AppleWorks

AppleWorks was an office suite of software applications that was sold by Apple Computer.

Versions of AppleWorks existed that were compatible with Mac OS 8.1 to 9, Mac OS X 10.1 to 10.6.8, and Microsoft Windows. Earlier versions for the Apple II series and Apple II GS are retroactively known as AppleWorks Classic and AppleWorks GS, respectively.

AppleWorks 6.2.9 was the last version released for Mac OS X and it has since been replaced by iWork.

ClarisWorks
The Macintosh version started out as ClarisWorks, published by Apple's wholly-owned software subsidiary, Claris. It combined a word processor, a drawing program, a painting program, a spreadsheet, and a terminal program for communications. All the components were integrated to provide a seamless suite that worked in concert; for example, spreadsheets could be embedded in a word processing document, or formatted text into drawings, etc. With version 3.0, the Assistants feature was introduced — comparable to the Wizards of Microsoft Office. Some Assistants remained in service up through the Mac OS X version.

AppleWorks 5
When the Claris company was reabsorbed back into Apple, the suite was renamed AppleWorks (version 5 of the software was still called ClarisWorks up to that time).

AppleWorks 5.0.4 is the last version to support older 68k processors.

AppleWorks 6
AppleWorks 6 requires a PowerPC processor and replaced the communications feature with a full presentation module.

The latest versions of AppleWorks are:
 * AppleWorks 6.2.2 for Microsoft Windows 95 to XP.
 * AppleWorks 6.2.8 for Mac OS 8.1 to 9.2.2
 * AppleWorks 6.2.9 for Mac OS X 10.1 to 10.6.8

AppleWorks and Mac OS X
AppleWorks 6.2 was carbonized to operate natively in Mac OS X 10.1 to 10.4.11. However, two classic Mac OS features were left out during this process: Macros, and Publish & Subscribe. An alternative to macros is to write an AppleScript to automate an action. There is no alternative or workaround for the Publish & Subscribe feature.

AppleWorks versions 5 through 6.1 will operate in the Classic environment of Mac OS X; carbonized versions through 6.2.8 can be "forced" to launch in Classic by checking the box "Open in the Classic Environment" in the application's Get Info window. For version 6.x, this re-enables the Macros and Publish & Subscribe features missing from Mac OS X. However, while AppleWorks is operating in the Classic environment, the range of fonts and printing is more limited. That is, AppleWorks can only use those fonts compatible with Classic and located in the  folder. AppleWorks operating in the Classic environment can only print if a Mac OS 9-compatible driver has been installed into the classic System Folder and enabled with the Chooser program.

Discontinuation and end of support
AppleWorks 6.2.9 was the last version released. Because it was developed for PowerPC processors, it will not work on Mac OS X 10.7 or later due to the lack of Rosetta support.

Apple developed iWork as a successor to AppleWorks. On January 11, 2005, iWork '05 was announced at the Macworld Conference & Expo and became available on January 22. iWork '06 added native Intel support. It included Pages, a word processor/page layout program, and Keynote, a presentation program. With the addition of Numbers, a spreadsheet application, to iWork '08, AppleWorks was finally withdrawn from sale by Apple. Online support was discontinued in October 2012. AppleWorks files (with the exception of the Draw module) can be imported into the corresponding applications from the iWork suite. If a particular ClarisWorks or AppleWorks file is from a version that is too old, it may be necessary to import and save it through a more recent version or a 3rd-party application first.

Miscellaneous

 * AppleWorks was an international program, with different versions in different languages available.
 * Communities of AppleWorks users are linked with resources by Apple online, and by the AppleWorks User Group.