WPDOS - WordPerfect for the Mac on Intel Macs

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WordPerfect for the Mac on Intel Macs: Older Version

This page describes an older version of this system, and is retained strictly for historical interest. The current version of this system is described on a separate page.

Read this first: The information on this page is only designed for owners of any Intel-based or PowerPC-based Mac running OS X 10.5 "Leopard" or 10.6 "Snow Leopard" or later! The system described on this page works only on OS X 10.5 or later!

If you have an Intel-based Mac running OS X 10.4, you may want to look at a separate page about an alternate, less-advanced version of the system described on this page; under OS X 10.4, the alternate system must be installed by hand, following instructions on the page that describes the alternate system.

If you have a PowerPC-based Mac running OS X 10.3 or 10.4, stop now and go to a separate page about WPMac in the OS X "Classic" environment.

If you don't know which kind of Mac you have, click the Apple icon on the upper left corner of the screen, then click "About this Mac". In the "About this Mac" dialog box, look at the line that begins "Processor." If you see the word "Intel," then you have an Intel-based Mac. If you see "Power PC" then you have a PowerPC-based Mac. The same dialog box will also tell you which version of OS X you have.

Are you absolutely certain that you understand which page you should read? If not, read this section again, and, if necessary, yet again, until you are absolutely certain that you understand whether this page applies to your Mac.

If you want information about ways to run WordPerfect for DOS on modern Macintosh hardware, see a separate page.

If you have WordPerfect for DOS or WordPerfect for Windows files that you want to open in Microsoft Word for the Mac, you may ignore this page and go directly to another page on this site.

The WPMacPPC Appliance: a system for running WordPerfect for the Macintosh on Intel-based Macs

This page provides an "emulated" PowerPC Macintosh system that runs Mac OS 7.5.5 and WordPerfect for the Mac in a window in the OS X desktop. This system is called the WPMacPPC Appliance, and it runs in the form of a window that contains the full desktop of a 1990s-era Macintosh computer. (An "appliance" is an emulated computer system used for one specific purpose.)

Like all applications written for older (pre-OS X) versions of the Macintosh operating system, WordPerfect for the Mac cannot run within OS X itself. It will only run inside an "emulated" Macintosh - a "virtual" computer created entirely by software, and running in a window on the OS X desktop. This "emulated" Macintosh is the software equivalent of a 1990s-era Macintosh that can run System 7 or OS 8 or 9, which are the operating systems in which WordPerfect for the Mac were designed to run.

Two programs exist that can create an "emulated" Macintosh, one called SheepShaver, which imitates a PowerPC-based Macintosh capable of running System 7.5.3 through Mac OS 9.0.4. This is the program that is at the heart of the WPMacPPC Appliance. (An alternate, less technically-advanced system, based on Basilisk II, is available on another page.)

Remember, the "PPC" in the name of this system means that the system is software that emulates a PowerPC-based Macintosh; it can run on the hardware of either an Intel-based or a PowerPC-based Macintosh.

To use WordPerfect for the Mac on this emulated WPMacPPC Appliance system, download the installer disk image for the WPMacPPC Appliance, a complete system based on SheepShaver. Perform the following steps to install and run the Appliance:

Download the disk image file. If OS X does not mount it automatically, double-click on the image file to mount it in the OS X Finder.
Read the initial instructions and click "Agree".
Read the "Read Me First.pdf" file - or at least the whole first page.
Double-click the "WPMacPPCAppliance.zip" icon to extract the WPMacPPC application to your Downloads folder. You may leave the application in the Downloads folder, or move it to your Desktop, or to your Applications folder, or (if it exists) to the user-specific Applications folder inside your home folder.
Double-click WPMacPPC application to launch it. OS X may warn you that you are running a program download from the Internet and will ask if you want to continue.
The first time you run the appliation, OS X may ask you where the SheepShaver application is located and display a list of applications. Navigate to the WPMacPPC application itself and click on it. That should be enough to tell OS X where to find the program.
The first time the application runs, it should ask if you wish to install a printing system that will let you print or create PDF files from WPMac. I strongly recommend that you click Yes. (The system consists of a folder in your Documents folder named "Folder for Print Files" and an OS X Folder Action Script that prints or converts to PDF any PostScript file dropped into this folder by WPMac or anything else.)
When the WPMacPPC Appliance opens to the OS 7.5.5 desktop, WPMac will open automatically. You may need to click on the WPMac status bar at the foot of the window to activate WPMac. You may create a document in WPMac or open a document from the "Unix" folder on the WPMacPPC Appliance desktop (which corresponds to your OS X Documents folder).
Important! If you want to print or create PDF files, follow the instructions in the "Read Me First.pdf" file before you try to print!
You may shut down the WPMacPPC Appliance by choosing "Shut Down" from its top line menu, or by closing its window on the OS X desktop.

To restart the WPMacPPC Appliance after shutting it down, double-click the "WPMacPPC" icon again.

To open WPMac documents automatically in the WPMacPPC appliance, select a WPMac document in your OS X system, press Cmd-I for the Get Info dialog, select Open With, and specify WPMacPPC (if it is not already selected). You may now open a file in the WPMacPPC Appliance by double-clicking a WPMac document file, or by dropping a document file on the WPMacPPC icon. If the WPMacPPC Appliance is already open, the document file will open in WPMac. The WPMac document file must be in the Documents folder of your OS X home folder, and the application will warn you if it is not.

You may open the WPMacPPC application in the OS X Applescript Editor to explore additional options and features in this system. If you change any options in the script, the Applescript Editor will take a very long time to close and save the file; be patient.

The WPMacPPC Appliance automatically installs Gero Hermann's WordPerfect plug-ins for QuickLook and Spotlight so that WP files can be searched in Spotlight and previewed with QuickLook (hint: use the spacebar when a a file is selected, or use the QuickLook keyboard shortcut Cmd-Y).

System requirements: OS X 10.5 or 10.6 or later. I have tested this system only on Intel-based Macs running OS X 10.5 and 10.6, but visitors tell me that it also works on PowerPC Macs running OS X 10.5. If your system has been updated from previous versions of OS X, and the installer is unable to create the folder "Folder Action Scripts" in the "Library/Scripts" folder of your user directory, you may need to create that folder and then run the installer again.

Acknowledgments: This system is based on work by John Rethorst, who first devised a SheepShaver/WPMac system and a system for opening files automatically in WPMac after selecting them in OS X, and by Smokey Ardisson, who devised the system for opening WPMac files with an OS X application bundle.

Note: The WPMacPPC appliance was updated on various dates, most recently on 17 June 2011, with various improvements to speed and reliability.

The WPMacPPC Appliance desktop and how to use it

These are the icons on the WPMacPPC Appliance desktop. (Remember, the WPMacPPC appliance appears in a window on your OS X desktop.)

A shortcut to the "Read Me First.pdf" file; you must read at least the first page of this file! It will tell you how to set up the system so that you can print or create PDF files from WordPerfect. You absolutely must read this file if you want to print or create PDF files.

The desktop shortcut "WordPerfect 3.5 Enhanced" opens the final version of WPMac. Use the program exactly as you would have used it on a real Macintosh computer.

The "Open WP Files in WPMac" folder contains "droplets" that you can use to open WordPerfect files (for files created in non-WP formats, such as Microsoft Word, see the paragraph below this one) in WPMac when you can't (or don't want to) open those files from the WPMac File/Open menu. Drag the files to appropriate droplet to open it in WPMac. The droplet named "Drop Mac file..." should be used only for WPMac files and Mac-based text files.

The "Convert to/from WPMac" folder contains droplets that can convert many file formats into other file formats. If you want to edit a Microsoft Word or other non-WP file in WPMac, drop the file on the "to Corel WordPerfect 3.5e doc" droplet and drag the resulting file to the desktop or some other folder. To convert a file into WPDOS, Microsoft Word, or any other supported format, drop the file onto the appropriately-named droplet and drag the resulting file to the desktop or your Unix folder. Use these droplets before transferring files to your OS X system.

The "Virtual Printers" folder contains desktop printers used by this system. All of them can print to your OS X printer or create PDF files. You can, of course, use these printers from within WordPerfect. Make sure to read the "Read Me First.pdf" file on the WPMac Appliance desktop for instructions on initial setup.

The "Shortcut to OS X user folder" and the "Unix" icon both open a window that shows the file in your OS X "Documents" folder. In other words, if your OS X username is "Roscoe", the Unix icon in the Appliance is the same as the "Documents" folder inside your "Roscoe" folder in OS X. Drag documents to and from the Unix window to move them between OS X and the Appliance. The "Shortcut to OS X user folder" shortcut is on the desktop only in case you forget what the "Unix" icon does! (Note: Versions of this system posted before 16 January 2011 used the home folder, not the Documents folder inside the home folder, as the "Unix" folder in SheepShaver.)

How the WPMacPPC Appliance differs from a real Mac: The SheepShaver emulator works more or less like any real PowerPC Mac running an ancient version of the Mac OS. The only significant differences between this system and your old PowerPC Mac are these:

Don't expect to use the Chooser to select a printer. Switch printers from the Print dialog in WordPerfect, or from the Desktop Printer utility in the Virtual Printers folder.
Network or internet access from SheepShaver is highly unreliable. If you want to attempt to achieve network access you will need to set it up yourself, and it won't be easy.

How to get files into and out of the WPMacPPC Appliance. You may open a WP document file in the WPMacPPC Appliance by double-clicking it in OS X or by dragging it to the WPMacPPC Appliance icon. Alternatively, you can copy or move a file from your OS X system to the WPMacPPC Appliance disk by performing the following steps:

First, in OS X, drag the file into the Documents folder in your home (user) folder. Remember, if your user name is "Roscoe", then the folder you should use is the folder named "Documents" inside your "Roscoe" folder.
Next, in the WPMacPPC Appliance, double-click on the "Unix" icon on the WPMacPPC Appliance desktop to open the "Unix" folder; remember, the "Unix" folder is the name used in the WPMacPPC Appliance for the Documents folder in your OS X home (user) folder.
In the window that displays the contents of the "Unix" folder on the WPMacPPC Appliance desktop, find the file that you want to open in the WPMacPPC Appliance.
Drag that file into a folder on the WPMacPPC disk! Do not simply drag it to the WPMacPPC Appliance Desktop! (The best way to do this is to create a folder on the WPMacPPC desktop, and perhaps name it "Transfer"; drag files from the "Unix" folder to the "Transfer" folder, and you will be copying them to the WPMacPPC disk.
When you are finished with the file and want to move the file back to your OS X system (or when you want to move any other file from the WPMacPPC Appliance to your OS X system), drag the file from the WPMacPPC disk into the open "Unix" window on the WPMacPPC Appliance desktop.
The file can now be found in the Documents folder in your home (user) folder in OS X.

Warning: Be safe by saving new and modified files to the WPMacPPC Appliance Desktop, not directly the "Unix" folder. WordPerfect for the Mac can save files directly to the "Unix" folder (which, as you remember, is actually a folder on your OS X system). However, not all programs included on the WPMacPPC Appliance are able to save directly to the "Unix" folder; for example, any file that you attempt to save from Apple's SimpleText (included in the WPMacPPC Appliance) to the "Unix" folder is deleted, not saved. To avoid this problem, save new and modified files to the WPMacPPC Appliance desktop, and then drag the files from the WPMacPPC Appliance desktop to the "Unix" folder in order to transfer them to your OS X system.

A warning on "Save As..." from WordPerfect for the Mac: Be certain to test any files that you create by using the File | Save As... option in WordPerfect. If your document is complex, the WordPerfect export filter may produce an empty file. The export filters that seem most reliable are "Microsoft Word 6.0" and "WP for PC 6,7,8." (Avoid using the "RTF - Rich Text Format" and "WP for PC 5.1,5.2", which often create empty files.)

A warning about the Microsoft Word 6 format: If you convert your WPMac files to the Microsoft Word 6, the resulting files may not be usable in Microsoft Word for Windows. Recent versions of Word for Windows refuse to open such files because their file format is inherently insecure. If you save a file in Word 6 format from WPMac, open in it Word for the Mac or some other program, and then save it again in the format of Word 97 or later so that it can be read on current Windows systems.

If you need more disk space: If you run out of disk space on the WPMacPPC disk image, use the SheepShaver Preferences dialog (accessible from the SheepShaver top-line menu) to create an additional disk for this system. Use the suggested folder, and select a suitable size. You can do one of two things with your newly-created disk: (a) you can use the new disk to store files and programs that do not fit on the main disk, while you continue to use the main disk, or (b) if you created a large disk (perhaps 512MB or 1GB in size), you can use it to replace the original disk. To do so, start the WPMacPPC Appliance; copy the entire contents of the original disk to the new disk; shut down the WPMacPPC Appliance; use the SheepShaver Preferences dialog to remove the old disk. Restart the WPMacPPC Appliance.

Troubleshooting:

After performing some operations with the WPMacPPC Appliance you may find that your OS X home folder includes an empty folder named "Desktop Folder." This folder does no harm to your system, and it takes up almost no space because it is almost certainly empty, but you may want to reduce clutter by removing it. To do so, merely open the folder to be sure that it is empty, and, if it is empty, feel free to delete it.
If the WPMacPPC Appliance disk gets corrupted or otherwise unusable, delete the application file and empty the Trash. Then, double-click the ZIP file on the original disk image to extract the original version of the system.
If nothing happens when you attempt to print from WordPerfect - in other words, if you are not prompted by OS X to print or create a PDF file from the WordPerfect output, then do the following. First, make absolutely certain that you have followed the instructions in the "Read Me First.pdf" file. Next, go to your user folder (typically this folder has the same name as your own name), then the Library folder within your user folder, then to the Preferences folder, and delete the file com.apple.FolderActionsSetup.plist. Restart your computer (though it may be enough simply to log out and in again).

Technical note: An HTML-formatted version of the Applescript at the heart of this application is available on a separate page.

The files included in this download (and their copyright status)

This download includes a variety of different software, with different copyright status, as follows:

SheepShaver: free, open-source PowerPC emulation software originally written by Christian Bauer, later maintained by Gwenolé Beauchesne (who is no longer involved in its development), and included here in a version created by a programmer who calls himself Myrd, who posted his build to the Emaculation.com forum.
Mac System 7.5.5: the last version of the Macintosh operating system freely downloadable from Apple's web site.
Corel WordPerfect 3.5e: this version was released as a free download by Corel.
Earlier versions of WordPerfect: these earlier versions were never released for download by Corel, but the fact that Corel released the last and most powerful version suggests that Corel has no special interest in protecting earlier versions from free distribution.
Mac OS ROM: a "Old World ROM" "image file" from an early PowerPC Macintosh; all Macintosh ROM files are copyrighted, but Apple posted later and more powerful versions of its ROM files on its freely-accessible download pages, so I assume that Apple has no special interest in protecting earlier and even more obsolete versions from distribution.
Adobe Type Manager LE and Adobe Acrobat Reader: both were released as free downloads by Adobe.
Miscellaneous control panels, printer drivers, utilities, and other software, all released by their authors for free use, or for free use by individual users, or apparently abandoned by their original authors and widely circulating on the Internet.

If either Apple or Corel wants me to remove any software from this site, they know where to find me. The chairman of Apple, Steven Jobs, quoted me in his keynote address to the World Wide Developers' Conference in 2008, and I am in constant communication with Apple's corporate communications department. I have been in continuous contact with Corel ever since that company acquired WordPerfect. Both companies know how to reach me, and both know that I will immediately agree to any request they may make in reference to their intellectual property.

Frequently-asked questions

Q. Why can't this system connect to the Internet, or at least to the rest of my network?
A. Networking in Macintosh emulators is at best slow and at worst unstable. If you want to add networking components from a Mac OS installation CD, feel free to do so. But I think you will be wasting your time.

Q. What happened to the Chooser? It isn't there!
A. In this system, I have removed the Chooser from the Apple Menu because there is nothing you can choose from the Chooser. The networking components are absent from this system because networking is unreliable from Basilisk II. The "Virtual Printers" are all variations on the Apple LaserWriter printer driver, which is the only driver that lets you print to your OS X printers or create PDF files through OS X. So the Chooser would be useless. If you insist on having the Chooser, you can find it in the System Folder, in the Apple Menu Items (Disabled) folder.

Q. I want to upgrade the WPMacPPC Appliance from System 7.5.5 to Mac OS 9. Can you help me do that?
A. SheepShaver can run Mac OS versions through 9.0.4, but you will need to replace the "Mac OS ROM" file with a different ROM file; you will need to create a new disk image; and you will need to install OS 9.0.4 on this new disk image. I can't help you with this procedure, but you are welcome to try it for yourself.

Q. I have an old Mac program called MacCheese that I use for making Stilton and Cheddar in my garage. Please tell me as soon as possible whether your system will run this program, and what I might have to do in order to make it work smoothly. I will be glad to send you a copy of MacCheese so that you can test it for me and tell me whether it will work, so that I don't have to waste my extremely valuable time by installing it, only to find that it doesn't work.
A. I have never heard of MacCheese, and I have no plans to test it. I understand, of course, that your time is far more valuable than mine is, and I understand why it makes to sense to you that I should waste my time testing a program that you want to use. However, you might want to consider the bold, revolutionary step of trying it yourself.

Q. Sorry, but I just don't understand any of this. I see that you went to a lot of trouble to explain it extremely clearly, but I'm too lazy and impatient to read what you've written. Please send me an e-mail that tells me all the things that you're saying on this page, but a lot more clearly, and addressed to me personally, not just written for anyone. Meanwhile, I'll also send you a long list of questions, because I'm too impatient to find the answers that are already on this page.
A. Please read this page slowly and carefully.

Copy-and-paste or cut-and-paste between OS X and the WPMacPPC Appliance

You can copy and paste plain text between OS X and the WPMacPPC Appliance. If you are copying from the WPMacPPC Appliance to OS X, follow these steps:

Select text in the program that you are running in WPMacPPC Appliance, and copy it to the clipboard by pressing Command-C or use Edit | Copy.
Click on the desktop of the WPMacPPC Appliance - in other words, click on the desktop of the "virtual" 1990s-era Macintosh. Do not omit this step!
Move the cursor to your OS X application, and paste the copied text into your application by pressing Command-V or Edit | Paste.

Follow a similar procedure to cut-and-paste instead of copy-and-paste from the WPMacPPC Appliance to OS X. Use similar procedures to copy- or cut-and paste from OS X to the WPMacPPC Appliance.

Technical note: When copying from OS X to the WPMacPPC Appliance, it is not necessary to click on the WPMac Appliance desktop before pasting, but you should do so anyway, so that you will be less likely to forget that essential step when pasting to OS X.

Frequently-asked question:

Q. I tried this method and it didn't work at all! Why are you wasting my valuable time with a method that you obviously didn't bother to test? How can you repay me for the time and effort that I've wasted trying to follow your incompetent and ignorant instructions?
A. Please try the procedure again. This time, please remember to click on the desktop of the WPMacPPC Appliance, exactly as it says in the description. Again, please do not forget to click on the desktop of the WPMacPPC Appliance after copying and before pasting.

How to open or convert WPMac files in other programs or formats

If you have WPMac files that you wish to open in other applications, the following list tells you which applications may be able to open your files. See also the list of standalone conversion programs at the end of this list. For information on specially-created applications for converting WPMac and WPDOS files into other formats, under OS X, see a separate page.

Files created by WordPerfect for the Mac 3.5e (3.5 Enhanced):

If you want to exchange WPMac 3.5e files with WordPerfect for Windows or DOS, you are more likely to have success if you save the files from WPMac 3.5e in a "WP for PC" format.
Files in WPMac 3.5e format can be opened in WordPerfect for the Mac 3.5e (3.5 Enhanced) but not any earlier version, and not in WordPerfect for the Mac 3.5.0 through 3.5.4.
Files in WPMac 3.5e format that have only simple formatting will probably open in WordPerfect for Windows or in WordPerfect for DOS 6.x (but not 5.x).
Files in WPMac 3.5e format with complex formatting will not open in any version of WordPerfect for Windows or WordPerfect for DOS; these programs may crash when attempting to import the files, or they may report "Unknown file format." There is no easy way to predict whether any individual file will or will not open in these programs.
Files in WPMac 3.5e format may be opened in OpenOffice.org and programs that use the same import filters (NeoOffice, AbiWord, etc.), but files with complex formatting will probably open with serious defects in formatting; graphics features may be ignored.
Password-protected WPMac 3.5e (3.5 Enhanced) files can be opened only in WordPerfect for the Mac 3.5 Enhanced, not in any other program.

Files created by WordPerfect for the Mac 3.0 through 3.5.4 (but not 3.5e), including files saved in "WPMac 3 Compressed" format, which seems to be identical to the WPMac 2.x compressed format:

These files can be opened in WordPerfect for the Mac 3.x or 3.5e (3.5 Enhanced).
Simple WPMac 3.0 through 3.5.4 files, without complex formatting, may be opened in WordPerfect for Windows or in WordPerfect for DOS 6.x (but not 5.x). They may also be opened in LibreOffice and programs that use the same import filters (OpenOffice.org, NeoOffice, AbiWord, etc.).
Complex WPMac 3.0 through 3.5.4 files (with tables, graphics, etc.) probably will not open in WordPerfect for Windows or DOS; these programs may crash when attempting to open the files.
Complex WPMac 3.0 through 3.5.4 files may also be opened in LibreOffice and programs that use the same import filters (OpenOffice.org, NeoOffice, AbiWord, etc.), but probably with serious defects in formatting; graphics features may be ignored.
Password-protected WPMac 3.0 through 3.5.4 files can be opened only in WordPerfect for the Mac 2.x, 3.x, and 3.5 Enhanced, not in any other program. When attempting to open such files, WordPerfect for DOS 6.x will prompt for the password, but will not accept even the correct password when entered.

Files created by WordPerfect for the Mac 2.x, including files saved in "WPMac 2.x Compressed" format:

These files can be opened in all versions of WordPerfect for the Mac starting with 2.0 (although some features of WPMac 2.1.x files may not be available in 2.0).
Simple WPMac 2.x files, without complex formatting, may be opened in WordPerfect for Windows or in WordPerfect for DOS 6.x (but not 5.x). They may also be opened in LibreOffice and programs that use the same import filters (OpenOffice.org, NeoOffice, AbiWord, etc.).
Complex WPMac 2.x files (with tables, graphics, etc.) probably will not open in WordPerfect for Windows or DOS; these programs may crash when attempting to open the files.
Complex WPMac 2.x files (with tables, graphics, etc.) may also be opened in LibreOffice and programs that use the same import filters (OpenOffice.org, NeoOffice, AbiWord, etc.), but probably with serious defects in formatting; graphics features may be ignored.
Files saved in the WPMac 2.x "compressed" format will not open in WordPerfect for Windows, but may open in WordPerfect for DOS 6.x.
Password-protected WPMac 2.x files can be opened only in WordPerfect for the Mac 2.x, 3.x, and 3.5 Enhanced, not in any other program. When attempting to open such files, WordPerfect for DOS 6.x will prompt for the password, but will not accept even the correct password when entered.

Files created by WordPerfect for the Mac 1.x:

These files can be opened in all versions of WordPerfect for the Mac.
Simple WPMac 1.x files, without complex formatting, may be opened in WordPerfect for Windows or in WordPerfect for DOS 6.x (both of which will recognize the files as WordPerfect 4.2 files). Such files may also be opened in OpenOffice.org and programs that use the same import filters (NeoOffice, AbiWord, etc.).
Complex WPMac 1.x files (with tables, graphics, etc.) will not open in WordPerfect for Windows or WordPerfect for DOS, and probably not in LibreOffice or programs that use the same import filters (OpenOffice.org, NeoOffice, AbiWord, etc.).
Password-protected WPMac 1.0 files can be opened only in WordPerfect for the Mac 1.0, not in any other program.

Files created by WPMac that use the Mac OS "Language Kits" (Japanese, Korean, etc.)

Files created by WPMac using the Japanese, Korean, etc. fonts installed by the Mac OS "Language Kits" designed for System 7.1 through OS 8.6: Depending on the font that you choose, Japanese, Korean, etc. characters may or may not be transferable to other applications. You may try the method described immediately below, but it may or may not work.
Files created by WPMac using the Japanese, Korean, etc. fonts installed by the Mac OS "Language Kits" designed for OS 9.0.4 or 9.2.2: You may have partial or complete success in creating a Word file with the same content as your WPMac file. The most promising way to convert such WPMac files is to open them in a PowerPC-based Mac running OS 10.3 or 10.4 with Classic installed, using WPMac running in Classic. Before you begin, find an OS 9 installation CD and install the appropriate Language Kit from it into Classic. Then open your files in WPMac. If all the characters are visible, select the contents of the file, copy the contents to the Clipboard, and then, under OS X (not Classic), open Microsoft Word 2001 for the Mac (or TextEdit) and paste the copied file into it. If your characters are visible, then save the Word file in standard Word 97-2003 .DOC format. The resulting file can be edited in any recent version of Word, Pages, LibreOffice, etc.

Standalone conversion software:

For the Macintosh:

MacLinkPlus Deluxe (commercial program, no longer available from its vendor Dataviz, and unusable under OS X 10.7 "Lion" or later) converts files from WPMac 2.0 through 3.5e formats to all standard word-processing formats. The results are reasonably good, although features such as line numbering are not supported; conversions to other Mac formats tend to be superior to conversions to Windows formats. Password-protected files cannot be opened. Older versions of MacLinkPlus (through version 11 at least) can open WPMac 1.o files; the last version was version 16. You may be able to find a copy on eBay.

Under Windows:

Conversions Plus (the Windows version of MacLinkPlus Deluxe, described above; no longer available from its vendor Dataviz) converts files from WPMac 2.0 through 3.5e to all standard word-processing formats. The results are more or less acceptable, although features such as line numbering are not supported and embedded graphics either fail to convert or cause the program to crash. Password-protected files cannot be opened.
Quick View Plus displays the main text of files in WPMac 1.02 through 3.5.4 (but not 3.5e), so that the text can be copied into other applications. No footnotes or graphics are supported. Password-protected files cannot be opened.

Links, documentation, and other useful material

Yahoo Groups hosts a WPMac user group, founded and moderated by John Rethorst. Anyone may join easily, and your e-mail address can be hidden from other members. The group's resources include around a thousand digests of the now-defunct WP-L mailing list, which are accessible via Yahoo's search engine (over 23MB of discussion covering almost a decade) via this link (available only after you have joined the group). This index follows the digests in the group's Message area. The group's Links and Files section contain access to virtually every downloadable or web-based WPMac resource except for the large downloaders for WP itself.

Note: Make sure to study the files page of the Yahoo WPMac group, and download highly useful programs such as John Rethorst's MetaMacro, which runs a WP macro on multiple files with a single command. Also, remember that while most of the information available on the archives of the WP-L mailing list is highly reliable, you should not believe everything you read, especially in messages that warn you not to use up-to-date Mac software, or that warn you not to turn on useful convenient features of current Mac software; most such warnings that you find on the list are based on obsolete information.

Many additional files for WPMac may be found at the Info-Mac HyperArchive; read the file "00wp-abstracts.txt" for descriptions. See also the page of WPMac links at WPUniverse (but be warned that most of these links are defunct).

Books worth reading about WordPerfect for the Macintosh include John Rethorst's Teach Yourself WordPerfect 3.0 for the Macintosh (search for it on bookfinder.com, or read the full text in on the Yahoo WPMac user group message board, starting here); Rita Lewis's WordPerfect 3.5 for Macintosh: Quick Start Guide (search for it on bookfinder.com); and Mark Kellner's WordPerfect 3.5 for Macs for Dummies (search for it on bookfinder.com).

Users who already know the basics of the program should study John Rethorst's unique guide to WordPerfect macros and related AppleScript scripting, available as "Scripting Guide" in the files section of the Yahoo WordPerfectMac group.

An Envoy document viewer for the Envoy-format files distributed with some WordPerfect, Corel, and Novell products may be found at a third-party download site.

Automatically set the zoom level and window size for WPMac

WordPerfect for the Macintosh was written for different screen sizes than those on today's computers, so many users change the zoom level for comfort. Instructions for creating a macro that does this automatically may be found on another page.

An automatic font replacement macro

If you created WordPerfect documents under older versions of the Macintosh operating system, you may have chosen obsolete Mac fonts like Geneva or New York as your default document fonts. These fonts can produce unattractively-formatted documents when printed under OS X, and you may want to replace them with more modern fonts.

A macro that automatically replaces fonts when a document is opened was written by John Rethorst and Kevin McCoy. Download this Stuffit archive containing a WPMac document; extract the document and open it in WordPerfect. Follow the instructions in the document to install the macro.

Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and other Non-Roman Scripts

If you have one or more of the "Apple Language Kits," you may use WordPerfect for the Mac to edit text with Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or other non-Roman scripts. Use the 1.x versions of the Language Kits with the version of the Mac OS supplied here.

Other sites include further information on Chinese on older Macs and Japanese on older Macs, and a web search will lead to further information.

To convert WPMac files with non-Roman scripts into modern word-processor formats, use the WPLO Converter, as described on another page.

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