Hello netters: Please find below a summary of the responses which I received to my question about translating Word Perfect 5.1 files to Word 5.0 on the Mac. Some of these replies may be helpful to fellow netters interested in file translation. I leave it up to the Moderator to place this file in the archive. Thanks for the help. Leo G. Leduc leo@ramsey.cs.laurentian.ca -------replies follow--------- Reply #1: Apple's PC Exchange ONLY mounts disks; it doesn't translate at all. MacLink Plus includes DOS Mount along with the translators. I'd hope that they are shipping a more current version of DOS Mount than the obsolete, buggy version that came with my package (since I'm a long time AccessPC user, I haven't bothered to try and get a current DOS Mount). Anyway, you shouldn't have to buy PC Exchange too. MacLink will do a fine job of translating straight text and *some* formatting between WP 5.1 and MacWord, but lots of special features such as you are likely to use in forms will either disappear or appear as strange characters in strange places. I've found that translation from WP 5.1 to Mac word processors *usually* isn't too bad (the other way more often is a hassle). However, we have a typist in our word processing center who either wants to demonstrate her proficiency or make herself too essential to be laid off by using every feature WP 5.1 has (including all the obscure ones) to produce documents that won't even print under WP 5.1 connected to most HP LaserJets ;-) When I try and import her stuff, I get the text, but I have to do all the cute "forms" stuff over cause it shows up as assorted hash (when it shows up at all). Reply #2: Apple's PC Exchange is akin to DOS Mounter and Access/PC. It lets you mount MS/DOS disks directly, but has no translations. MacLink has the translators. It also includes DOS Mounter in its $100 or so price. Just buy MacLink Plus Translators -- don't go the extra bucks for the MacLink Plus PC which has cables and comm software for wire transfer between a Mac and a PC. And MacLink does a much better job of translating than Word does with its built-in importers. Keeps formatting. Reply #3: I've been doing this very thing all summer long: writing psychological reports on my Mac at home, and then making correx on our clones at school, eventually printing them from WP 5.1 to an HP LaserJet. Going FROM Mac to DOS WordPerfect was a pain because the translators Microsoft, MacLink, etc. use involve the intermediary step of converting the file to RTF, which would be fine except that I have a large number of Type 1 fonts, and each font name has a spot in the RTF file (whether the font is used or not), and this ends up creating an illegal RTF file. What I have to do is save as RTF, delete most of the font listing, and then use AFE. BUT, going the opposite way is easy (and this is what you were really asking about... sorry I took so long to get here!): just use the WordPerfect filter that comes with MS Word 5. If you use AFE to bring the files to your disk, their icons will tell you they're from the DOS world, but Word see's them as a file it can open, and suggests the WordPerfect 5.0/5.1 translator. Smooth as silk! Reply #4: If you have a Mac with a superdrive all you will need is a program like AccessPC to read WordPerfect 5.1 files with MS-Word 5.0. Word's builtin translators does a pretty good job of converting formats. What you need is a way to mount DOS disks on your Mac. You can do this with a program that costs about $60 mail order. There are two or three other such programs including a new one from Apple. These are extensions or INITs that lets the Finder recognize a DOS-formatted disk. You simply would put your DOS disk with the WordPerfect files into your Mac and, using Word's Open command, open the WP51 file. Word also writes WordPerfect files using the Save As command. I use AccessPC and have had good luck with it. Once you install it, you pretty much forget about it. The only thing that you will notice is different is when you format disks. AccessPC generates a dialog box asking if you want to format the disk as a Mac one or a DOS one. I also have not experienced any INIT conflicts while using the program. Reply #5: Macintosh Word 5.0 can directly read DOS WordPerfect files, so all you need is something to allow the DOS disk to mount on the desktop (PC Exchange, DOS Mounter, etc.) However, if the WP files you're converting are heavily formatted, as it sounds like they are if they're forms of some sort, there's no guarantee that ANY conversion method is going to convert everything perfectly--and I don't know for sure whether there's any difference between Word's own conversion routines and MacLink's. My advice would be to find somewhere to try them both before you decide what to do. Reply #6: My own recommendation would be to open up Apple File Exchange and do a default transfer from PC to Mac and then to open the WP 5.1 file with Word 5 itself. Word's translator is pretty good. If you are going to do this often, definitely purchase AccessPC from Insignia Solutions. This allows you to mount PC disks on the Mac without the hassle of Apple file exchange. IMHO, it is superior to DOS Mounter and PC Exchange. (However, DM and APC are so close in performance, let price and availability factor into your decision.) Reply #7: It has been my experience that the best conversion that reserves the best formatting is provided with Microsoft Word 5.0 itself. The WordPerfect 5.1 to MS Word 5.0 conversion is simple this way. The difficult thing is obtaining a program that allows you to put IBM disks in the Mac and have the Mac recognize them just like anyother floppy. This would make the conversion easy. You would simply put the disk in and open the file through Microsoft Word 5.0 File-Open dialog box. It will automatically present you with a dialog box asking you to choose a converter 1. Text, 2. Text with Layout, or 3. WordPerfect 5.1. You simply choose the WordPerfect conversion and in two minutes voila, you have converted it. I have a nifty little control panel from Dayna called DOS Mounter that allows me to insert IBM disks in my Superdrive (only with a Superdrive) and have then appear to be Mac Disks. It is very useful. It only costs $55 although it comes bundled with MacLink Plus Translators. Normally Microsoft Word converts most major word processors from IBM but if you want heavy duty non word processing conversions, the money would be well invested in MacLink. I have used it for two years and I'm very happy. Most of our professors here work on a variety of DOS Programs at home and need conversion to our Mac oriented office. MacLink does it all working in conjunction with DOS Mounter. The cost of MacLink is $109 but it wins hands-down for me. If I can be of further assistance, just ask. Reply #8: The best way I've found to do this conversion is to use Apple file exchange (or something with the same function) with the DEFAULT TRANSLATION. Then use Word 5.0 to read in the file. Word will ask you if you want to convert the file, and what conversion you want to use. Then just save the file as something different, but be sure to save it as a NORMAL Word document. I'm not certain about how complete and accurate the translation is, but as long as you don't get exceptionally complicated, it should be OK. Boldface, italics, superscripts, and the like should be fine. you COULD run into trouble with endnotes, glossaries, table of contents, and more complex things. In general the conversions are pretty complete, though. Reply #9: I have had a similar "worry" in these sense that some of the people I work with have (at my suggestion) adopted WordPerfect 5.1 for their word processing. I had been looking forward to WordPerfect 2.1 for the Mac, because (at my suggestion) we are moving over to the Macintosh wherever possible. I had expected WordPerfect 2.1 to read and write PC 5.1 files, but it does not. The only reaction that I can think of to this is to not use WordPerfect for any new work. Despite the criticisms of microsoft frequwntly seen in info-mac, I think that that the answer is to use Word 5 on the Mac, and Word for Windows on the PC. I hate to say this, but Windows 3.1 on a fast PC is nothing like as bad as one might imagine. Our supplier has recommended Mac Link, that is the Mac link translators above any other form of conversion; but I have yet to see these. .