Working with Microsoft Works WP and Corel WordPerfect files

[lightsup55]

Easy method for converting WordPerfect Documents (.wpd) using OpenOffice.org 2.0 (on Microsoft Windows 98 or later operating system):


If you haven't already done so, download OpenOffice.org 2.0 and install it.

Start OpenOffice.org Writer by clicking the "Start" button (to bring up the Start Menu), point to "Programs", then point to "OpenOffice.org 2.0" and click on "OpenOffice.org Writer".

Click "File" in the menu bar and choose "Open".

At the bottom of the "Open" dialog, you will find a selection list with the text "Files of type:" to the left of it with "All files (*.*)" selected. Lets be a bit more specific, so click on the arrow pointing down and choose "WordPerfect Document (*.wpd)". Find your file, single click on it and click the "Open" button.

Click "File" in the menu bar and choose "Save As...". Near the bottom of the Save As dialog box, you will find a selection list with the text "Save as type:" to the left of it. Click on the arrow pointing down and choose "OpenDocument Text (.odt)".






Converting Microsoft Works Word Processor file and/or Corel WordPerfect file using OpenOffice.org and Microsoft Office Word Viewer 2003.


Please note that this method ONLY applies to those users that are running Windows 2000 (with Service Pack 4), Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 using the Microsoft Office Word Viewer 2003.

This tutorial/guide assumes that you already have OpenOffice.org 1.1.5 or OpenOffice.org 2.0 installed.

If you haven't already done so, download OpenOffice.org 2.0 (or the legacy version, OpenOffice.org 1.1.5) and install it.



Do you have a Microsoft Works Word Processor (WP) file that you would like to convert and don't have Microsoft Works or Microsoft Word?

Do have a Corel WordPerfect file that you would like to convert and don't have Corel WordPerfect or Microsoft Word?


If you said yes to any of the above questions, you can convert these files without needing to download a convertor/filter. All you need is the Microsoft Office Word Viewer 2003 and OpenOffice.org 2.0 (or the legacy version, OpenOffice.org 1.1.5).





How to open a Microsoft Works Word Processor or Corel WordPerfect file in Microsoft Office Word Viewer 2003:

First download Microsoft Office Word Viewer 2003 and install it. If you already have Microsoft Office Word Viewer 2003 installed, skip to the next step.

Click the "Start" button (to bring up the Start Menu), point to "Programs" and click on "Microsoft Office Word Viewer 2003".

If the Open dialog does not appear immediately (or you inadvertently closed it), click "File" in the menu bar and choose "Open".

At the bottom of the "Open" dialog, you will find a selection list with the text "Files of type:" to the left of it with "Word Documents" selected. We aren't opening files of this type, so click on the arrow pointing down and choose either "WordPerfect 5.x", "WordPerfect 6.x", "Works 2000", "Works 3.0 for Windows", "Works 4.0 for Windows", or "Works 6.0 & 7.0" (depending on the type of file you are converting).

For example, if you had a Microsoft Works 4.0 for Windows Word Processor file that needed to be converted, then you would select "Works 4.0 for Windows".

In Microsoft Office Word Viewer 2003 (with your file open of course), click "Edit" in the menu bar, then choose "Select All". Now go back to the "Edit" menu, but this time choose "Copy". This will select all of the formatted text and copy it to the Windows clipboard.

OpenOffice.org 1.1.5 users:
Click the "Start" button (to bring up the Start Menu), point to "Programs", then point to "OpenOffice.org 1.1.5" and click on "Text Document".

OpenOffice.org 2.0 users:
Click the "Start" button (to bring up the Start Menu), point to "Programs", then point to "OpenOffice.org 2.0" and click on "OpenOffice.org Writer".

The OpenOffice.org Writer should start with a blank document.

In the menu bar, click "Edit", then "Paste Special". When the Paste Special dialog box appears, select "Formatted text [RTF]" and click "OK". Your formatted text from your Microsoft Works Word Processor or Corel WordPerfect file should (for the most part) remain how it originally was and show up in OpenOffice.org Writer. Now the only thing left to do is to save the file in the OpenOffice.org format by going to "File" then "Save As...". Near the bottom of the Save As dialog box, you will find a selection list with the text "Save as type:" to the left of it. Click on the arrow pointing down and choose "OpenOffice.org 1.0 Text Document (.sxw)" (or "OpenDocument Text (.odt)" if you are using OpenOffice.org 2.0).


Thats it! You've now converted your Microsoft Works Word Processor or Corel WordPerfect file!




Important Note:
The Microsoft Word 97-2000 Viewer cannot read any Microsoft Works Word Processor or Corel WordPerfect file. To read files of this type, you must use the Microsoft Office Word Viewer 2003.

Users of earlier versions of Windows (i.e. Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, Windows ME, etc.) must either use alternative methods (see notes below) or upgrade their version of Windows to Windows XP (recommended) and then install the Microsoft Office Word Viewer 2003.


Notes:
A WordPerfect filter is available for OpenOffice.org 1.1.5. Read this topic for more information.

I should probably see if this could be added to the OpenOffice.org documentation.
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[eScotty]

Hi,
I currently don't have OpenOfficer Writer as my word processing application. I have MSWorks, and of course most people I sent attachments can't open them. I read elsewhere on the Internet that OpenOffice could be helpful in overcoming this problem, but what I've read at the OO Web site suggests otherwise - though I don't understand much of what I'm reading.

So, basically, my question is this: How I can use either MSWorks or OO Writer as my Word processor application and still manage to send readable attachments? (I can't afford to buy MS Word.)

Thanks,
eScotty

[lightsup55]

[bobharvey]

[eScotty]

Hi lightsup55,
Thanks for replying to my post, and providing such an informative answer to my questions. You really explained things in a way that even I could understand! :-)

Best,
Elliott

[rustics]

I had a go at this since it looked like it might solve a problem I have, but having loaded the MS word viewer from the link supplied, I find it doesn't offer the option of opening Wordperfect files . Under "files of type" it only offers me a few entries (all word docs, word docs, XML, all web pages and doc templates). From the download site there didn't appear to be alternative versions to choose from. I'm running windows XP home.

My issue is the conversion of a doc created in Corel WP using parallel columns. A familiar feature to WP users, but apparently no-one has coded for it in OO yet?? At least following several searches of the OO archives and online support material I came up dry, which really surprised me. It's a very useful feature. The only other solution may be a lot of cutting and pasting or trying to crowbar the thing into a table.
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cheers.

[9point9]

Columns in OOo can be done within frames. It's another way of acheiving the same thing. I think the reason for it being done within a frame is because that way it is easier to define custom text flow.
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Arch Linux
OOo 3.2.0

OOoSVN, change control for OOo documents:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ooosvn/

[Jim Engh]

I have created files in Word Perfect 12 and saved them as .doc files and sent them to a correspondnet who opened them in Word. In the process, dot bullets were translated as Greek characters in oneplace and as Xs in another place. When I opened the .doc file in Word perfect, it was perfect. Apparently the character sets used by Word and Word Perfect are not the same. I downloaded Word Viewer 2003 thinkint that I could open the .doc file and see it as the correspondent saw it in Word, with the translation errors. However that did not happen; the file when opened was correct, the same as it was when originally created in Word Perfect.

I had hoped to be able to use Word Viewer to check for errors but it does not seem that will work. Am I doing something wrong?. I do not have Open Office installed, if that makes any difference.
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Jim Engh

[lightsup55]

All I know is that WordPerfect Documents can be opened in Microsoft Word and Microsoft Word Viewer 2003. Although I have WordPerfect Office 12 Standard Edition Trial, I don't use it as my primary office productivity suite.


Anyway, that sounds like a font problem. In other words, you have a font that the correspondent doesn't have.

The solution here would be to use a different and more common font in your document (such as Arial or Times New Roman).


With that in mind, I have confirmed that Corel Presentations 12 doesn't do a very good job of converting a Corel Presentations 12 Show (.shw) into a Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation (.ppt). You might be able to say the same when converting a Corel WordPerfect Document (.wpd) to a Microsoft Word Document (.doc) and a Corel Quattro Pro 12 Spreadsheet (.qpw) to a Microsoft Excel Worksheet (.xls).



If this doesn't help, try the WordPerfect newsgroup:
How Can I Access the Corel Newsgroups? (Answer ID: 753556)
news://cnews.corel.com/corel.WordPerfect12
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[Jones]

Jim Engh,
This problem can affect Word ducuments too, I could write a word document on my machine and email it to my work's machine and some of the charicters might change. This problem is to do with Microsoft Windows in general and how it deals with true type fonts, it's cause when the other machine's fonts are slightly differant than the one you've save the document in. I don't know whether this affects other operating systems like Linux, BSD, BeOS or Mac OS but it doesn't affect PDFs which is why I strongly recommend them.

[nuncus]

Folks:

You are just going to have a problem trying to move back and forth between WP and either any of the MSWORDs and OOo.

The underlying "text stream" word processing technology of WP and the "container"/"structured document" technology of the other word processors is fundamentally different.

WP was designed for US Government Printing Office (GPO) specs and commercial printing of complex SGML programmed docs for legal brieds, lawyer's appellate briefs and the like.

The MS/OOo technology was designed for business docs.

Those are two seperate worlds. WP is computer text file programming; the others are "indexes and fields and records" (data base type computer files) programming.

The "twain" have been "trying" to meet, as it were, for about 15 years; and so far, the coversions back and forth are dicey at best.

See the following forum post for the details:

http://www.oooforum.org/forum/viewtopic.phtml?t=25712&highlight=

WP is meant to be compliant with official government press work; the intricacies of WP jjust go on forever -- think of WP as something of a "friendly" LaTex type word processor.

I'm not saying that you "can't" convert; but actually you are beating your brains out a bit; it will never be "easy" or straightforward. WP just does so many intricate press type things that aren't even contemplated in MSWord/OOo. So, "columns" in WP, for example, are not even on the same page as they are in the data base word processing type file formats.

The best thing to do is just "make a decision" as to which way you are going to produce your documents. You will always have to do some "cut and paste" and reformatting, however, when you try to cross from "text stream" to "containers".

If you are not trying to produce U.S. court system appellate briefs or compliated government regulations intended for GPO printing, the truth is you probably don't really need what WP can do.

Feeding MSWord or OOo a complex WP document is a little bit like trying to explain the difference between a "street" and an "alley" to a Martian.

Nuncus

[David Rosenkrantz]

What about WP documents that have a doc extension? OO chokes on them and I can't ask it to look for WordPerfect (.wpd) files because the extension is wrong. OO2 asks what flavor of ASCII the file is. Word opens them just fine. SaveAs in Word is too cumbersome.

[dknadler]

Maybe y'all can help me...

My "lady friend" was using a work provided laptop as her, eh, "personal" computer (since I didn't need it for work). She did all of her word processing on the laptop, using a combination of Microsoft Works and non v2.0 OpenOffice.

Anyway, my company requested the laptop and I moved all of her documents to my personal machine before giving it back. I then downloaded OpenOffice 2.0 (note that I don't have any of the Microsoft office products on my machine) onto my machine.

Anyway, the *.doc files open fine. The *.wps (Microsoft Works presumably), however, don't open at all (General input/output error). I just installed the "viewer" and, unfortunately, it doesn't appear to recognize the format of the *.wps files (it appears garbled/corrupted in the viewer).

So... does anyone know of any means of recovering those *.wps files?

Thanks in advance,
dk

[U-High Kid]

I have just installed Open Office 2.01 and can successfully convert Corel WordPerfect documents into Writer but the Wp graphics do not convert over. I am running Windows 98SE and have Wp Suite 8, build 8.0.0.710 loaded on my pc. I create most of my documents in WordPerfect and intall graphics from the Corel Wp Suite 8 CD, which contains clip art with wpg file extensions. Does the newer version of OpenOffice 2.2 (that was just released) handle this conversion problem? Any suggestions?

Thanks
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"One asks ... many listen ... all learn" Socrates

[french]

dknadler - you need to round up a copy of MS Works, load up the wps files in Works, and export them in a format OOo may be able to read. You can find Works on sites such as PriceGrabber.com for very reasonable prices.