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Opening exec files in OS X

edcollalo52

edcollalo52

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 9, 2008
7
0
I have several files that show up as grey squares with a green 'exec' in the upper left hand corner. When I get Info on these files they are indicated to be Microsoft Word files. When I open them in MS Word, they display pages of gibberish random symbols. Is there some application that can open these files easily? I have tried Word, Web browsers, Graphic applications, etc. Thanks for the help

Ed Colman
 
r.j.s

r.j.s

Moderator emeritus
Mar 7, 2007
15,026
52
Texas
Those are probably windows programs, depending on where you got them, they might even be virii. They cannot run on OS X.
 
edcollalo52

edcollalo52

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 9, 2008
7
0
They are not Windows files. I created them a few years ago on my Mac probably running system 9. They are definitely documents. Not .exe, but lime green exec in a dark grey square. I have been told they are unix executable files. How do I open them?
 
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Blue Velvet

Moderator emeritus
Jul 4, 2004
21,929
265
Not necessarily. They're not .exes, but rather files that appear as Unix executables, which I've seen happen to cross-platform font transfers, for instance.
 
r.j.s

r.j.s

Moderator emeritus
Mar 7, 2007
15,026
52
Texas
Are they compressed? Try uncompressing them using The Unarchiver or maybe archive utility.

Blue Velvet said:
Not necessarily. They're not .exes, but rather files that appear as Unix executables, which I've seen happen to cross-platform font transfers, for instance.
Click to expand...

That's why I tried to use normally and not be definite about it.
 
edcollalo52

edcollalo52

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 9, 2008
7
0
Not compressed. I tried using Better Zip and a couple of other uncompressors. Nothing even recognizes them.
 
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Blue Velvet

Moderator emeritus
Jul 4, 2004
21,929
265
They could be fonts... the thing is, why do you want to open them? If you know what they were for, do you not know what kind of files they are or what projects they are related to? Give us some clues. :D
 
edcollalo52

edcollalo52

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 9, 2008
7
0
I think I would have used Claris Works back then, but Apple works can't even see them. It is pretty wierd. As I said, they show up as MS Word docs, but don't have a .doc suffix. There are a few of them in the same folder. There are also normal files in the folder too.
 
r.j.s

r.j.s

Moderator emeritus
Mar 7, 2007
15,026
52
Texas
Can you change the suffix to .txt and see what happens, if they are documents, you might be able to get the content of them from that.
 
edcollalo52

edcollalo52

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 9, 2008
7
0
Blue Velvet said:
.. why do you want to open them? If you know what they were for, do you not know what kind of files they are or what projects they are related to? :D
Click to expand...

They would have been some kind of word processor, either Claris Works or Word. They are treatments and synopses of a screenplay I wrote using Final Draft. The script is fine, it is in the same folder, but the rest of the docs have morphed into grey squares. I have tried many apps to open them, but either they can't recognize the files, won't open them or display wacky gibberish symbols.
 
edcollalo52

edcollalo52

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 9, 2008
7
0
robert.j.strain said:
Can you change the suffix to .txt and see what happens.
Click to expand...

I changed them to .doc and the icons changed into Word icons, so far so good. Thanks for the suggestion. I tried .txt but when I try to open them, same gibberish in either program. I tried every encoding and get the same results. sigh..
 
r.j.s

r.j.s

Moderator emeritus
Mar 7, 2007
15,026
52
Texas
Google was not being my friend today, I was looking for similar things, but couldn't come up with anything relevant.
 
disconap

disconap

macrumors 68000
Oct 29, 2005
1,810
3
Portland, OR
Blue Velvet said:
Not necessarily. They're not .exes, but rather files that appear as Unix executables, which I've seen happen to cross-platform font transfers, for instance.
Click to expand...

Either way they're not disc images. They're more like the OS9 installers or the OSX .pkg installers...
 
R

robcj

macrumors newbie
Jul 14, 2003
3
1
These are not .EXEC or .EXE files. They are files that Mac OS X is incorrectly identifying as executable UNIX files - as in binaries that will run from a terminal. The standard Mac OS X icon for executable UNIX files resembles a terminal window with the word "exec", which causes people to confuse the files with Windows executables, which use the file extension .EXE.

If you have access to AppleWorks 6, either on a Mac OS X or Mac OS 9 system, I'd recommend trying to open them in that application. If not, you may need to find someone who does.
 
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edcollalo52

edcollalo52

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 9, 2008
7
0
robcj said:
If you have access to AppleWorks 6, either on a Mac OS X or Mac OS 9 system, I'd recommend trying to open them in that application. If not, you may need to find someone who does.
Click to expand...

I tried Apple Works 6 as well. It can't even see them. As I have been doing this, I am afraid they may have been created in an old program that no longer exists. Looks like a re-write. Thanks for all your help.

Ed
 
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carlo.inzunza

macrumors newbie
Sep 5, 2009
2
0
The same thing happened to me and I tried using the sufix . doc and it didn't open either (and indeed it was created as a word document) and then I tried usign the sufix .pdf (Adobe Acrobat Reader) and IT OPENED IT!!!!! but it wasn't editable anymore. but I can always copy and paste ;)
 
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Debocoffin

macrumors newbie
Sep 29, 2009
3
0
Use Google Docs

I had the same problem with old word files that I transferred from an earlier Mac OS. If you have a Google account, go into google documents and upload the files. They'll open up and can be saved or printed or copied from there with the original formatting. It's magical.
I tried opening them with text edit as well, which is the next best thing. There will be some strange gibberish mixed in with the text edit version though.
 
T

trevor-davies

macrumors newbie
Nov 22, 2009
1
0
open ece files in osx

Your files probably do not have an application extension. Type the extension of the application you want to use. This is how I open my old logic files.
For appleworks use .cwk.:eek:
 
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