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Microsoft Works and Microsoft® Office
Why won't this file open?
Perhaps a friend sent you an e-mail message with an attached Microsoft® Office Word document that you want to read, or you brought a Microsoft® Office Excel workbook home from the office and want to work on it. It's frustrating when you can't get these files to quickly open in Works! Why won't they just open like the others you typically work with? Well, let's look at some scenarios and discover how Works can work well with Microsoft Office.
Scenario 1: Double-clicking the file won't open it
Simply double-clicking an Office Word or Office Excel file in an e-mail message or in My Documents may not work. You might see a message that the file cannot be opened. For example, if you double-click an Excel workbook, the following message might appear.
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If you get a message like this when you try to open an Office file in Works, just click Cancel, and then follow these steps:
- Open the appropriate Works program. For this example, open Spreadsheet.
- Click File, and then click Open.
- Browse to the folder that contains your file.
- If the file is an e-mail attachment, you need to save it to your computer first.
- In the Files of type list, click the file type for the program that created the file; for example Excel (*.xl*) for an Excel workbook.
- Now just click the file, and then click Open.
NOTE: Excel workbooks typically have multiple pages, called worksheets. Works Spreadsheet can open only one Excel worksheet at a time, so you will be asked which worksheet you want to open.
Ah, but maybe the file uses features of Office that Works does not support. This leads us to our next scenario.
Scenario 2: Part of the file is missing after I open it in Works
When you open an Office file in Works, some parts of the file might be missing. In this case, the following message might appear.
What's a person to do in this case?
If you do not need the missing parts, say you just want to look at the data in the Excel worksheet or print the Word document without the comments; the best thing to do is to save the original Office file in a generic format. For Word, you can save it as an .rtf or .txt file, and for Excel, you can save it as a tab-delimited.txt file.
Whoa! What in the world are .rtf and .txt?
Okay, let's walk through creating these files and along the way explain what they are:
- In Word or Excel, click File, and then click Save As.
- In the Save as type list, click one of the following:
- Rich Text Format (*.rtf). This format retains formatting features such as text fonts and colors and is your best choice for Word files.
- Plain Text (*.txt) in Word or Text (Tab delimited) (*.txt) in Excel. This is the simplest format for Word Processor, Spreadsheet, or Database. When you save a worksheet in this format, the columns are separated by tabs.
After you save the file as one of the generic file types, you can open it in Works:
- Open the appropriate Works program, Spreadsheet for example.
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Click File, and then click Open.
- Browse to the folder that contains your file.
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In the Files of type list, click the file type. For example, Text (*.txt).
If you need the advanced features in the Office file, then the solution is to upgrade to Office to gain access to all the advanced features.
Scenario 3: What about opening Works files with Office?
Okay, what if you wrote a document using Works Word Processor, or a spreadsheet using the Works Spreadsheet, and want to open the file in Office? With current versions of Works and Office, you have two options.
The first is to save the Works file normally and then open it in Office:
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In the appropriate Office program, click File, and then click Open.
- Browse to the folder that contains the Works file.
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In the Files of type list, choose All Files (*.*).
- Select the Works file that you want to open.
The second is to save the Works file in the appropriate Office format:
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In the Works program, click File, and then click Save As.
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In the Save as type
list, click the appropriate Office program. For a Works Word Processor document, click Word 97-2003 (*.doc) or Word 2007 (*.docx). For a Works Spreadsheet, click Excel 97-2003 (*.xls) or Excel 2007 (*.xlsx).
- Open the file in Office!
The available converters are:
The Office 12 converters allow users of Works 9 to open and save Office 12 files. The Works 6.0 converter lets users of Works 2000, Works 4.x, Microsoft Word 2000, Word 97, and earlier versions of Word read documents created in Works 6.0. This converter is for computers running Microsoft Windows 98 and Windows Me.The Word 2000 Batch Works file converter, included in Works Suite 2000, helps you convert all of your Works document files into Word 2000 format.The Works 2000 to Word Converter lets users of Word 2000, Word 97, or Works 4.x open Works 2000 Word Processor files. This converter is for computers running Windows 98 and Windows Me.
To recap
Office and Works can work very well together if you remember to do the following: | Open an Office file from a Works program instead of double-clicking it. | | Save an Office file as a generic format before opening it in Works. | | Open a Works file from an Office program, or use Works to save it as an Office file. |
For technical issues, please visit our Support page. Thank you!
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