I have operating system 2000. I recently converted from XP (and before
that, from windows 98). I have office XP professional, which I bought
while I had an XP system. I also have quite a few old "wps" files from
years ago, some of which have important information.
How can I open those? When I open them with Word 2002 (i.e., which is
from Office XP professional), there's only garbage.
Isn't it possible to open these files? How?

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Request for Question Clarification by rmn-ga on 15 Feb 2003 17:43 PST

A WPS file is a Microsoft Works file, and, in most cases, is readable
in Microsoft Word 2002.  How do you attempt to open these files (i.e.
do you go to File, Open, and then from the dropdown menu select
Microsoft Works files or do you open them in Word some other way?)?

Hello bbb,

Here is what I want you to do:

Download the Works Converter directly from Microsoft and install it:
http://office.microsoft.com/downloads/2002/wp6rtf.aspx

Here are further instructions directly from Microsoft:

"You may want to print this page to use as a reference when you are
offline.
Download the file from the Microsoft Office Tools on the Web site by
clicking the Download Now button (above) and following the
instructions in the dialog boxes.
Double-click the wp6rtf.exe program file on your hard disk to start
the setup program.
Follow the instructions on the screen to complete the installation.  
Instructions for use: 
In the program you're running, on the File menu, click Open. 
In the Files of type: box, scroll down and select Works 6.0."
SOURCE: http://office.microsoft.com/downloads/2002/wp6rtf.aspx

I found the instructions for doing this on at this Microsoft Knowledge
Base Article (scroll to the very bottom):
"If Microsoft Works 6.0 Is Not Installed on Same Computer as Microsoft
Word"
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315757

If you need any clarifications regarding this answer, please let me
know and I will do my best to further assist you.

tisme-ga


Search Strategy:

Used http://support.microsoft.com and searched for 'wps' using the
product 'Office XP Suite'

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Request for Answer Clarification by bbb-ga on 15 Feb 2003 18:29 PST

I open them in the directory list and then click on them. 
I noticed, by the way, that if I say to open them with Notepad, I can
at least see some of the data. It's not all garbage. But it does look
as though I'm not seeing ALL the data. The files seem shorter.

I may not be able to come back to this question for a few hours. But I
will check back, then. Many thanks; hope you can clarify further.

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Request for Answer Clarification by bbb-ga on 15 Feb 2003 18:31 PST

I just wanted to clarify to everyone that my last message was supposed
to be in response to the "request for question clarifiation" from
rmn-ga...
I forgot to say so...sorry.
   bbb-ga

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Clarification of Answer by tisme-ga on 15 Feb 2003 18:35 PST

Hi bbb,

My solution should work for you, I suspect that you currently do not
have Microsoft Works installed (or a different version of Works
installed), and after installing the converter you will be able to
open your files just fine.

Let me know if there are any problems,

tisme-ga

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Request for Answer Clarification by bbb-ga on 16 Feb 2003 02:17 PST

to tisme-ga:

Everything you say makes sense. But no fixes or online help from
Microsoft has ever worked when I've tried it, not once in about 10
years.

This was no exception. You're right, this was the file that should
help with this. I downloaded the file, and installed it, then tried
opening WPS files.
No help. I get exactly the same garbage as before. When I have a WORD
file open, and from inside there try to open the WPS file, I see the
same garbage, or some kind of cryptic message about some kind of
further conversion, which is no explained at all.
As usual with Microsoft, it's two hours later and nothing has helped.
I'm going to have to spend more hours with paid help online.

If you can think of anything else, I'll try it. Thanks. I'm really
tired of this stuff, and I have work to do that I can't do, now.


I've spend about 12 hours on the phone with Microsft within the past
two weeks, with similar problems. My Internet explorer will NOT keep
history for more than 1 day, no matter what they try.

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Clarification of Answer by tisme-ga on 16 Feb 2003 07:24 PST

Hello bbb,

Just to double check: Are you sure that when you opened the file that
you clicked on "Files of type:" box and selected *.wps?

Is there anyway you could upload the file on the internet somewhere
and give me a place to download it and take a look? This is probably
not a good idea if the files contain personal information.

One other suggestion would be to install the version of Microsoft
Works the files were created with and then give it a try. (You should
be able to run it using Application Compatibility).

Do you know what version of Microsoft Works these files were created
with?

As for your other problem regarding Internet History, do you have any
Anti Virus or Security applications installed? My McAfee Security
deleted the History folder by default and it had to be turned off to
change this.

I look forward to working with you until we can get this solved.
Hopefully you will be able to upload one of the documents.

tisme-ga

To tisme-ga:
You were right, after I investigated longer while being less tired.
What confused me is that each file does open with a similar bunch of
garbage visible. That's WPS header/formatting info. Scrolling down
does reveal the actual data, eventually. By way of explaining why I
didn't realize that, I must note that sometimes you have to scroll WAY
down (one file ended up as 746 pages, though it's really 2 pages of
data). Once I found that out, of course, I opened a whole bunch of
files whose data was more readily visible (wish I'd found one of those
in the first 5 I opened!)

Thanks very much for this thorough help. I'm going to post the
"disappearing Explorer history query" very soon, so please do check in
as an answerer. I'd appreciate (I've been asking people for months,
and I really need that history saved, even though I save many
bookmarks on the fly, myself).
bbb