Works-to-Works/AppleWorks 3.0: Saves Files in ASCII

The name Productivity Software, Inc. appears in the "Get Info" dialog box for the AppleWorks-to-Microsoft Works translator for Apple File Exchange. This translator does not support the new AppleWorks 3.0.

I am receiving a rash of complaints about backward and forward compatibility surrounding AppleWorks 3.0. Is anyone else getting these complaints? It seems that version 3.0 will not read older 1.x files and will not allow the user to save files in older 1.x or 2.x formats.

I am trying to find out if there will be an upgrade? Does anyone have the phone number for Productivity Software, Inc. or know where they are located?
CLARIS Tech Support is telling their customers to save the files as ASCII for Works-to-Works to function as expected. Using the new features causes AppleWorks 3.0 to use a different creator type, which is not recognized by Works-to-Works. The phone numbers we have for Productivity Software are no longer valid. However, we are emailing them a copy of this.

CLARIS was unaware of problems reading files saved by older versions of the software. As long as no new features are used, AppleWorks 3.0 saves files in a format that can be read by older versions of the software. Once a new feature is used, the creator type is changed and is no longer readable by older software.

This is intentional because the old software would get confused when trying to deal with the results of a new feature. Again, they suggest saving the file in ASCII form for reading into previous versions. For further clarification, call CLARIS Technical Support. For more details, search the
Tech Info Library under "CLARIS".

TIL article#17159: "Locating Vendor Information", can help you search for a particular vendor's address and phone number.
Published Date: Feb 18, 2012