Once you move those files from a PC disk to your Mac, then what? If the file happens to be from an application that has Mac and PC versions, such as Microsoft Word or Adobe PhotoShop, you’re probably in good shape. The Mac application should be smart enough to open a file from the Windows version. See Chapter 6 for a more detailed discussion of this situation.
Even if you don’t have the Mac version of an application, there are tools for converting the common types of files you will most likely need to exchange.
File Names and Types
Microsoft Windows, as you may know, requires a user to name a file a certain way so that the operating system knows what to do with it. I’m talking about the "file extension," usually three (or four) letters tacked on to the rest of the name that clues Windows in on the file type. For example, horse.gif is a GIF graphics file, resume.txt is a text file, memo.doc is a Microsoft Word file, and so on. You may recognize some of these extensions from the Web, which uses a similar naming convention.
The Mac, on the other hand, doesn’t care about file extensions. In the Mac OS, each file has an internal area (called a resource fork) that stores labels (called resources) for all sorts of information about a file. Two important labels are the Creator and Type, four-letter codes that identify which application created the file and what type of file it is. For example, the TEXT file type, not surprisingly, identifies a text file, and the "ttxt" code refers to SimpleText.
Plus, you should be sure to avoid special characters -- \ / : * ? " < > | -- in your Mac file names that will throw Windows into a snit. NameCleaner from Sig Software will help you identify and fix potential file name problems before exchanging files.
Up through Mac OS 8.1, PC Exchange did not include much information about mapping Windows file extensions to Mac file types; you have to add that information yourself. (Microsoft Office 98 does, however, install the mappings for Word, PowerPoint, and Excel file types.) If you don’t know too many Windows file extensions, you can still avoid trial-and-error guessing with a few handy upgrades or utilities. Table 2-5 points you to their Web sites.
File Exchange in Mac OS 8.5 and beyond provides an extensive database of mappings that PC Exchange lacks and includes the Mac OS Easy Open features to open a file in the application best suited to handle it.
DOS Mounter 98 also includes an extensive database of file mappings. However, if you have to update the mappings on more than one Mac, you have to do it manually on each computer.
The shareware Mac Type/Creator Database from Ilan Szekely includes a database that PC Exchange can use.
The FileTyper, A Better Finder Creators and Types, and TypeRighter shareware can assign Type and Creator codes on a file-by-file basis. A word of caution: Take care when changing Type and Creator codes with such tools. Changing the contents of a file’s resource fork can have unintended consequences if you aren’t sure what you’re doing.
On the PC side, MacOpener from DataViz can perform the mapping when a PC saves a file to a Mac disk. And if your PC is connected to a Mac network with PC MACLAN (see Chapter 4), PC Migrator for PC MACLAN will automatically look at Mac file type and creator information and add the appropriate PC file extension when transferring Mac files to a Windows machine.