Editing Microsoft Works (section)

==File format compatibility and other issues==
Microsoft (sometime in the past) made file format conversion filters for [[Microsoft Word]] for opening and saving to Works Word Processor format.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Microsoft Works 6–9 File Converter |url=http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=bf41401e-70fa-465d-ae2e-cf44dbf05297 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091212004711/http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=BF41401E-70FA-465D-AE2E-CF44DBF05297&displaylang=en |archive-date=2009-12-12 |access-date=2009-12-19 |website=[[Microsoft]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Microsoft Works 4 File Converter |url=http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=b37a2510-6ad0-495a-8262-48305325110b |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100430212951/http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=b37a2510-6ad0-495a-8262-48305325110b |archive-date=2010-04-30 |access-date=2009-12-19 |website=[[Microsoft]]}}</ref> Microsoft Office Excel could import newer Works Spreadsheets because the newer Works Spreadsheet also used the Excel format but with a different extension (*.xlr).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Works: How to Recover Data from a Corrupted Works Spreadsheet |url=http://support.microsoft.com/kb/271074 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080926010255/http://support.microsoft.com/kb/271074 |archive-date=2008-09-26 |access-date=2008-09-29}}</ref> There is an import filter for older Works 2.0 spreadsheet format (*.wks);<ref>{{Cite web |title=Open WKS and WDB files in your speadsheet<!--sic?--> programm |url=http://www.rl-software.com/converter/wks-wdb-to-excel.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120319102532/http://www.rl-software.com/converter/wks-wdb-to-excel.htm |archive-date=19 March 2012 |access-date=21 July 2016}}</ref> however it may be disabled in the registry by newer [[Microsoft Office]] [[Service pack]]s.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Office SP3 and File formats |url=http://blogs.msdn.com/david_leblanc/archive/2008/01/04/office-sp3-and-file-formats.aspx |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100311074427/http://blogs.msdn.com/david_leblanc/archive/2008/01/04/office-sp3-and-file-formats.aspx |archive-date=11 March 2010 |access-date=21 July 2016}}</ref> As far as Works Spreadsheet 3.x/4.x/2000 (*.wks) and Works database (any version of *.wdb) files were concerned, in the past, Microsoft did not provide an import filter for Excel or Access. There are third party converters available for converting these filetypes to Excel spreadsheets: for database files (*.wdb), there was also a donateware utility;<ref>{{Cite web |title=Works Database Converter |url=http://www.codealchemists.com/worksdatabaseconverter/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160513161931/http://www.codealchemists.com/worksdatabaseconverter/ |archive-date=13 May 2016 |access-date=21 July 2016}}</ref> for spreadsheet (*.wks) and database (*.wdb) files, a commercial solution was available (at least apparently in 2008).<ref>{{Cite web |title=ProInso (vorher FreeQuest), die Insolvenzsoftware für Insolvenzverwalter & Rechtsanwälte |url=http://www.rl-software.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080725000927/http://www.rl-software.com/ |archive-date=25 July 2008 |access-date=21 July 2016}}</ref>

A general [[C++]] library, ''libwps'',<ref>{{Cite web |title=Page Redirection |url=http://libwps.sourceforge.net/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160719131221/http://libwps.sourceforge.net/ |archive-date=19 July 2016 |access-date=21 July 2016}}</ref> can extract text from many different versions of Microsoft Works, this library is used by [[Collabora Online]] and [[LibreOffice]].

One commercially available solution for converting to and from Microsoft Works files on the Macintosh platform in 2016 was the MacLinkPlus product from [[DataViz]]. Free online conversion services in 2016 were also available.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Zamzar - video converter, audio converter, image converter, eBook converter |url=http://www.zamzar.com/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160720092459/http://www.zamzar.com/ |archive-date=20 July 2016 |access-date=21 July 2016}}</ref>

Works Spreadsheet and Works Database are unable to handle more than 500 fonts installed in Windows and throw error messages.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Error message when you try to open a spreadsheet or a database file in Works: "There are more than 500 fonts on the system" |url=https://www.betaarchive.com/wiki/index.php/Microsoft_KB_Archive/265954 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210329105404/https://www.betaarchive.com/wiki/index.php/Microsoft_KB_Archive/265954 |archive-date=2021-03-29 |access-date=2020-08-17}}</ref>