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Thread ID: 37392	2003-09-06 02:37:00	Converting Wordperfect files to Word 97.How?	learner (2646)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
173294	2003-09-06 02:37:00	Hi folks, On our Windows 98 computer we can have some Wordperfect files that show as windows icons (multicoloured wavy symbol) . We want to know the quickest way to covert these to Word 97 files . If we double click on these Wordperfect (created on version 5 . 0 or 5 . 1, I believe) files they will not open whereas any Word files in that folder open with a double click . To open the Wordperfect file in Word we have to run Word 97 then go to File and Open and search for the folder or file within we need and then press Open . Much too slow . We have a total of 700 Wordperfect files in 5 folders we want to convert to Word 97 files . How is the quickest way (ideally I suppose it would be nice if such files could be able to be used in Wordperfect 5 . 1 again but that is probably unlikely to happen . In examining the files as a list I see the Word files have a doc extension but the Wordperfect file ,although they show as a Windows file icon have no extension (the do not show extension *is* unticked . Thanks,learner	learner (2646)
173295	2003-09-06 02:59:00	what you will need to do is rename all the files to file.DOC	robsonde (120)
173296	2003-09-06 04:06:00	The Wordperfect extension is .wpd. Renaming to doc may work but Word may get confused. Just tried and Word said file may be corrupt. Even with the WP extension the same happened. The best bet would be to Save As from Wordperfect although there may be a program somewhere on the web to do a bulk conversion Personally I think WP is a superior word processor and if DRM in Word 2003 brings vendor lockin it will put me off word even more.	mikebartnz (21)
173297	2003-09-06 17:53:00	Thanks for your prompt answer robsonde. Your idea work nicely thank you. Ideally I would like to have a means of automatically identifying exactly which files in a folder,of a hundred or so files, is a Word Perfect file and then having them convert those WP ones in bulk to Word files. Or have a programme that adds .doc extension to a *group of files*at once. Since sending in my question I have experimented with ABC Amber Text Converter v1.23 -the problem is that both Word Perfect and Word files have doc extensions. Batch mode may work if I knew for certain which files were Word Perfect ones. Some seem to be backups of the originals and are named things like Clark.bk! Why the apostrophe I wouldn't know and some have names running on as an extension e.g. agony.col but almost none or none have a wpd extension. Any thoughts? Thank you again.	learner (2646)
173298	2003-09-07 09:49:00	You would be able to do a batch rename from within DOS using the rename command. Some help on this is here: www.computerhope.com www.easydos.com	tommy (2826)
173299	2003-09-07 09:49:00	Hi What you need is a SIMPLE way to open these in word directly, which no-one else has offered. Do this once to one file and all the wordperfect files will automatically open in word when you double click on them. Chose one wordperfect file and right click on it in explorer (my documents) click on .... Open with Choose Microsoft Word, and tick the box which says "always use this program to open these files" From now on all wordperfect files will automatically open with word when you double click on them. Next time when you open the file you can save it as a word 97 file. Hope this solves your problem. I think it does	superOman (745)
173300	2003-09-08 08:22:00	Thanks for your reply mikebartnz. I followed your idea am trying out ABC Amber text converter.The porblem is that there were no extensions on any of the WordPerfect files so some files are merely labelled Clarke others as Clarke.BK!-none with a wpd or doc extension. Thanks too for telling me about .wpd. The only versions of WordPerfect on the Windows 98 computer are the older DOS type versions 4.0 and 5.1 so am not sure if they save as Word files. What exactly is DRM and vendor lockin -it sounds ominous? Thank you again.	learner (2646)
173301	2003-09-08 08:39:00	Hi superOman, Your advice sounded like the type of answer I was looking for so I attempted it on the Windows 98 computer immediately.However, I can't get it to work. We found the files are currently held in Windows\Desktop\WP files ot sort out\3. I did try it with a file in My documents,where we will transfer them all,but we still couldn't get your approach to work. Although we made sure that "always use this program (in our case we chose WinWord) to open this type of file" *was* ticked I think the problem is the lack of any extensions on the file. For instance a file named Clark opened with "open with" WinWord (Word 97) but returning to the file on a future occasion still meant that the icon - remaining as a Multicoloured wave - still needed to be opened by the same method (namely make use of the "open with" selection box; not as a double click as hoped. I think that Windows 98 probably has no was of identifying "this type of file" unless it has an extension. Thank you for your interest -it is appreciated.	learner (2646)
173302	2003-09-08 08:52:00	Did you remember to "Save As" a Word 97 file? That would have put a . DOC suffix on the file, thus ensuring it started with Word in future . Cheers Billy 8-{)	Billy T (70)
173303	2003-09-08 11:05:00	Hi Billy T, A good point - if you are talking about superOman's method of opening each file -I must remember to "Save As; thanks! I was hoping there would be a way of changing all the WordPerfect 4.0 or 5.1 files to .doc files without having to undertake the process individually for each of the WordPerfect fifty to several hundred files in each folder. As there are no extensions currently on the WordPerfect files (except of course false ones such as Clarke.Bk! or election.pol)I think we might need so sort of identifyier that recognises that a file *is* a Wordperfect file (as they are in among other types of files) by some manner other than an extension. If tht can be achieved then they can be done in batches -I hope!	learner (2646)
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