Hi Paul- thank you for taking the time to help me.

When I create a document in Works, I save it as Works WP from the dropdown menu. It is supposed to be a .wps document. and when I got the program many years ago, that was the ONLY selection.

Now, when I save the document as Works WP, it shows up in my folder as .doc and when I open it, it is gibberish. EVERY TIME. So I manually change the file extension to .wps and it opens just fine.

I am aware that no one but me can open these documents since Works is no longer a valid program, but mostly, I am creating things for my own use which I print out if needed.
If I need to send something to someone by email, I usually copy and paste it (or create it ) to Notepad and send that. AND I recently found that I can save it to .pdf with the Ctrl-P function and send it that way too. But it is very rare that I have to do that.

This Works word processor is 99% for my own personal use - creating, storing and printing - rarely, if ever, do I send anything I create to anyone by email.

I have no idea how to convert them to .doc's (or my spreadsheets to .xls) and if I did, I do not have a Word program to edit them or add data to them with.

I am 71 years old, my first computer was DOS. I am no neophyte when it comes to computers. But I have found that things get unnecessarily complicated as they evolve and Word has so many bells and whistles I don't want or need as a home user as opposed to an office user. All I need is basic.

When I was creating a document on my son's computer with Word (I was visiting out-of-town), I could not find the character map which was is so easily found in Works, or format columns. These things were basic in Works and found very easily in the toolbar dropdowns, but with Word, I had to actually go to the bookstore and look it up in Word for Dummies in order to figure out how to do it.
In Works, I just select Format, column, how many columns, how far apart; all done with ease. Couldn't find it on Word.

If I have to, I will install Word alongside Works, but not use it for creation - WAY too complicated for me and my needs!!

I presume that since I was not creating my document in Word, the formatting was not recognized, hence the gibberish. So, how do I avoid that? Which save option do I use? I tried using Word 2007 document but I got an error message saying there was a problem with the conversion.
I also tried to save to Notepad, but when I open it, I have to select a program to read it with.

Which of the many options I now have do I use to save my Works documents to .doc (without the gibberish)?
As for conversion, I assume that I copy and paste into a new document and re-save it. But, again, which "save as" choice do I choose?

Thanks again for taking the time to help