Software Wanted To Purchase

I've used Lotus 1-2-3 and Corel's WordPerfect to inventory my collection and create my own album pages for 30+ years.

Both programs are now discontinued and my back up software disks are always questionable.

No new programs will allow direct transfer of data.

If anyone still as one or both of these programs, I'm interested in buying them.

Have you tried Apache OpenOffice to open your files? (Download for free at http://www.openoffice.org/download/

According to the documentation (https://wiki.openoffice.org/wiki/Do...File_formats), OpenOffice will open "WordPerfect Document (.wpd)" and "Lotus 1-2-3 (.wk1, .wks, and .123)" files. As well as many others.

If your files can be opened successfully, they can be saved in a variety of formats for use in OpenOffice or other modern programs, although it may be necessary to do some re-formatting.

I have Lotus Smart Suite and I know it is available on the Internet as a download. IBM offered the last release for free.

WordPerfect is still available; it's up to version 18 (or, in Corelspeak, X8). At this point, development is slow, with most of the changes and improvements there for (1) keeping up with changes in Windows; (2) export functions (it does a superb job of exporting directly to .pdf, for instance, and they have introduced an ebook publishing function); (3) maintaining a cash flow from people who routinely acquire updates. WordPerfect still has a sizeable presence in the legal profession, among writers and other people who need or admire its prowess in long documents, and among those who can't live without Reveal Codes.

Along with Apache OpenOffice (which I believe has been recently discontinued), you can look at LibreOffice, a spinoff which is under very heavy development. LibreOffice can import WordPerfect documents - though it tends to lose the font attributes - and, probably, your Lotus files, though I've never had to import a Lotus file. I've switched over to LibreOffice for most of my writing and business-type work (my wife still uses WordPerfect). The spreadsheet module, Calc, is wonderful. LibreOffice Writer has improved in many ways since OpenOffice 2 and 3, and is less dependent upon the mysteries of styles than is Microsoft Word (though somewhat more than WordPerfect). It is also free - they do accept donations - and it works quite similarly under both Windows and Linux, along with a multitude of operating systems about which I know nothing. The computer closest to my stamp room runs Linux, and files I create on Windows can go back and forth to that computer with no problems.

@BlackJag:

I'm going to 2nd the Nomination of Apache Open Office http://www.openoffice.org/

I've used it many times for exactly the scenario you describe.'

Kirk

Another free product similar to Open Office is Libre Office. http://www.libreoffice.org/

The majority of 'free' software is not free; the idea is that if a person uses it they will donate something. If everyone simply takes and uses the software without donating something it will not exist for very long. People put in very long hours and much effort to write and offer this stuff; the honorable thing to do is donate something if you end up using it.
Don

Don is correct. I should have stated "Free to evaluate."

I've tried Libre and it imports the Lotus data in the correct rows and columns, but not the formatting.

I'll try Libre for my WordPerfect and Apache for both very soon.

PekingDuckDog - where do I find WordPerfect 18? I've searched before, but unsuccessfully.

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate the help and suggestions.

What versions were the files created in?

MS Word should be able to open word perfect V5.x and 6.x

For MS Excel try this: https://excelribbon.tips.net/T01249...dsheets.html

I might have some old Lotus and Coral discs (late 90's early 2000's) I'll take a look and message you if I have any left. I just dumped a lot of my old stuff on ebay last year. If I do their yours.

Jeff

BlackJag, you can get it directly from Corel. I just found out that WordPerfect now has its own Web site where you can download a trial or purchase it on the spot: http://www.wordperfect.com/en/produ...ffice-suite/ . Hope you enjoy it!

One of the dirty little secrets of computers is that any desktop application is short lived.

I struggled with this issue years ago in an engineering environment where archiving the exact desktop environment was critical in things like properly compiling code, rendering 3D CAD files, etc.

Frankly there is only one solution when you have proprietary desktop applications, to save the entire machine in its original state. We tried all kinds of other solutions including virtual machines and disk imaging but none of them were cost effective. Chasing and keeping up with the latest revision of every desktop application was also not feasible.

This is why I finally moved away using desktop application files for anything that I wanted to save long term. For example, while I still use spreadsheets often I always move the data in them to an SQL database for long term storage. SQL platforms will always be available in whatever the latest and greatest operating system, servers, or devices are in fashion. Documentation goes into text or html format for the same reason.
Don

BlackJag,

When you moved the files over to Libreoffice and you said the formatting didn't come over, how is it formatted?

Text formatting?
Column widths?
Dates?
Etc, Etc.

Moving data from one spreadsheet or database to another is an art form. I do it a lot and the techniques you use will determine how well it works. I use Excel everyday at work and it has amazing import capabilities and is a good example of a situation where you might want to use an intermediary piece of software prior to landing in your final destination.

I don't use Excel at home. I had my collection in OpenOffice for years, then went to Libreoffice. I recently converted it to Apple Numbers to leverage the photo abilities that are built into Numbers. Took me several experiments, but I was able convert without losing much of my formatting.

Descriptions and/or screenshots would be great.

BlackJag- a thought came to mind about importing. Excel does a decent job of importing tab- and comma-delimited text files. In my experience, the trick to getting the formatting better is to first open Excel, then open the text file. A dialogue box opens to help see the formatting (both cell and document), allowing you to make adjustments. We often have to do this with Amazon.com data files which almost all come in as tab delimited text.

Perhaps try to save your file(s) as tab delimited text and try loading into an already-running iteration of Excel.

I can convert the 123 file to xls for you since I have Smartsuite installed.

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions.

So far, I've created a "blank" Libre Office spreadsheet, which I've formatted and named the same as my Lotus 1-2-3 file. Then I open another "blank" Libre Office spreadsheet and import the Lotus 1-2-3 file into it. Lastly, I copy the "blank" Libre Office spreadsheet into the "named" Libre Office spreadsheet and it works.

I no longer have Excel, but did find that latest generation of Excel would not import my Lotus 1-2-3 files at all. I'll try jconey's suggestion for that.

bakechad - numbers, percentages and columns were not formatted the same as the Lotus file. Your intermediary suggestion did the job.

Angore - I also have Lotus SmartSuite, but I appreciate your offer. What I do need are legal software copies of Lotus SmartSuite and Corel WordPerfect, as I've lost mine.