[WinMac] Summary: FileMaker Win-Mac ASCII conversion

Simon Horn(horn[at]teamsoft.com)
Wed, 11 Nov 1998 10:13:49 +0000

Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ]
Next message: Bill Chapman: "(Fwd) Re: [WinMac] RE: Print Services Died"
Previous message: Scott Shepherd: "Re: [WinMac] Print Services Died"

First, thanks to everyone who made suggestions.

My question was:

How do I export from Windows FileMaker in a text format that a Mac user can
read, including all the accents. Does anyone know of a way to do this, or
some conversion program that can handle it?

The suggestions:

1) Unicode

Open the text file in MS word, save it in Unicode, open it on the Mac, save
as a text file.
(Word handles this by itself in its own format, by the way. Just save in
Word on PC and open in Word on Mac.)

2) BBEdit with Change Charset or MIDex plug-ins

Use the Change Charset or MIDex plug-ins in BBEdit to convert character
sets.

BBEdit Lite and plug-ins are all available from InfoMac archives.

3) Xlator

Use Xlator to convert character sets.
Xlator is available from InfoMac archives.

4) MacLink Plus

MacLink Plus was, until OS 8.5, bundled with the MacOS.
I cannot get it to do this conversion: it deals with the linefeeds, but not
the character set.

Aside from the above methods, however, I should quickly give my own
suggestion (and easiest solution for my specific need) before someone else
notices it.

5) Export your text file from FileMaker 4 for Windows using the Mac
character set.

How embarrassing, the answer was there all the time. I tend to work on the
Mac, and the Mac version of FileMaker 4 does not let you choose which
character set should be used for export. The Windows version does, however,
providing Windows (ANSI), DOS, Macintosh and Lotus (LICS) character sets.

So:
Starting from Windows, export from FileMaker in the character set you
require.
Starting from Mac, use one of the above solutions (the BBEdit plugins work
fine).

Thanks again to all.
Simon Horn

* Windows-MacOS Cooperation List *
* FAQ: <http://www.darryl.com/winmacfaq/> *
* Archives: <http://www.darryl.com/winmac/> *
* Subscribe: <mailto:winmac-on@xerxes.frit.utexas.edu> *
* Subscribe Digest: <mailto:winmac-digest@xerxes.frit.utexas.edu> *
* Unsubscribe: <mailto:winmac-off@xerxes.frit.utexas.edu> *

Next message: Bill Chapman: "(Fwd) Re: [WinMac] RE: Print Services Died"
Previous message: Scott Shepherd: "Re: [WinMac] Print Services Died"

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b2 on Wed Nov 11 1998 - 07:19:16 PST