How to Use Windows Files and Disks on a Mac

Today's Macintosh systems can read floppy disks, Zip disks and other removable media formatted for the PC. They contain translators that can open Windows documents if you have the same application type on your Mac.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Floppy Disks

Opening Files by Double-Clicking

1. Make sure Automatic Document Translation is turned on in the Macintosh Easy Open or File Exchange control panel.
2. Put the PC disk in the Macintosh disk drive.
3. Double-click the PC disk icon.
4. Double-click the icon of the document you wish to open.
5. If the document doesn't open immediately, the Mac's Easy Open or File Exchange control panel may give you a list of applications to try. Choose the same type of application (graphics, word processing, spreadsheet) as the document.
6. If this method doesn't work, open the Mac version of the PC application that created the document. (For example, if it is a Microsoft Word for Windows file, open Word on the Macintosh.) If you lack that application, try a similar one (for example, the word processor in AppleWorks). Open the File menu and choose Open, then browse your disks for the PC file. If the file you're looking for doesn't appear in the Open box, make sure that All Files is selected, if possible, in the File Type menu. If that doesn't work, try another program.

Opening Files With the Open Command

7. This method can sometimes work when double-clicking fails. Open the same application if you have it. (For example, if it is a Word for Windows file, open Microsoft Word on the Macintosh).
8. Otherwise, open the same type of application - for example, if the file is a Word for Windows file, open the Claris Works word processor.
9. Choose Open from the File menu.
10. In the Open box, navigate to the file you're trying to open and double-click it.

Tips & Warnings

• If your system software includes the PC Exchange control panel, make sure it is turned on.
• If you can't open the file, or if its formatting is messed up, ask the person who gave you the document to resave it in a widely translatable format, such as RTF (Rich Text Format) for word processing documents. Many programs can also save files in the formats of earlier versions.
• You can't run or install Windows application programs on a Mac; you can only open documents.
• If the file you're looking for doesn't appear in the Open box, make sure that All Files is selected, if possible, in the File Type menu. If that doesn't work, try another program.
• If you don't have the Macintosh version of the application that created the file, you might lose formatting created in the original document. Try opening the file in different applications to see which one works best. You'll run into the most trouble if the file was created in a later version of an application than what you have - for example, if you have Word 5.1, but the document was created in Word 98.

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