Joined: Jan 17, 2007 Posts: 19 Location: the desert of the real
Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2007 8:05 am Post subject: Opening .wps files
I was reading up on the forum where Neo can't open Word Perfect files. Is that still true? I found a filter when I was trying to open one for Word Perfect documents; however, when it opens, there is nothing there, just a blank doc.
I think it came from a PC and I am running Mac OSX on an iBook G4...
Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2007 11:08 am Post subject: Re: Opening .wps files
Switch wrote:
I was reading up on the forum where Neo can't open Word Perfect files. Is that still true? I found a filter when I was trying to open one for Word Perfect documents; however, when it opens, there is nothing there, just a blank doc.
Neo does open WP files, but not all types. It accepts .wpd text documents at least, but I will let Smokey or Fridrich tell us what else the libwpd project has achieved since then.
Best wishes,
Oscar _________________ "What do you think of Western Civilization?"
"I think it would be a good idea!"
- Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
.wps is the extension for Microsoft Works files, not WordPerfect. There's a filter under development at SourcForge to allow apps to import some Microsoft Works formats (word processing only, and only some versions of Works last I checked).
WordPerfect documents, however, are fully supported (in that Neo can open WP 1.x, 2.x, 3.x, and 3.5e for Mac and WP 4.2, 5.x, and 6.0-12 for DOS/Win; not all formats import with the same amount of formatting data intact), except for password-protected ones. In the latest version of libwpd, password-protected documents no longer hang or crash the host app.
Smokey _________________ "[...] whether the duck drinks hot chocolate or coffee is irrelevant." -- ovvldc and sardisson in the NeoWiki
.wps is the extension for Microsoft Works files, not WordPerfect.
How hideous! I wonder about that format. I don't think anything other than Works and Word can read ever it, and I have never seen anyone use it seriously or take it seriously..
Best wishes,
Oscar _________________ "What do you think of Western Civilization?"
"I think it would be a good idea!"
- Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
Joined: Jan 17, 2007 Posts: 19 Location: the desert of the real
Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2007 9:39 pm Post subject:
Well, one of my students emailed me an assignment in .wps format, so I guess he is using it! You'd think these young'uns would know more about it than I do (although I'm not THAT old yet)... Anyway, so you think there is a filter out there somewhere I can download and try? I have no idea what kind of machine he is running at home...
That helps to understand that .wps is a MS Works file and not WordPerfect. It makes more sense that Neo would not open it. So far it has opened everything pretty flawlessly with the exception of some Keynote transitions and a few formatting things from Word docs.
Hey, all of you, THANK YOU SO MUCH for all your help, you don't know what it means to have such awesome support! I'm talking you up to all my friends (that's not many people, but hey, can't have everything)!
Well, one of my students emailed me an assignment in .wps format, so I guess he is using it! You'd think these young'uns would know more about it than I do (although I'm not THAT old yet)...
There's typically one every semester, in my experience Someone (or someone's parents) purchased an inexpensive PC that only came with Works. (I'm not sure how people with only Works get by in the world of electronic interoperability these days--given the situation with import and export of Works files--but that's neither here nor there.)
Switch wrote:
Anyway, so you think there is a filter out there somewhere I can download and try? I have no idea what kind of machine he is running at home...
Works is really the red-headed step-child of file formats. Word won't open it (there are converters for getting certain versions of Works into certain versions of (PC) Word, but last time I researched this, MS wouldn't actually let you download them ), and many versions of Works won't save as Word files.
Right now the libwps filter is in infancy; it doesn't support many Works versions or many of the features of those files, and the filter is not integrated anywhere yet (it might be in the latest unstable AbiWord builds, but AbiWord hasn't had a recent Mac version in ages).
Given the terrible situation of Works, your best bet is to ask the student to save the file in MS Word (.doc) format if possible in his version of Works, or, baring that, in Rich Text (.rtf) format (which apparently even ancient versions of Works support), both of which Neo can open well.
If for some reason that's not possible (e.g., to make sure the student hasn't added more content after the due date), I can see about building the stand-alone command-line Works to OOo converter from the libwps source for you, but there's no guarantee that it will do a good job at translation yet....
Smokey
/wishes MS Works would just die
//wishes Apple would publish documentation for the AppleWorks formats
///wishes someone would clone fridrich and pay him and his clone to develop OSS import filters for all the world's file formats _________________ "[...] whether the duck drinks hot chocolate or coffee is irrelevant." -- ovvldc and sardisson in the NeoWiki
Joined: Jan 17, 2007 Posts: 19 Location: the desert of the real
Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2007 10:54 pm Post subject:
My goodness! No need to build all that for me...
The kid did print a copy and turn it in (albeit with pretty poor color from a pretty low-quality printer, which is why he emailed it to me in the first place), and I did ask him to save it as a .doc and re-try... I'll be able to tell whether or not he changed it, so that will work out fine (if he is tech-savvy enough to save it in a different format).
And funny, I thought MS works died YEARS ago. I guess I was (sadly) wrong.
Joined: Nov 21, 2005 Posts: 1285 Location: Witless Protection Program
Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2007 1:59 am Post subject:
Switch wrote:
And funny, I thought MS works died YEARS ago. I guess I was (sadly) wrong.
Thanks for your help!
Welcome to NeoOffice Switch (better late than ... really late? )
Glad that folks here were able to provide help. They are a GREAT bunch!
Maybe you can suggest to your students, and friends, that they can upgrade to NeoOffice (Mac) or OOo (Windows). They get rid of Free (and cheap) MS Works, not spend money for MS Office, and use MS Office formats and OpenDocument Format. A great deal for all. It's just an idea.
As for MS Works ... with so many free copies installed on (cheap) PC's,
I'm afraid that we will be seeing .wps files for many years.
Philip ( Support NeoOffice and "Help Stamp out MS Works!" )
Joined: Jan 17, 2007 Posts: 19 Location: the desert of the real
Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2007 8:14 pm Post subject:
Ahhh, great idea! One that had not occured to me as this poor boy is running a PC rather than a Mac and I was not remembering OOo. That would be a free download from OOo for him and then we could all happily interchange documents freely! I hope that install is easy? I know I am not fabulously techy but these folks probably don't know the difference between a PC and a Mac.
Thanks! _________________ Did you ever eat Tasty Wheat?
No, but technically neither did you.
--Mouse and Switch, The Matrix
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), and many versions of Works won't save as Word files. 
My goodness! No need to build all that for me...
I hope that install is easy? I know I am not fabulously techy but these folks probably don't know the difference between a PC and a Mac.