File cannot be translated to PC and converted to new version

March 18, 2008 17:10 by author

PageMaker files will open effortlessly across platforms, with (almost) identical feature sets. As a general rule, you need to be using the same version of PM on both platforms.
However, version 6.5 and version 7 files are nearly identical - you may be able to simply change the .pmd to a .p65 in order to open that Mac PM7 file with your PC PM6.5Two areas where PM6.5 falls down with PM7 files are Records Merge and PSD file import; apart from that you're probably okay, but no guarantees... 8^).

That said, differences in fonts, graphic formats, and drive mapping conventions between Macs and PCs that can cause significant problems, especially if a file is created carelessly.

Cross-Platform PageMaker Converter 1.0 -- English

The Cross-Platform PageMaker Converter lets you quickly convert publications and templates created in Adobe PageMaker 5.x and 6.0x for MacOS to PageMaker 6.0 for Windows. After converting the publications, you can open them in PageMaker 6.5 for Windows.

You can convert one MacOS publication at a time, or batch convert a group of publications at once. The amount of time it takes to convert a publication depends on your computer configuration, network activity, and on the size and complexity of the publication.

-- "Cannot open file."

-- "unable to recognize items in the pagemaker file"

-- "File cannot be translated to PC and converted to new version at the same time. 7509:20489 "

-- "Cannot process publications links. Internal error: Bad Record Index."

-- "Cannot start up this publication. Internal error: Bad Table Index."

-- "Lock not expected but found."

-- "Cannot lock block."

-- "Fatal Error. 7509:20551"

Solutions

Do one or more of the following:

Solution 1

Save the publication on the original platform in the same version of PageMaker as the version to which you want to open it. For example, if you want to open a PageMaker 6.0 for Windows publication in PageMaker 6.5 for Mac OS, first open and save the publication in PageMaker 6.5 on Windows.

Solution 2

Name the publication using no more than eight characters, followed by a period and a PageMaker extension (for example, .pmd, .p65, .pm6, .pm5).

Note: PageMaker for Windows identifies a PageMaker publication by its filename extension (for example, .pm6, .p65, .pmd). PageMaker for Mac OS recognizes files that contain PageMaker's file type in the file header, or that include a filename extension for the same version of PageMaker (for example, PageMaker 6.0x recognizes files named with the .pm6 extension).

Solution 3

Increase the amount of available hard disk space. PageMaker requires free hard disk space equal to two or three times the size of the file being transferred.

Solution 4

If you want to open a PageMaker for Windows publication in PageMaker for Mac OS, create an association for PageMaker publications in the PC Exchange or File Exchange (Mac OS 8.5 and later) control panel:

1. Choose Control Panels from the Apple menu, and then open the PC Exchange or File Exchange control panel.

2. Click Add.

3. Type the PageMaker extension (.pm6 for PageMaker 6.0x, or .p65 for PageMaker 6.5x) in the DOS Suffix or Extension (Mac OS 8.5x) text box.

4. Select the PageMaker application icon in the Application list.

5. Choose the PageMaker publication icon from the Document Type or File Type (Mac OS 8.5 or later) pop-up menu: "ALB6" for PageMaker 6.0x, or "AB65" for PageMaker 6.5x.

Note: You may need to scroll up in the Type pop-up menu to choose the PageMaker publication icon.

6. Click OK, and then close the PC Exchange or File Exchange control panel.

Solution 5

If the error occurs when opening only one publication, the publication may be damaged. Re-create the publication or remove damaged objects or pages from it. For instructions, see Related Records.