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Word Documents on Flash drive, how to read it

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878 views 8 replies 5 participants last post by  plodr 
#1 ·
I have put 100's of my writings on a flash drive, all written in Microsoft Office 2000. Can a Mac read these files and can other word programs read these files in the future. Meaning, if this computer crashes, how do I read these files in the future? Thank you.
 
#2 ·
Yes. But how easy or difficult it may be will be related to the format in which you saved the files.

At a minimum, any computer with the same or newer version of Office 2000 (which for text documents would be MS Word) should be able to open and edit the files if they are in a MS Word format. If they are in basic txt format, any text editor can open them.

Regardless of the format, there are numerous third party apps available which can read the files (for Windows and Mac). You just may need to take an extra step and convert the files to a Mac friendly format.
 
#4 ·
Yes. But how easy or difficult it may be will be related to the format in which you saved the files.

At a minimum, any computer with the same or newer version of Office 2000 (which for text documents would be MS Word) should be able to open and edit the files if they are in a MS Word format. If they are in basic txt format, any text editor can open them.

Regardless of the format, there are numerous third party apps available which can read the files (for Windows and Mac). You just may need to take an extra step and convert the files to a Mac friendly format.
-- thank you, I learn everyday and you are so kind to help me learn today. You mention 3rd party apps,
I see the sites "download for free" - do we trust these sites for software not affiliated with a name brand?
 
#5 ·
The best thing to do is to open each file and do a Save As, specifying Plain Text format. That way it will be preserved, minus the formatting, for a long time. It's laborious, but has to be done.
Okay, this is going to take a little thought, do I change them in the original Word program
on my computer, or do I open each one off of the flash drive and change it there? Note here -
when I wrote the original, I did use the Save As function to give the writing a name, does this
mean they are already in Plain Text format? Can I right click on an open file and change the
format from there? Yikes computing gets involved. thank you for your time.
 
#6 ·
My husband "used" Office 2000. I don't have Office on my computers. I use LibreOffice (current version is 5 something). If I have to open a Word document or an Excel database, I fire up LibreOffice and read what I need to.
LibreOffice is free so any "windows" computer should be able to read these files. I'm not familiar with what is available for Apple hardware.

If you don't plan to edit these writings, I'd probably suggest that you save them as pdf. I have the least amount of trouble with pdf files.
 
#7 ·
Don't rely on the files being on a Usb flash drive and nowhere else. Back them up by copying them to as many other places as you can; such as the hard drive in your computer, maybe the 'cloud', optical disk(s), another computer's hard drive etc

Usb flash drives are not as reliable as those other storage media.
 
#8 ·
Don't rely on the files being on a Usb flash drive and nowhere else. Back them up by copying them to as many other places as you can; such as the hard drive in your computer, maybe the 'cloud', optical disk(s), another computer's hard drive etc

Usb flash drives are not as reliable as those other storage media.
Great information, thank you. Do I trust "free Software" websites? I have heard you will download
a virus, malware, etc. PDF is an option for sure, I can always print from there and it can be saved to the cloud.
Okay, I believe I have enough information to continue on without fear. Problem solved.

My husband "used" Office 2000. I don't have Office on my computers. I use LibreOffice (current version is 5 something). If I have to open a Word document or an Excel database, I fire up LibreOffice and read what I need to.
LibreOffice is free so any "windows" computer should be able to read these files. I'm not familiar with what is available for Apple hardware.

If you don't plan to edit these writings, I'd probably suggest that you save them as pdf. I have the least amount of trouble with pdf files.
Great information, thank you. Do I trust "free Software" websites? I have heard you will download
a virus, malware, etc. PDF is an option for sure, I can always print from there and it can be saved to the cloud.
Okay, I believe I have enough information to continue on without fear. Problem solved.
 
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