I have thousands of old WP docs(AppleWorks/Claris, etc) that Pages won’t open. i have used LibreOffice, but it is less than perfect.
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George H. Middleton
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How Do I Easily Access Old WP Documents Now That Pages Can’t Open Them?
Comments: 5 Responses to “How Do I Easily Access Old WP Documents Now That Pages Can’t Open Them?”
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So do you mean AppleWorks, or WordPerfect (WP)? Two different things. I'll assume AppleWorks.
I did a search and came up with the same result: LibreOffice. I'm afraid that "less than perfect" is the best you are going to get in 2020. I'd convert any that you need right now as who knows how long that path will even be around.
This question raises a question for me. Do you have any concerns about future compatibility with using Apple Pages, Numbers, or Keynote for the majority of your files? I ask because someone is less likely to have to deal with whether or not they have the ability to open a file if they use a file format that is used by the majority of users, such as Microsoft Word, Excel, or PowerPoint. This is the main reason why I only use iWork apps for very specific use cases and prefer to use Office apps.
Douglas: That's a good question. And it applies to any software. You mention Microsoft formats as a good one to use, but there are a lot of people right now that would disagree. A lot of people used old versions of Microsoft Office from many years ago that are 32-bit and found out they can't run those with Catalina. Now they can't access their old documents unless they pay Microsoft for an update. They feel they are in the same boat as you suggest others may be in with Pages documents. I think Apple has done very well with this. They continued to support AppleWorks for years after declaring that it wasn't going to be around eventually. Then they had versions of Pages that would open those documents for years more. Anyone with valuable documents in AppleWorks had a long time to convert them. And even today you can still open them in third-party software or simply find someone with an old Mac (your local Mac user group probably has several people that can help). So in 2020 you still have options to convert old AppleWorks documents.
I feel pretty confident that Pages documents will be easily opened for a long time to come and there will be ways to deal with them past that.
Thank you for responding and for your insight. I have been an Apple user since early 2008 when I bought my first Mac, which was an early-2008 MacBook Pro so I do not have a history with AppleWorks. Yes, you are right about Microsoft Office for Mac previously being only a 32-bit application that someone already paid for BUT no longer being able to use that same 32-bit application in Catalina is not Microsoft’s fault, it is because of Apple requiring ALL applications to be 64-bit for Catalina.
Douglas: Apple has good reasons for requiring all apps are 64-bit and sooner or later all computing devices will be using 64-bit apps only. If computer makers were to continue to support all software forever, we wouldn't get very far with technology. We'd all still be using Apple II computers and the like.