Moving Windows (7) files to a Mac

I'm thinking of switching over to a Mac and have a few questions ....
The main one at the moment is how hard is it to move windows document files over to a Mac?

G'day and welcome to the forums.

Depends entirely on what the files are. Office 2011 does Word documnets etc. Or you can try Libre Office which is free and not as good imho.

Files from Adobe Creative Suite will probably be no problem as well. But if you have files from "obscure" applications that don't have a Mac equivalent...you can transfer the files...but they may not open with any Mac apps.

On the other hand...if you intend on installing Windows on your Mac...and you can install all Windows apps you need to open all your Windows files...then everything will be fine.

- Nick

Greetings and thanks for the welcome.
Please excuse my ignorance, but I know zilch about Apple. Most of the document files are MS office, picture and music. The "Office 2011" you mention ... is it MicroSoft or an Apple product?

It's my understanding that I can't just move files from my old PC to a Mac without reformatting them or something.

lizardskeep said:

The "Office 2011" you mention ... is it MicroSoft or an Apple product?

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"Office 2011" is the one & only Office 2011 (Microsoft Office)...whether the Windows or Mac version

- Nick

pigoo3 said:

Files from Adobe Creative Suite will probably be no problem as well. But if you have files from "obscure" applications that don't have a Mac equivalent...you can transfer the files...but they may not open with any Mac apps.

On the other hand...if you intend on installing Windows on your Mac...and you can install all Windows apps you need to open all your Windows files...then everything will be fine.

- Nick

Click to expand...

Greetings,
I didn't know that you could run Windows on a Mac. That would solve the problem but it defeats my purpose of trying to get away from MS to start with. I won't be upgrading to the Mac until the end of the year so I guess I need to find a manual and do some reading. LOL.

lizardskeep said:

Greetings,
I didn't know that you could run Windows on a Mac.

Click to expand...

Please don't take this the wrong way...but this is pretty common knowledge for any one that has researched switching to a Mac. I would highly recommend doing some additional research before plopping down $1000-$1500 or more on a new Mac. And I would suggest (if you haven't already) getting yourself in front of a Mac computer...so you are throughly comfortable with the hardware & the Mac OS.

lizardskeep said:

That would solve the problem but it defeats my purpose of trying to get away from MS to start with.

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A good number of folks run both Windows and the Mac OS on their Mac's. But probably focus on the Mac side of things.

Not defeating your switch to the Mac platform if a transition period is needed. Many long time Windows folks wouldn't make the switch if they had to go "cold turkey" 100% when switching to the Mac OS.

lizardskeep said:

...so I guess I need to find a manual and do some reading. LOL.

Click to expand...

Sort of what I was suggesting above.

- Nick

I need to upgrade my MS Office program anyway so this isn't much of a problem. I had the idea that most everything on my PC would not work/transfer to a Mac without jumping through a lot of hoops. From what y'all are saying this isn't so and I don't have anything, or not much anyway, to be worried about.

I thank both of you for your input.

If you can give us an idea of the types of files we can give you some ideas of what Mac software can handle the files. Most PC files can be transferred with little or no problem.

If the files are from very old Windows programs they may need to be converted to newer formats before ditching the PC. Probably won't have to go that option but it's usually an option.

pigoo3 said:

Please don't take this the wrong way...but this is pretty common knowledge for any one that has researched switching to a Mac. I would highly recommend doing some additional research before plopping down $1000-$1500 or more on a new Mac. And I would suggest (if you haven't already) getting yourself in front of a Mac computer...so you are throughly comfortable with the hardware & the Mac OS.


A good number of folks run both Windows and the Mac OS on their Mac's. But probably focus on the Mac side of things.

Not defeating your switch to the Mac platform if a transition period is needed. Many long time Windows folks wouldn't make the switch if they had to go "cold turkey" 100% when switching to the Mac OS.



Sort of what I was suggesting above.

- Nick

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Not a problem, I said I didn't know zilch about Apple ... but I know more now than I did before we started this conversation. I have played with an Ipad some and a MacAir.

I'm just tired of MS and their operating systems. Lived through Vista and have no desire to tackle Windows 8. I can and will learn the Mac but was afraid that I might have to redo a whole lot of stuff to make the switch.

I'll be back .....

Slydude said:

If you can give us an idea of the types of files we can give you some ideas of what Mac software can handle the files. Most PC files can be transferred with little or no problem.

If the files are from very old Windows programs they may need to be converted to newer formats before ditching the PC. Probably won't have to go that option but it's usually an option.

Click to expand...

Mostly MS Word docs, Photo Shop, and accounting (Quick Books).

lizardskeep said:

I'm just tired of MS and their operating systems. Lived through Vista and have no desire to tackle Windows 8.

Click to expand...

Not an uncommon situation for many long time Windows folks considering switching to the Mac OS.

lizardskeep said:

...was afraid that I might have to redo a whole lot of stuff to make the switch.

Click to expand...

Hopefully most of your Windows files will transfer fine. But this is why I mentioned running Windows on the Mac. Part of a transition period...so you are still able to access a majority of your Windows files (in case some don't transfer so well). And then anything that is newly created...is done within the Mac OS.

Once this transition period is over (and you no longer need to access any old Windows files)...then you can remove Windows...and then be 100% Mac!

- Nick

pigoo3 said:

Hopefully most of your Windows files will transfer fine. But this is why I mentioned running Windows on the Mac. Part of a transition period...so you are still able to access a majority of your Windows files (in case some don't transfer so well). And then anything that is newly created...is done within the Mac OS.

Click to expand...

Cool, that problem is out of the way.

Office files transfer fine (.doc, .xls). You can open them in Office 2011 on the Mac, or any of the OpenOffice offshoots (LibreOffice, NeoOffice, etc). PhotoShop .psd files transfer, as do .jpg, .png and all the other graphic formats. QuickBooks is, I have heard, not so good on the Mac as it is in Windows but I don't have it so I cannot tell you why. If you search the site for Quickbooks you'll find the threads talking about the alternatives and what others have done.

lizardskeep said:

Mostly MS Word docs, Photo Shop, and accounting (Quick Books).

Click to expand...

I am a recent switcher (within the last year). I switched for the same reasons you are. I run all the programs you have listed so I thought I would give you my two cents worth.

The Office and Photoshop programs have been covered by some of the other guys. You will have no problems with either on previous files. I use dropbox to switch between my windows (at work) computer and my mac all the time.

As for Quickbooks. I have used the program for years and through several versions. Since my personal computer became my MB air, I had to change my quickbooks version to a mac version. I had read some of the reviews saying the mac version was not as good for various reasons. I did have any issues.

I currently have the 2013 version and I believe there is a 2014 version out. I had no problem converting my windows data over to the mac version. There are some minor differences with layout but I am not sure how much of that was because my windows version was 2011 and the mac version is 2013.

I think you will find after experiencing a learning curve that you will love your mac. Keep reading on this forum especially the tips in the Switcher's Hangout. There is a wealth of information there.

Lisa

i found it easy to switch to a mac. Won't look back. I still have my pc, but haven't turned it on in over 4 months. The programs I have seen for the mac are much better than the pc ones.
Connecting to a home network was an easy drop and drag from pc to the mac too. I don't even have windows on my macs. Don't even get me started talking about the many reasons I switched.

Thanks for all the input on this subject. It, and some additional reading I've been doing has relieved the stress and anxiety of stepping off the path. Since we will have other Windows machines I'm going to try bringing the new Mac online without Windows and go from there.

And before you jump remember Macs are not Windows so things will not work the same way. Many of us, self included, use both Mac and Windows machines.

I'm a bit astonished none of this learned group have mentioned the Windows Migration Assistant!

About Windows Migration Assistant

It's a program for your PC that transfers all your documents and media and puts them where they should be automatically (music in iTunes, photos in Pictures, contacts in Contacts, email in Mail, calendar info in Calendar and so forth). Your Office files and Photoshop files will also be transferred over to Documents from where you can put them elsewhere if you prefer. It's really pretty sweet and painless and free.

Your Office documents will open fine in Pages, Numbers and Keynote which are available as free downloads if you're purchasing a new Mac. If you don't want to convert to the "iWork suite" as it used to be called, you can also purchase Microsoft Office for Mac (or iPad) using their current subscription model or buying a copy of Office 2011 (the latest standalone version -- there's also Office 365 if that suits you). OpenOffice/LibreOffice et al will also open the documents for free but ... meh ... let's just say the free part is its lead feature.

Most other word processors can open and save Word format so you really have the option of picking one that's perfect for you if you're not married to Word itself. I vastly prefer Numbers and Keynote to Excel and PowerPoint but that's because I'm really not a spreadsheet sort of person.

For Photoshop, you'll want to either buy the CS6 standalone version (still available), or subscribe to the Photoshop CC (and Lightroom) "Photographer's Bundle" for $10/month (that price requires a year commitment) if you just need Photoshop, or look into the whole Creative Cloud suite if you need that.

chas_m said:

I'm a bit astonished none of this learned group have mentioned the Windows Migration Assistant!

Click to expand...

We were saving it for you to mention!

- Nick