Converting AppleWork files to iWork Pages

So, you have a whole unit worth of lesson plans done in AppleWorks, but Apple has dropped its support of AppleWorks. And even more important, so has your school district! Now what?! Don't fret, and no need to spend your precious spare time (what's that?!) rewriting them; convert them easily into iWork Pages.

Good news! Apple iWork software can be used to convert your AppleWorks wordprocessing and/or spreadsheet files. You can covert AppleWorks wordprocessing files into Pages, and spreadsheet files into Numbers.

Convert AppleWorks files using iWork Pages or Numbers

1. If the file you wish to convert is a ‘wordprocessing’ file, open the application Pages. If the file is a ‘spreadsheet’ file, open the application Numbers.
2. Next access the menu option File-->Open and navigate to the file you wish to convert.
3. Select the file, and click Open.
4. Next access the menu option File-->Save As.
a. Rename the file (i.e., filenameNEW or any tag you wish to identify converted files.
b. Remove any special characters (i.e., quotes, brackets, parenthesis, etc.) and all punctuation except for the suffix ending (i.e., Pages = filename.pages, Numbers = filename.numbers; or in the case of a MS Office file: Word = filename.doc, Excel = filename.xls).
c. Choose a location for saving the file.
d. Click the Save button.
5. Close the file, select the next file to be converted if any, and proceed.
6. When conversion is complete, it is recommended to delete the old AppleWorks file (these files display without the ʻNEWʼ appendage, and may show the suffix ending .cwk) to avoid confusion, and saving unnecessary copies that only take up space.
Please note that AppleWorks ‘drawing’and/or ‘database’files cannot be converted at all –sorry!

One Additonal Note about AppleWorks drawing, or painting files:
You can save and convert these files over the iWork Pages IF you follow these steps FIRST:
◆ Open the drawing or painting file you want to convert in AppleWorks
◆ Edit>Select ALL
◆ Edit>Copy
◆ File>New (Word Processing)
◆ Edit>Paste
◆ You may have to go up to Format>Document and adjust the borders/margins of the document for all of it to show up. Drawing files are by default set up with a narrower page border.
◆ File>Save (or Save As - this should pop up with this being a New file.)
◆ Name your document and click on the Save button
◆ Follow the steps above for opening and converting your AW file in iWork Pages.

Conversion Tip: Export into MS Office Word or Excel
If you would prefer, after converting AppleWorks files into Pages (.pages) and/or Numbers (.numbers), you can ‘export’the file into Word or Excel. Here’s how:

1. With the file open in Pages (or Numbers if you’e working with spreadsheets), access the menu option File --> Export
2. Select the Word (or Excel) icon and click Next
3. Save with a new filename, if desired.

Default Printer Settings in iWork Pages

This week I discovered something peculiar at school while using iWork Pages. Pages has its own default printer settings, and it doesn't necessarily go by what your computer has set for default printer. In a networked environment, like a school, or even a home with more than one printer, this can get a bit annoying. I thought it was just my computer being wacky, not that my macbook pro would ever behave in such a manner, until someone else noticed this and emailed me about it. So, as I often do when I don't know the answer to a troubleshooting problem on the computers, I "googled" it. (Isn't it funny words become added to our vernacular? I mean 20 years ago, if you used that as a verb, people would say - you did what?!) This is what I found:

Pages defaults its print settings to the first printer in your printer list. As I said, this could get a bit bothersome if you are in a networked environment, like a school setting, where every classroom has a network printer. You could end up printing to the other end of the school without even realizing it if you are quick to hit the print button.

Fortunately, there is a way to fix this. Create a new document in Pages. You don't even have to type anything in it really. Hit print, then browse your printer list to find the printer you would like Pages to default to. Print your new document to your preferred printer, then save your document. From this point forward, any new document you create in Pages will default to this printer when printed. (If you change the printer, though, to say, like, a color printer, and, then save the document after it is printed to the newly changed printer, the new printer will then be your default printer.)

However, this default printer setting does not apply to any documents that were previously created and saved. These will all have to be changed as you open and print them the first time through. If you save them again after you change the printer to your preferred printer, they will then be saved with the default printer setting being saved to your preferred printer.