Will all AppleWorks converted to PDF be readable forever?

[DrewSpangler]

New Question #1:
MY PLAN for sharing AppleWorks (to make it readable to others who don’t have it) was not mentioned in the site articles you gave me. I have always figured that sharing is as simple as making a PDF. You can’t manipulated it but won’t most other word processing programs let you drop (say a dozen) PDF’s into a book format of at least 8 1/2 x 11 and print them one right after the other for a book of say 500 pages? Surely everyone CAN do this, correct?
Note: When the 3 projects I am working on are finished I will learn iworks.

New Question #2:
I happen to know from experience in AppleWorks that after page 49 you can no longer drop a text block on to a page. My question is this: Is there some limit to how many targets, links and anchors I can put in one master document of 700 pages of research. I will need to target with links and anchors perhaps 1500 times from this master document to an outline so when I start to write my final copy I will be able to go directly to previous research and previous original composition. Shall I anticipate a problem of any kind? It’s too late to split up the 700 pages into smaller documents.—This would just become a huge mess. Am I okay???
(note: I back-up my work (sometimes every 3 hours or so) for safety)

[Barry]

New Question #1:
MY PLAN for sharing AppleWorks (to make it readable to others who don’t have it) was not mentioned in the site articles you gave me. I have always figured that sharing is as simple as making a PDF. You can’t manipulated it but won’t most other word processing programs let you drop (say a dozen) PDF’s into a book format of at least 8 1/2 x 11 and print them one right after the other for a book of say 500 pages? Surely everyone CAN do this, correct?
Note: When the 3 projects I am working on are finished I will learn iworks.

Regarding the subject line question:
No. Nothing is 'forever'. Files get corrupted and become unreadable. Software becomes outdated, and platforms on which to run it are no longer available. Currently you can see that process in action with AppleWorks. Eventually it will also happen with PDF. The storage medium or device will deteriorate or become obsolete. (See 8 track tape cartridges for an example.)

There are currently several applications available to produce booklets from PDF documents. Whether 'everyone' can do this depends on 'everyone'
-having one of these applications
-having a computer on which it will run
-having a printer
-having the desire to do this
-being able to run the system

New Question #2:
I happen to know from experience in AppleWorks that after page 49 you can no longer drop a text block on to a page. My question is this: Is there some limit to how many targets, links and anchors I can put in one master document of 700 pages of research. I will need to target with links and anchors perhaps 1500 times from this master document to an outline so when I start to write my final copy I will be able to go directly to previous research and previous original composition. Shall I anticipate a problem of any kind? It’s too late to split up the 700 pages into smaller documents.—This would just become a huge mess. Am I okay???
(note: I back-up my work (sometimes every 3 hours or so) for safety)

Don't know. I've not had experience with large numbers of links and anchors (or with 700 page documents). Good luck!

Regards,
Barry

[DrewSpangler]

Barry,
I wish I could be more grateful for the answer.
“Forever“ in my question on PDF was a bad choice of words. Sorry.

1. Can I read a PDF from 1993 (first year of PDF) —one generated originally
from a Mac on the new Mac. Please don’t ask me to try it. I don’t have one.
I’d like to know the history in this regard to PDFs
2. Can you read a PDF made from AppleWorks today on the new Macintosh. Yes?

3. Even if I can not use AppleWorks on the new Macintosh, may I “get
information“ from the doc/ file to see the opening and closing dates?
Will I be able to read the note section I made on the file also?

Number 3 is very important Barry, because if I can not “get info” I
will have to find a way to list this date info separately. The PDF will
show a new date of creation.

[Barry]

Barry,
1. Can I read a PDF from 1993 (first year of PDF) —one generated originally
from a Mac on the new Mac. Please don’t ask me to try it. I don’t have one.
I’d like to know the history in this regard to PDFs

To the best of my knowledge, although features have been added to PDF, the early forms of the format can be read by current versions of Preview and Adobe Reader. Preview is supplied with the Mac OS.

Adobe Reader is free, and may be downloaded from adobe.com. The most recent version for ppc and intel Macs running Mac OS X v10.4.11 - 10.5.x is version 9.4. The current version, 10.x, requires Mac OS X v10.7.x (Lion).

2. Can you read a PDF made from AppleWorks today on the new Macintosh. Yes?

Again, as far as I know. Generating PDF files is a function of Mac OS X, not of Appleworks. Anything that may be printed may be saved aas a PDF file through the Print dialogue.

3. Even if I can not use AppleWorks on the new Macintosh, may I “get
information“ from the doc/ file to see the opening and closing dates?

Probably. To be certain, I would copy the earliest file to a flash drive, take it in to an Apple store or reseller, and ask to see the Get info window for the file.

Will I be able to read the note section I made on the file also?

Probably not, if this note is in the file.

"As far as I know" should be taken literally. I don't have access to a Mac running Lion, so I have no direct knowledge of what the answers to your questions will be.

Best practice for all of these, should there be no rsponse here from someone who has tried these things, would be to make/copy the files, take this in and try them, as I've suggested above.

Regards,
Barry