Opening MacDraw II files in Mac OS 9.2.2

Gib Van Dine offers a solution for users wishing to open files created by the venerable MacDraw II under Mac OS 9.2.2.

"AppleWorks is the current product that incorporates the old MacWrite Pro and MacDraw II programs (with modifications). If you try to open a MacDraw II file from within AppleWorks, it doesn't 'see' the file. However, the following will allow you to transfer the drawing:

1. Open up the MacDraw file. MacDraw II will load in, though the screen will just show a bunch of randomn material, not your drawing.
2. Select All, and then Copy the seemingly meaningless image.
3. Open up a Drawing page in AppleWorks.
4. Move the cursor to the middle of the page and click to designate where the drawing should go.
5. Do a Paste, and your drawing will show up in it's original form. For large drawings you will probably have to add pages as necessary and move things around to fit the pages.
6. Save As with the same file name, and your drawing is now transformed over to an Apple Works file on which you can work if you wish.

UPDATE: An alternative, and faster method of opening Mac Draw II files under Mac OS 9.2.2 is to change the display's color depth to "thousands of colors" rather than "millions of colors." For users operating in a strictly 24-bit color environment, the above workaround is still valid.

Insight on this issue? Drop us a line at late-breakers@macfixit.com.

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