coverting from an old version

Nate Rosenthal

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Oct 31, 2004, 12:41:37 PM10/31/04

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I am helping a lawyer friend with their computer setup. They are going from
an old DOS version of Wordperfect on an old machine using Widows for
Workgroups 3.11 to Wordperfect 12 on an XP. Their files which I was able
to salvage, burn them onto a disk and put on the new computer are in a
number of different formats.

Trying to open the documents from the desktop without going into Wordperfect
first is the tricky part.

Many were documents made in Wordpad. Those were easy, telling the computer
to a open all similar files Those can be opened from anywhere.

It's the rest that are the problems. Most of the files were saved as parts
of people's names, with the first three letters as the extension. For
example Joseph Smith would be joe.smi and it's file type would be an
smi file. Suzanne Snowflake would be a suz.sno and an sno file and so
on..... When I try to open from the desktop, I get a can't open with error
nessage and I have to direct it to open that specific file with Wordperfect.
If I go into Wordperfect first and tell it to open a file it's fine and
obviously if I then save it as a a wordperfect file, it's good to go for the
next time.

I am not overly familiar with the nuances of wordperfect. Can I change all
files of a certain type to be opened by wordperfect all at once given this
situation? These people are not particular computer savvy and I'm trying to
make things as easy as possible for them. Are they going to have to change
as they access a file or can I convert them all beforehand.

Any suggestions would be helpful.

lemoto

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Oct 31, 2004, 2:07:44 PM10/31/04

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Nate:

> Most of the files were saved as parts
> of people's names, with the first three letters as the extension. For
> example Joseph Smith would be joe.smi and it's file type would be an
> smi file. Suzanne Snowflake would be a suz.sno and an sno file and so
> on..... When I try to open from the desktop, I get a can't open with error
> nessage and I have to direct it to open that specific file with Wordperfect.
> If I go into Wordperfect first and tell it to open a file it's fine and
> obviously if I then save it as a a wordperfect file, it's good to go for the
> next time.
> I am not overly familiar with the nuances of wordperfect.

This is not a WordPerfect issue. Windows checks the extension and, if it has
been registered, uses it to select the associated program.
If instead of right-click you use Shift+right-click (and under some OSs even
if you do not) you see an option Open with...
Your users can there specify WP.
It would not be wise to choose []Always use this program...
because they have used so many extensions that a clash with some existing
registered extension is quite likely.

Opening the files from within WP is the obvious way to go, with no downside
that I can see. You may as well be in WP's File|Open Dialog as in Windows
Explorer.
--
Good wishes!
Roy Lewis
C_Tech volunteer
(UK)

Nate Rosenthal

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Oct 31, 2004, 9:36:42 PM10/31/04

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Kind of what I thought
No downside for me, but I have a clue, My clients on the other hand.....

Thanks anyway

"lemoto" <ct...@corel.ca> wrote in message
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