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

The security warning will occur for any old files that don't use the current
Works converter and is out of my control. Microsoft has identified what it
believes to be a potential security issue with the old converter and thus
prompts for each such document.

I have made a few minor modifications to the macro code concerned with
presentation (that won't affect the security issue) and posted it with
instructions to my web site -
http://www.gmayor.com/Works_Batch_Converter.htm

--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>


Jeffrey L. Hook wrote:
Graham:

I've tested your macro.

The macro seemed to work well. Its icon button was displayed on the
Developer ribbon when the DOTM file was opened directly from within
the WinZip archive and I thought I could run the macro there if I
could see it. When I clicked the macro's button I was shown the
"Browse" dialogue, I selected the desired starting folder, and I
clicked the "OK" button but the macro wouldn't run until I'd
extracted it to the Word\STARTUP system folder which you identified.

I tested the macro on a "straight copy" of my entire data directory
which I'd pasted to an external USB2 hard drive on February 8th of
this year. (That content had simply been copied via the Windows
Explorer Edit\Copy and Edit\Paste menus from the data partition of
one of the two internal hard drives to the data backup partition of
the external hard drive.) The USB connection may have slowed the
macro down but the speed seemed to be pretty good. I assume the
macro may operate more quickly in the current directory on the
internal hard drive.

The macro didn't blacken the screen. It seemed to close all Word
2007 files which had been open when I ran it, asking me if I wished
to save any unsaved changes, and closing without comment files which
had no unsaved changes. It then operated "under cover of" the
apparent "basic GUI" of the Word 2007 executable, the standard Word
2007 interface which was identified as <Microsoft Word non-commercial
use> on its Title Bar. Text along the bottom of the Word GUI
identified the files and indicated whether they were being converted
or saved. The macro did "drill down" along file paths, through
sub-directories.

The only problem resulted not from any defect of your code but from a
larger than expected number of old Works 4.0 files. I wonder if any
macro could be written to evade this problem. For each of those old
files the conversion process was stopped, an annoying sounder was
played, and I was shown a "Microsoft Office Word" "yellow triangle
and black exclamation point" security warning. I was told the file
"needs to be opened by the Works 4.0 for Windows text converter,
which may pose a security risk if the file you are opening is a
malicious file." It was necessary to left-click the security
warning's "OK" button to proceed for each file. These files popped
up persistently in the older sections of my directory. I wasn't
given a "Yes to all" option, so the repeated displays of this warning
slowed the batch coversion down and precluded the unattended
automatic operation which your code would otherwise have been able to
complete. If I'd left the system, hoping the conversion would have
continued unattended until all files were converted, I'd have
returned to find that the entire process had stopped as soon as the
first of those old files was encountered.

I'd been seeing those same security warnings when I was "banging
through" lists of files which had been displayed by my desktop search
engine. I may be able to set the desktop engine to look only for WPS
files which were modified between dates which may be old enough to
catch many of the old files. I can then use my own method of opening
those files in Word 2007 by using their context menus directly in the
search engine's list, and I can use my own simple "one at a time"
macro to convert, save, and close each file from its Quick Access
Toolbar in Word 2007. I can then return to the search engine's list
for the next file, etc.

Thanks again, Graham!

Jeff Hook, NJ, USA



"Graham Mayor" <gmayor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:%233Ujv2axJHA.1372@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

...I have found a minor bug in the add-in whilst testing, now fixed
and updated
on the web site. It shouldn't affect the process, but I took the
opportunity to remove some superfluous code. It seems reliable even
running it on my full C drive of 200 gb without drama!

If it works for you, let me know and I'll post a permanent link on my
web site...


.

Loading