Re: How To Convert Thousands of Works 7.0 Files to Word 2007 Simultaneously

**EXCELLENT**, Graham! THANKS!

1. > If you have the appropriate filter installed, Word will open Works
documents without problem.

Yes, I can do that easily. I can open every one of the > 20K Works 7.0
documents in Word 2007 instantly. That's never been a problem.

2. > A sensible option would be open the Works files as you require them
and save them as Word 2007 documents...

I can also do that, but, as I explained, I've had such difficulty with Works
7.0's "word processor" that I want to be rid of the application and I'd
rather convert all of its existing files to Word 2007 now, so I can avoid
future use of the Works application. (I do appreciate Works' flat-file
database.)

Some users who find this thread in the future may wish to know how they can
find and then convert all files of a type. I'll explain several methods
below my signature.

3. > The following macro will save all Works documents as Word docx format
from a given folder. The original Works documents are unaffected, so you can
return to the original if necessary...

Thanks very much for the code. Please understand that my knowledge of
macros in Word 2007 and of Visual Basic is just about nil. The simple
"Convert-Save-Close" macro which I mentioned in my first message was my
first macro. (This functionality isn't "supported" by Works' "word
processor" so I had no prior experience of macros.)

Here's the entirety of my first macro, from the Visual Basic GUI:

***
Sub Macro3()
'
' Macro3
' Automates the steps of the Conversion process within a Works 7.0 "word
processing" file which has already been opened in Word 2007.
'
ActiveDocument.Convert
ActiveDocument.Save
ActiveWindow.Close
End Sub

***

That's all there is, but it seems to work.

I was able to install your macro. I could see from the code that the macro
seemed to be focused on folders, and that seemed appropriate, because I
hoped it would start at the "highest" folder in a given file path (closest
to the root) and would "work its way to the end of the path." I assigned a
Quick Access Toolbar button to the macro and I then ran it, on a
"low-stakes" folder of content which I rarely use. (I should have copied a
folder and run the macro on the copy, in case I bungled the installation and
problems resulted, but I guess I could restore content from a back-up of my
data directory if that were necessary.)

I see that your macro displays a typical Windows browse-type dialog which is
titled "Select folder and click OK." I assumed I should use the dialog's
browse capability to navigate to a folder in which I wish to convert Works
documents and I assumed I should then left-click the dialog's "OK" button.
The dialog doesn't offer any display of content (i.e. of files in folders)
unlike the Word 2007 "Open" dialog, which can be set to show "All Files
(*.*)" in its "Files of type" field. Also, if I select a folder and then
click "OK" the folder name doesn't appear in the macro's "Folder name"
field, which remains empty, although I see that the field's drop-down list
shows all folders in which I've used this macro, in reverse chronological
order. These folders are only shown *after* the macro's been run in them.

I'm "operating blind" with this macro because I can't see if any folder
contains any files which I wish to convert. I could navigate simultaneously
in Windows Explorer in order to locate Works 7.0 documents which I wish to
convert while I also perform the same navigation in your macro, but I don't
want to *double* my navigation! It's easier simply to open any Word 2007
file and then to navigate in that file's Open dialog via the file's Office
menu, with the Open dialogue set to Files of all types, so I can see the
contents of all folders but it's even easier than *that* for me to use my
desktop search engine (Dave Vest's FileLocator Pro) in order to obtain a
list of *ALL* Works 7.0 documents in any directory. That completely
eliminates all navigation! As I explained in my first message I can reduce
the amount of time which is required for each conversion to a few seconds by
combining my desktop search engine with my own "quick and dirty" macro, but
I still feel like it's a waste of time to convert files "one at a time" like
this, even if each conversion only requires seconds. I'm looking for a way
to automate the conversion of more than 20,000 files and to perform those
conversions in as little time as possible.

Your macro seems to operate only in one folder (at one "level" of a
hierarchy) at a time. It doesn't seem to "drill down" along file paths and
to work in all sub-folders. When I could see in its code that it was
focused on folders I decided to operate it close to the end of a rarely-used
file path in order to reduce the chance that it might do damage if I'd
installed it incorrectly and if I'd "corrupted" it. I operated it a few
levels above the end of the test path in the hope that it would convert all
files in all sub-folders, but it never left the folder in which it was first
operated. It therefore doesn't operate in the way which I desired. It also
retains the original Works 7.0 files although I'd prefer to use Word 2007's
"Convert" option, which deletes the original files, and which leaves only
the newly-converted Word 2007 files.

Are you at all inclined to modifiy the code in order to assure that the
macro will:

1. move along complete file paths, working in all sub-folders and will

2. convert all Works documents in all folders, deleting the original files,
and leaving only the newly-converted Word 2007 files, as results from the
use of Word 2007's "Office\Convert" menu?

Would you be willing to explain how your code limits this macro's function
in these respects, so I could try to modify the code myself? I tried to
change "False" to "True" in this context:

....With fDialog
.Title = "Select folder and click OK"
.AllowMultiSelect = True...

but that didn't produce the sub-folder effect which I'd hoped to produce.


Jeff Hook, NJ, USA (Additional comments below may be of interest to users
who wonder how to locate and convert files of any type.)

I've used these different methods to locate Works 7.0 files and to convert
them to Word 2007. I've written an extremely simple macro in Word 2007
which merely automates the four-click process of opening each file's Office
menu when the Works file is opened in Word 2007, left-clicking the "Convert"
command in the Office menu, left-clicking the "Save" button on the Quick
Access Toolbar, and then left-clicking the Windows "Close" button at the
upper-right corner of each file's GUI. I installed my macro as a button on
the Quick Access Toolbar so it appears in each file when each file is opened
in Word 2007. Conversion is therefore a simple matter of opening each file
in Word 2007 and then making a single left-click on the macro's button. The
macro does the rest:

A. I can open each Works 7.0 file individually in Word 2007 by
right-clicking the file in the Contents Pane of Windows Explorer in the
Windows Classic View in Windows XP, then left-clicking "Open With\Microsoft
Office Word" in the context/"pop-up" menu.

B. From within any Word 2007 file, I can use the Word 2007 Open command in
the Office menu. This produces the Open dialog, in which I can navigate to
the desired Works 7.0 files, which I'll be able to see in the dialog's
Browse display if I've set the dialog's "Files of type" field to "All Files
(*.*)" in the field's drop-down list.

If I leave any Word 2007 file open after I've navigated to my first Works
7.0 file and have converted that file to Word 2007 the Open dialog will
remain "set" to the last folder in which I worked. This helps me to
navigate through directories in order to convert multiple files one-by-one.
If I close all Word 2007 files, it'll be necessary to "re-set" the "Open"
dialog from the system root, by navigating once again to the desired
folders.

C. A convenient way of converting all files systematically (but still only
one-by-one) is to use a desktop search engine to obtain a list of all files
of a given type in a given directory, as I explained in my first message. I
can then convert each file in the search engine's "search results" list, by
using each file's context menu, as I explained here in method "A" above.
This method's helpful because it obviates navigating through the directory
in search of the files which are to be converted; the engine lists them all
and it's not necessary to look for them.

JLH

"Graham Mayor" <gmayor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:uxSJSqJxJHA.4592@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
If you have the appropriate filter installed, Word will open Works documents
without problem. You can download the older Works filters from my web site.
The latest filter is supplied with Office 2007. (snipped)



.

Loading