Extras for AppleWorks

2001.09.23 

http://www.barefeetware.com/appleworks/extras/

Add your own
features.

AppleWorks is not “bloatware”. It elegantly combines word processing, spreadsheet, drawing, painting, database, presentations and more into one neat package. It includes what 90% of users need 90% of the time. When you need that extra 10%, you can add any of several third party programs.

Enhancement Pack
for AppleWorks

BareFeetWare’s Enhancement Pack adds Table of Contents, Dashed Lines, Web Publishing and Comparing of word processing and database documents and much more. A total of 40 enhancements are added as extra menu items in the “Scripts” menu (the icon looks like a scroll). $20 shareware.

icWord

icWord opens and displays Microsoft Word (version 4 through 2001) documents, so you can copy, print to paper, print to PDF (using other software). It interprets most content types, with only a few anomolies (eg floating graphics become inline). $20, or 30 day free trial.

PrintToPDF

Save you AppleWorks (or any other program’s) documents directly to PDF files, without needing expensive Adobe software. This is probably the best way to save your documents for others to read without having the same software, since Abobe Acrobat Reader is free and available for Mac, MS Windows and other operating systems. $20 shareware.

MacLinkPlus

AppleWorks 6’s built in translators are very limited and AppleWorks 5’s translators do not support the latest Microsoft versions. MacLinkPlus opens, saves and translates a range of document formats including Microsoft Word and Excel. It has not yet been updated to use AppleWorks 6 features, so translation of tables is still limited (eg 255 non styled characters per cell). $100 buy, $40 upgrade (requires previous version, such as included with Mac OS 8, or voucher from “AppleWorks 6 - The Missing Manual”).

PhotoShop Plug-ins

AppleWorks 5 supports most PhotoShop plug-ins, adding hundreds of features to its painting environment. Sadly, AppleWorks 6 removed that ability.

TypeStyler

Sometimes those used to Micosoft Word lament the lack of a text distorting tool in AppleWorks. AppleWorks can position and rotate text, such as along an arc, and you can reshape text in a paint frame or document (which limits resolution and re-editing. For more “high end” needs, TypeStyler provides much better tools that MS Word and AppleWorks. $120, or 60 day free trial.

Apple’s Extras

Apple published a page of extras for AppleWorks, but rarely updates it.

Tell us more

Please email us (appleworks@barefeetware.com) with any suggested additions to this page.