choosing application to open files with

[dryer]

I find that I’ve forgotten how to do various things in System 7 that worked differently from Classic, so this is more a System 7 question rather than a Sheepshaver question. But how can one choose the application that opens a file? I have large text files that I want to open in Word but System 7 tries to open them in Simple Text, which they are too large for. So I want text files to open in Word, but don’t know how to do that. The option is not available in the Info box. Thanks.

[Ronald P. Regensburg]

If you want to open a file in a different application than the application it normally belongs to, you can either drag the icon file onto the application icon or start the application and open the file with "Open" from the File menu.

To make it permanent, you need to edit the 'creator'. You can do that in ResEdit. Or you can open the file in the desired application and do 'Save as' from that application. The new file will belong to the application it was saved from.

Word is a word processor rather than a text editor, not a good application for editing true text files. There are several text editors that open text files of unlimited size. See for instance Tex-Edit Plus, still available in a version for MacOS 7 through 9: http://www.tex-edit.com/

[dryer]

Thanks. I forgot about dragging files to the application; for some reason I never do that. But it solves my problem.

For some of the the files I am talking about, another text editor won’t work because these files are RTF formatted files generated by a Pascal program (my main reason for using Sheepshaver is because I have lots of programs in Think Pascal). But System 7.5 says they are text files (which I realize they sort of are).

But I am curious why you say that it is better not to use Word as a text editor. I’ve been using Word that way since I got my first Mac about 25 years ago. There can be advantages in doing that for some things and I can’t think of any reason why I might prefer to use a text editor program rather than Word working with text files. Just curious.

Thanks.

[dryer]

I spoke too soon. Dragging these files to the Word icon doesn’t work for these files, just as dragging a file that can’t be read by Word (like a PDF document) to the Word icon doesn’t work. If I have 50 RTF documents that I want to open, I don’t see how to do that other than labouriously opening each one from inside Word, which isn’t practical because I am constantly generating multiple RTF documents that I need to open. I know that I didn’t have this problem 20 years ago with System 7? 8? 9? since I used the same programs 20 years ago to generate multiple rtf documents. I just don’t recall how it worked then.

[Ronald P. Regensburg]

It is better not to use Word for editing 'true' text files, but RTF files are no text files and Word is fine for editing RTF files.

- Which system/MacOS version do you use now?
- Which Word version do you use? Is it the same version you used to edit the files in the past?
- Do the files have a .rtf file extension?
- Do you know the File and Creator data of the files?

You can find the File and Creator data with ResEdit. Do not 'open' the file in ResEdit !. After dismissing the splash image (click it) and the initial Open dialog (Cancel) that ResEdit starts with, choose Get File/Folder Info... from the File menu and you will get an 'Open' dialog with a "Get Info" button instead of an "Open" button. The Info data can be edited, better do not do that yet.

ResEdit can be found here: http://www.mac.org/utilities/resedit/

[24bit]

Hello,
I like "MiniConversion" better, but this one used to do a good job with file and creator IDs from yonder:
http://macintoshgarden.org/apps/creator-changer-284-0 . BBEdit should open your files in System7 too.

If you are on OSX it should be possible to open your files with an old Office version from e.g. 2001 or with OpenOffice.
http://porting.openoffice.org/mac/
This is the top of import filters list: http://i1193.photobucket.com/albums/aa3 ... ffice3.jpg

Please note that Office is bound to crash emulation on OSX hosts.
I found Windows and Linux hosts working (mostly), if you are using SheepShaver and MacOS 7.6.
Best wishes!

[dryer]

- Which system/MacOS version do you use now?
Mac 7.5.3

- Which Word version do you use? Is it the same version you used to edit the files in the past?
5.1 (for Mac)

- Do the files have a .rtf file extension?
Yes. But why should this make a difference? I thought Macs didn't pay attention to file extensions until OS X.

- Do you know the File and Creator data of the files?
They don't have any. I assume that this is because these files are created by Think Pascal and do not have a resource fork. While this may be part of the source of the problem, such files created by Think Pascal opened fine in Word in the past.

>>It is better not to use Word for editing 'true' text files
I'm still puzzled by this. The only reason I can think of for this is that in earlier systems which do not use file extensions, one cannot tell from the name of a document whether it is a true text document or a formatted Word document nor can one always tell from the appearance of the document when you open it (but can only tell when you try saving it and then the default format for saving it will tell you which it is).

[Ronald P. Regensburg]

- Do the files have a .rtf file extension?
Yes. But why should this make a difference? I thought Macs didn't pay attention to file extensions until OS X.

Oh yes, Your "Mac" can be made to note and use file extensions. Your System 7.5.3 has a control panel "PC Exchange" in which you can link non-Mac files to Mac applications.

The control panel has by default one such link as an example, for .txt documents to be opened by SimpleText. You can add a file extension: Enter the extension, then link it to an application (find the application using the dialog) and finally choose the document type that matches the extension from the types available for that application. From then on, all non-Mac files with that extension will show the icon of that document type belonging to that application and when double-clicked they will be opened by that application.

[dryer]

Thanks. I have used PC Exchange to set the default application for .rtf to Word and .txt to Text-Edit. But although it looks right in PC Exchange, both still open in Simple Text (and appear in the directory as having Text document as their kind). I’m not sure what’s wrong.

[Ronald P. Regensburg]

1. I will send you an email so you can send me one of the .rtf files so I can have a look at it myself.

2. When the files haven no resource fork, it can be because they never had one or because they have at some time resided on a non-Mac file system and thus lost the resource fork.

3. Do you run 7.5.3 in SheepShaver? On which host system?

4. Is there a special reason why you want to edit those .rtf files in System 7.5.3 and not in whatever OS is running on your machine?

[Ronald P. Regensburg]

Well, the file you sent me is indeed a RTF file. Text-Edit Plus 3.1.4 can only read text files, so it will not open it correctly. Word should be able to do that. I have no Word version that runs in 7.5.3, but I understand that your Word 5.1 does indeed read the files. (Apple's TextEdit in MacOSX also handles RTF files fine.)

I do not know why assigning the .rtf extension to Word in PC Exchange does not work for you. Is Word installed properly on one of the volumes used in SheepShaver that are on a disk image and not on the "Unix" disk (shared folder)?

Do the icons for Word and Word documents appear correctly (not as blank generic icons) in SheepShaver and in the setting in PC Exchange control panel? If not, you may need to rebuild the desktop files. Remember how that is done? Startup with option-command pressed. In SheepShaver that requires precise timing. Launch SheepShaver and wait till you see the MacOS welcome screen. Then press and hold the keys till you see the dialogs that asks if the desktop should be rebuild for the different volumes (rebuilding the 'Unix' disk's desktop does nothing). When you press before the welcome screen appears, the MacOS does not register the keys, when you press when loading of the extensions has finished, you are too late and also nothing happens.

[dryer]

Thanks. Rebuilding the desktop solved the problem.

[macdro]

FileTyper is also a useful utility for batch editing of Creator types