I have a strange problem. I have used an old version of MS Works since 1995 because it is basic and I know the ins and outs.

I DO NOT HAVE WORD INSTALLED ON MY COMPUTER.

But, when I receive a .doc or .docx file, I could not open it. So I downloaded both the the Word Viewer and the Excel viewer.

But I have found that when I create a document in Works, and tell it to save in the .wps format, it actually saves to .doc . At first, all I had to do was change the extension back to wps and all was well. But now, I cannot even seem to do that. The extensions do not show anywhere, so I cannot change it.

There must be a setting where I can have the extensions visible so I can change the .doc to .wps. Better yet, how can I stop Word Viewer from overwriting my Works extensions?

Can someone help?

The display of file extensions is controlled by Windows Explorer.
Word Viewer won't be doing any such thing. If your files are being saved with .doc extensions, that's because you have Works configured that way.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

Thank you Paul - I figured out how to have the file extensions show again. Don't know how it was changed, but there it is.
I rarely touch any settings on my old Works program, especially one to use .doc as the saved format.
When I click "save as" I do NOT select .doc, I select "Works WP', but it comes out as a .doc anyway. I have several other choices, including Works for Windows 3.0 WP, Works for Windows 2.0/Works for DOS WP, Text, Text (DOS), RTF, Word 2007 macro-enabled document, Windows Write 3000, and about 10 more Word and Word Perfect formats.
The thing is this - this is Works from 1995. Most of those save choices are new (2007 Word??) and I have never seen them before, let alone used any of them.
You feel that my Works program is configured to save as .doc even though I select Works WP which is what I have always used from Day 1.
I feel that the only way they got in my save menu is from the Word Viewer I downloaded. In fact I know it is, because when I removed Word Viewer, I was able to save in .wps again.
I have downloaded Word Viewer back into my computer as I sometimes need it to read things, but it is DEFINITELY hijacking my "save as" function.
So, how do I get it to stop? What setting do I change to get it back to the original saving format, because, when I open one of the .doc documents I have saved, all I get is gibberish.

It may be that, when you install the Word Viewer, it adds the newer file formats (e.g. docx) to the list, as one of the things that will happen with the Word Viewer installation is that the docx converter gets installed along with it. I could understand that messing with your Works save options, but changing the actual save format is a whole different issue and isn't one I'd have expected. That said, given that Works was discontinued over a decade ago, I'd be inclined to convert all the wps files to doc or docx, since Microsoft will eventually stop supplying the format converters - they've already done that with numerous other file format converters that were originally included with Word and, for some time after they stopped being included, were made available for download (now they've gone altogether).

As for the "when I open one of the .doc documents I have saved, all I get is gibberish", does that apply to all doc format files, or only this one? If the latter, that suggests the file got corrupted somehow.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

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

From your description, it seems pretty clear that the files, per se, are not the problem; the change of file extension is the problem.

It's possible there's a fault in the Works installation that installing the Word viewer exacerbates, but I don't really know. Reinstalling works after installing the Word viewer might help.
No, the gibberish is the result of the file being given the wrong extension; when you try to re-open it, Works (or any other word-processing app for that matter) sees the extension and tries to open the file as a .doc file when it's really a .wps file.
That may be due to the fault I hinted at; or it may just be that your version of Works is so old it isn't compatible with the converter.
Presumably, you're trying to save the file in the 'Works for Windows 3.0 WP' format. If you see a .doc extension when saving in that format, all I can suggest without a reinstall of Works or uninstalling the Word viewer is that you try changing it to .wps.

As for an alternate word processor, you might experiment with WordPad, which comes free with Windows XP.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

I downloaded a file converter called Doxillion and it does a fine job of saving my docs into other formats, although in most of them, my letterhead is not centered and I cannot edit - but it would be fine if I wanted to send a document to someone who could not open the original .wps.
The only format that lets me edit is .rtf and frankly, I could have created the document on Word Pad from the outset.
I fear that I am going to have to download Word and run it alongside Works - I might even get acquainted with it after a while and not complain about it being too much for my meager needs.
Thank you Paul, for all your help and suggestions - Carol W