Importing Works v1 files into Word 2002

  • Thread starter Thread starter Parish
  • Start date Start date
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Parish

Yes, you read it correctly, Works version 1!!!

I bet this makes a change from the usual questions you MVPs get asked in
this NG :-)

I have a load of files with .WPS extensions that my late father wrote,
part of his memoirs. I'm fairly certain it was v1 of Works[1] - it was
running on a 286 under DOS 3.3.

The files are, as you would expect, mainly ASCII text but with blocks of
binary data at the start and end of the file.

Word (2002) opens them, but seems to treat them as plain text with some
binary garbage, which it just displays as unprintable characters (empty
rectangular boxes).

The main text is readable but often it runs several paragraphs into a
single block of text.

Does anyone know if the is a proper import filter for these files?

TIA

Regards,

Parish

[1] Let's put it this way, it came on a single 1.44Mbyte floppy, and I
still have the disk :-)
 
If you have the computer and/or version of Works he created the files with,
the simplest solution would be to use Works (whichever version) to save the
files in RTF format. Beyond that, you might look for someone who has an
ancient version of Word (I happen to know someone who has every version from
Word 2.0 for Windows up on her machine) to open the files and save them in a
Word-readable format.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

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Suzanne said:
If you have the computer and/or version of Works he created the files
with, the simplest solution would be to use Works (whichever version)
to save the files in RTF format.
Click to expand...

That was my plan, but the (MFM) disk in the PC is dying so I had to just
grab the files off it.
Beyond that, you might look for someone who has an ancient version of
Word (I happen to know someone who has every version from Word 2.0
for Windows up on her machine) to open the files and save them in a
Word-readable format.
Click to expand...

I do have another old PC here with Win95 on that I think still works (if
I put some RAM in it). Can't remember if it has Word on it but with
Win95 I should be able to install the version of Works the files were
created in since I still have the disk.

I was jus hoping that there may be some import filters, or just a
standalone conversion program, hidden away on the MS website somewhere.
If all else fails I can reformat them by hand, it's just that there's
~50 files.

Anyway, thanks for your help Suzanne.

Regards,

Parish
 
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