.doc to .rtf conversion

[NorthAzimuth]

Hello, could someone please lead me in the right direction or explain how i can convert my old Windows 98 .doc files into the .rtf file extension found in Windows 2000.

I have about 500 old .doc files that need to be batch converted.

They are simple files, letters, notes, documnetation etc. written in Windows 98 Wordpad.

I have spent hours searching the internet for a free converter and come up with nothing.

I am running the un-official rollups in Windows 2000 Pro and so once that is installed the old .doc fles get all wierd full of additional hex information at the top and bottom of the page mostly.

Anyway , i would just like to get everything converted over cleanly and neatly after doing a fresh boot without the rollup(s) and get my system completely updated to the .rtf format.

( Iv`e been using WordViewer as a temp go between so that i can read and view my old work )

Thanks in advance,

NorthAzimuth

[jaclaz]

Windows 98 Wordpad?

You have probably saved those files in the (available in the Windows 98 version of Wordpad) format called ""Word for Windows 6.0" (which has the extension. doc).

So what you really need is something capable of batch converting from "Word for Windows 6.0" to "plain" RTF.

I don't think there is a simple, free converter, but I'll have a look to see if i can find something.

There is a (working) solution which is exceptionally complex (involving Openoffice.org and java):

http://www.artofsolving.com/opensource/jodconverter

http://code.google.com/p/jodconverter/

As a side note, if you are going to go this way, there is not anymore any need to use SRVANY (and download the 2003 resource kit), you can use NSSM:

http://nssm.cc/

The funny thing, but you know how the world goes when programmers (with all due respect ) are involved , is that it amounts to a few lines in Visual Basic (or at least it was as simple as that in 1995):

http://www.visualbasicsource.net/redirectpage.html?http://www.visualbasicsource.net/VBTips/118.html

jaclaz

[jaclaz]

UPDATE:

This may do:

http://wincvt.sourceforge.net/

jaclaz

[pointertovoid]

A used MS Office 97 costs very few bucks on eCreek. It will read, write, edit your rtf and doc files without conversion. Even the 2k and 2k3 editions are cheap by now. The "Pro" version brings Word, Excel, Access and Powerpoint. The 97 starts very quickly on a machine that runs W2k properly.

[dencorso]

Or maybe the good old freeware Native Winds Docx2Rtf (now aka "NW Docx Converter") might do the job, now that it also works with the .doc format.

[Phenomic]

Ms office/word 97 works fine in win2k. You could do a quick Word macro to open files, save in rtf, close, repeat.

[submix8c]

Um, the OP wants to "mass-convert" the DOC to RTF.

FYI, I just used Windows98SE Wordpad.exe (Program Files\Accessories) while running Windows2K3 and it DOES function, so I will "assume" that it will work under Win2K. However, this will -not- do mass-converting.

The reason I posted this is to -stop- the nonsense about getting/buying -any- version of MS-Word/MS-Office/MS-etc. since it's useless to spend money on something the OP already has that will function just fine PER DOCUMENT (REF POST#2, sheesh!).

[NorthAzimuth]

Thank-You to everyone for their help on this.

After spending countless hours of being ran around on the internet , down rabbit holes and wild goose chases, the endless sea of $$~PayPal~$$ conversion tools being offered, inclusive to not having anything that i need, i hit my brick wall of frustration.

From $9.95 - $499.00

What is it with M$ and every time they come out with a new OS, out comes a new word processor file extension and without the option to batch convert old M$ files?

Even if it meant doing it off their website?

My foregone conclusion is , apparently it just isn’t in their nature, so why hassle it.

I made the corporate decision back here in the bedroom office and that was to download Apache Open Office 3.3 150mb from oldapps.com. and to completely change my entire word processing system.

It has a batch conversion wizard to convert old .doc files into new .odt files.

In other words it gives to me , the complete authoritative ownership back over all my hard work.

It converted the old M$ .doc files extremely neat and clean , within 99.2% accuracy.

After doing a random sampling in 500 files, a minor word blemish here or there, and i mean nothing to get in a twist over.

It seems it will only convert M$ .doc, Power Point and Excel in batch, no .rtf files, it won’t recognize them..

As a single file, an .rtf that was created in Windows 2000 Professional,can be opened, then "saved As" singularly as a new .odt just fine.

So now my file system consists of both 500 + .rtf files that still need to be batch converted and all the newly converted .odt files.

At least i can read everything now, it is all unscrambled and unified..

It’s a reverse dilemma now of needing a converter for changing .rtf to .doc, just the reverse of this original post, so that they too, can be batch converted to .odt in Apache Open Office and everything will be ran under a single umbrella word processor that I the author maintain control over in my computing environment.

If i need to send a file to someone, it’s as simple as "save As" to another file extension and send it out..

I can still use Notedpad if I wish for a simple everyday writer, and when I am finished with it, open the newly created .rtf in Apache Open Office and “save As” .odt and discard the original document, a much wider margin of flexibility is there without being dependent on M$ redundancy.

I like this Apache, it is more powerful than I need at the moment, but one never knows when a tool like this will come in handy. It has its own .PDF document creator amongst many other tools which means that I don’t have to install .PDF Creator anymore and it’s natural desire to install “other things” if your not careful whilst loading it.

If anyone knows of a batch converter from .rtf to .doc, it would be gratefully appreciated !!

Once again Thank-you for your time and suggestions.

[bpalone]

You might try looking around in the Open Office or Libre Office (the fork of Open Office and probably a little more feature rich) forums for some advice on doing a large scale conversion. I just did a quick Google search and found this that might help or lead you on a path to a solution:

http://shuvalov.com/convert-html-doc-rtf-etc-to-sxw-and-pdf-through-openoffice-in-command-line/

good luck.

bpalone

edit to fix ds typo

Edited February 28, 2014 by bpalone

[jaclaz]

If anyone knows of a batch converter from .rtf to .doc, it would be gratefully appreciated !!

I don't get it.

You asked for one such batch converter.

At least TWO possible solutions were provided (one surely working but complex, and one very simple but that needs to be tested).

Have you tested the latter?

http://wincvt.sourceforge.net/

It does provide .rtf conversion to any .doc format for which a MS conevrter is available (please read as "all .doc formats").

jaclaz

Edited February 28, 2014 by jaclaz