWorks on it. All I get is a message "cannot execute binary file. Logout. Process completed." Good grief! I've got years of work on those old floppies and my Flash Drive. Do I have to redo all my work so that Leopard can read them? Must I save my old computer which can read the docs (all written in AppleWorks by the way)? Does Pages '08 read documents written in AppleWorks?

What hath Steve Jobs wrought?

I apologize if earlier posts have raised and answered this question. I've looked through the Forum and haven't found anything quite like my problem.

OS X is unable to determine which program those files belong to & is making a "best guess" which is usually wrong. If in the moving of the files from one computer to another you used a PC formatted disk, the resource fork of the file may have been lost. This loss is almost always able to be overcome by adding the .cwk extension to the file name. If you add this extension to a known AppleWorks 5 (or 6) file & AppleWorks 6 can open it, you can easily add the extension to a whole folder of files. To add the AppleScript menu in OS X 10.4.x: Go to Applications > AppleScript and launch the AppleScript Utility application. The option to "Show Script Menu in menu bar" is activated from there. Highlight all of the AW files in a folder > click on the AppleScript icon in the menu bar > Finder Scripts > Add to File Names > type .cwk in the box & click Suffix. Now you should be able to open any of these files in AW 6 by double-clicking on them.

[DSJ 2nd]

Peggy,

Got as far as "click Apple Script in menu bar" and then the application goes right back into the Dock thus ending the process. What did I do wrong?

My files were all done on my iMac OS 9.2 using Apple Works. No PCs were used.

[DSJ 2nd]

Peggy,

Thanks for inadvertently giving me the answer for my problem.

You said that Leopard might not recognize my files (documents) as they were originally stored, and that .cwk would be needed as a suffix. I tried what you suggested and as I recently posted was unsuccessful. Tonight I simply went to the un-openable file, clicked on its name and deleted it. I then retyped the name and added ".cwk" to it. I clicked again and "Are you sure you want to add the extension '.cwk' to the end of the name?" came up with the warning "If you make this change, your document may open in a different application." Well YES I do! So I clicked again. IT WORKS! Praised be!

I am now adding the suffix ".cwk" to all those files that I could not open on OS X 10.5.5. It will take maybe 30 minutes, and I will have saved weeks of re-typing on Pages '08.

[Peggy]

Peggy,

Thanks for inadvertently giving me the answer for my problem.

You said that Leopard might not recognize my files (documents) as they were originally stored, and that .cwk would be needed as a suffix. I tried what you suggested and as I recently posted was unsuccessful. Tonight I simply went to the un-openable file, clicked on its name and deleted it. I then retyped the name and added ".cwk" to it. I clicked again and "Are you sure you want to add the extension '.cwk' to the end of the name?" came up with the warning "If you make this change, your document may open in a different application." Well YES I do! So I clicked again. IT WORKS! Praised be!

I am now adding the suffix ".cwk" to all those files that I could not open on OS X 10.5.5. It will take maybe 30 minutes, and I will have saved weeks of re-typing on Pages '08.

I'm glad you got it working. I wasn't sure what else to suggest.