MS Works File Coruption

[aussieolie2]

I have this file that will not open. I managed to get some of it open (readable, but not complete) in another viewer, anyway in which I can recover the file (so it can be edited again, the viewer I used from an email attachement viewer).

Thanks,

Olie

[kayofcircles]

Is it your file? One that you made, and therefore virus free? If so, did you try double clicking on the file to open it in Works? My old Works is very fussy about moving files. If I move a database to another folder, or another drive, then Works will refuse to open it inside the Works program. It will give me a message about file being in use somewhere else, or being corrupted. Double clicking on the file will open it in Works just fine, and then I have to "save" the file, and then all is well.

Another thing. Sometimes files appear to be a certain format..like wps..but they're coming from a higher/newer version of Works and my program won't open them. We've had several "doc" files on CDs that we thought should open in WordPad, but they won't..higher version of WordPad or some other word processor program. So, check version of file. If you can get access to a higher version of Works to open the file with, then you can save it to a lower version in the Save dialog box..or even save it in a doc format...and then be able to open it with your Works.

[aussieolie2]

THanks Cay, but I have tried all this. I tried double clicking and also manually opening from file menu inside app, but no luck.
The file may have been moved and renamed, does this cause problems?

Thanks,

Regards,

Olie

[david eaton]

Moving or renaming a file shouldn't cause problems in itself. What type of works file was it? WP, Database or spreadsheet? If the extension is wrong then Works gets all confuseled and tries to open it with the wrong application.

If it's a WP document, try renaming as a text .TXT file and opening in notepad or similar. You should be able to recover the text from the formatting, and import it into your WP.

[Paul Komski]

If you RClick on the file and try Open With and choose Internet Explorer, this too might work, since IE will open many MS files.

[kayofcircles]

David: I am not saying it makes any sense, but when I moved my entire Works files folder down onto the Quick Launch bar, Works refused to open any files from there for awhile. I finally figured out that I could open them by double clicking on them, and then if I "saved" them again (to new location)..the problem was solved. I like that idea of renaming the file to a txt extension, but aussieolie2 , I would recommend "copying" the file first, then renaming the second file..just to be on the safe side.

Paul: I am intrigued by the idea of opening files in IE. Going to try that later and see if it works on mine..

aussieolie2 : You did check the version on the file, though, right? I have the old 95 "version" of Works, and it just can't open some newer Works files unless they were saved in the older format. Like if I make a file in Works, and I want to be sure that someone else can read it, I can choose a "doc" format or something when saving the file, so that anyone with WordPad can open it. And, you do know that the file was "readable" at some point, right? Sometimes files get saved wrong, and end up "garbage"..a newbie type oops, that I won't tell you how I know....but I now make sure that the file "saved" in another format is actually readable in whatever program I am aiming at BEFORE I close the original file.

[david eaton]

C'mon Kay! We're talking Micro$oft here. It doesn't have to make sense!

All together now: -

"It's not a bug - it's a feature"

David

[kayofcircles]

aussieolie2 : I don't want to bug you if you're busy, but am curious. Did you get the file opened? And, if so, which method worked?