WD97: How to Convert WordPerfect 6.x Data Files and Address Books

This article describes how to convert WordPerfect 6.x for Windows data source (secondary) and address book files to the versions of Word listed above. WordPerfect 6.x for Windows must be installed to use these procedures.

Converting WordPerfect 6.x .dat Files

To convert a WordPerfect 6.x data source (.dat) file, follow these steps:

1. Open the data source file in WordPerfect 6.x.
2. On the File menu, click Save As.
3. In the Save File As Type list (in WordPerfect 6.1) or the File Format list (in WordPerfect 6.0), click WordPerfect 5.1/5.2.
4. Type a new file name. For example, change the extension from .dat to .wp5 to indicate that the file is in WordPerfect 5.x format.
5. Switch to Microsoft Word and open the data source file you created in step 4.
6. On the File menu, click Save As.
7. In the Save As Type list (in Word 7.x and 97) or the Save File As Type list (in Word 6.x and Word 98 Macintosh Edition), click Word Document.

Converting a WordPerfect 6.x Address Book

To convert a WordPerfect 6.x address book, follow these steps:

1. In WordPerfect 6.x, on the Tools menu, point to Macro, and then click Play.
2. In the macro list, select Adrs2mrg.wcm, and then click Play.
   
   The macro is finished when all the address book records are added to the document.
3. On the File menu, click Save As.
4. In the Save File As Type list (in WordPerfect 6.1) or the File Format list (in WordPerfect 6.0), click WordPerfect 5.1/5.2.
5. Type a new file name. For example, change the extension from .dat to .wp5 to indicate that the file is in WordPerfect 5.x format.
6. Switch to Microsoft Word and open the file you created in step 5.
7. On the File menu, click Save As.
8. In the Save As Type list, click Word Document.

In WordPerfect 6.x, you can create an address book using the Adrsbook.wcm macro. The address book is not available unless you are creating a new document based on a template that uses address information. Because the address book is not directly accessible by WordPerfect's merge feature, WordPerfect 6.x includes the Adrs2mrg.wcm macro to change the address book into a standard mail merge data (secondary) file.

To use the data file in Word, first convert it from WordPerfect 6.x format to WordPerfect 5.x format. The WordPerfect 5.x converter correctly converts valid WordPerfect secondary files into a valid format for a Word mail merge data document.

For additional information, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: The third-party products discussed here are manufactured by vendors independent of Microsoft; we make no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding these products' performance or reliability.