It lets you read any file — and copy anything you find, text & pictures! It’s perfect for browsing all types of files, including foreign files and files your Mac can’t open, and it’s indispensable for recovering text from damaged files — a lifesaver!
This is the documentation for CanOpener 3.0.
***IMPORTANT**This is NOT the latest version of CanOpener! **
***IMPORTANT**This is NOT the latest version of CanOpener! **
***IMPORTANT**This is NOT the latest version of CanOpener! **
UPGRADE TODAY!
SPECIAL UPGRADE OFFER:
Get CanOpener 3.5 for only $32 (SAVE $33 from street price), with FREE RescueTXT ($29 value) and FREE shipping in US (Int. $6).
You MUST mention "IDG Books" when ordering. TO ORDER: call 1-800-552-9157 or EMAIL <info@abbottsys.com> or FAX 914-747-9115. We accept MC, VISA or AMEX.
The NEW VERSION 3.5 features:
**Reads more picture formats including GIF, JPEG and PhotoCD!
**Converts pictures between different formats!
**Extracts email and Web addresses from ANY file for addition to your address book!
**Instantly launches your Web browser to go to any URL you find!
**Supports full Drag & Drop!
For information on all our Mac products visit our Web site at <www.abbottsys.com>
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Contact us anytime, or visit us on the Web at http://www.abbottsys.com
Abbott Systems Inc., 62 Mountain Rd., Pleasantville, NY 10570, USA
Tel: 1-800-552-9157 or 914-747-4201, Fax: 914-747-9115
Email: info@abbottsys.com
Web: http://www.abbottsys.com
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Requirements:
PowerMac or any Mac with 68020 processor or later.
System 7.0 or later.
Installing:
Copy the folder 'CanOpener 3.0 Folder' to your hard drive. It contains 3 items:
CanOpener 3.0 — This is the program, just double click to run.
CanOpener User Guide — This is the full documentation; just double-click to read.
CanOpener Filters — This folder contains picture filters used by CanOpener; don't move or change the name of this folder, or CanOpener won't be able to find its filters.
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OPENING A FILE
The fastest way to open a file is to drag and drop it to CanOpener. If CanOpener is not running, drag and drop to the CanOpener program icon and CanOpener will launch and open the file. If CanOpener is already running, drag and drop to the CanOpener window.
To open a file without using drag and drop, choose Open from the File menu, or double click the file in the file list (the top left panel of the CanOpener window.) You can open folders in this list by double clicking, or use the button above the list to change disks and select other folders. Usually the file list will show all files on your system. To show only specific file types, choose the desired type from the Show menu.
When you open a file with CanOpener it scans the contents for text, pictures and sounds and lists items in the contents area (the top right panel of the CanOpener window.) To display any item, double click it. If the item is a sound, it is played through the Macintosh speaker.
You can select multiple items by holding down the Shift key and clicking the items. The selected items are displayed (or played) in turn with a brief pause between each. To view a picture item sized to fit the view area, hold down the Option key and double click the item.
A note about opening PC picture files:
When you open a non-Macintosh picture CanOpener uses the .XXX filename extension to determine which filter to use. If a picture won't open, choose Preferences/File from the Edit menu and set .XXX Mapping to Forced.
EXTRACTING FILE CONTENTS
You can extract the contents of any file through the Mac clipboard, or by saving to disk.
To copy an item to the clipboard, click to select it, and then choose Copy from the Edit menu. Once on the clipboard, you can paste the item into any other program by choosing Paste from the Edit menu inside the desired program.
To copy text from a text item, first double click to display the item, then select the desired text and choose Copy from the Edit menu.
To save an item to disk, click to select it and then choose Save As from the Item menu. A dialog box appears. Type the name of the file you wish to create and click Save.
To append an item to an existing file, first click to select it and then choose Add To from the Item menu. A dialog box appears. Select the file you wish to append the item to and click Open. The dialog box disappears and CanOpener checks to see if the item can be appended to the chosen file. If it can, you will be asked to confirm the request before the append is performed. If it cannot, a message will inform you CanOpener cannot append. Text can only be appended to the data fork of files of type TEXT. Picture, Icon, Color Icon and Sound items can be appended to the resource fork of any file.
STOPPING CANOPENER!
CanOpener displays the 'rotating can' icon during any operations requiring a noticeable delay. You can cancel at any time by holding down the Command key and pressing the Period (.) key.
SEARCHING FILES FOR TEXT
To search for text in the currently open file, choose Find from the Item menu. To search all files in the file list for specific text, choose Search Files from the File menu. A dialog box appears.
Click Contents if you want to search file contents. Otherwise, click File Name to search file names.
Type the text you want to find in the first text box. If you wish to search for two pieces of text, type the second in the other text box. (If you entered two pieces of text, click And to locate files with the first text and the second. Click Or to locate files with the first text or the second. Click But Not to locate files with the first text but not the second.)
Click Case Sensitive if you want CanOpener to match uppercase and lowercase letters.
Click Include Subdirectories if you want the search to include folders.
Click Search. The dialog box disappears. CanOpener searches all files in the file list and changes the file list display to show only the found files. To open a file, double click the file name.
When you have finished using the found files, choose All from the Show menu to return the file list display to normal. Your list of found files is not lost, you can return to it anytime by choosing Found from the Show menu.
USING THE LIBRARY
Text, pictures and sounds can be stored in library files for future use. You can have as many library files as you wish and keep them anywhere. When you start CanOpener for the first time it will create a default library file named 'CanOpener™ Library' in your CanOpener folder.
To open the current library, choose its name from the File menu. CanOpener closes any open file and then opens the current library and displays its contents.
To add items to the current library, select them and choose Archive from the Item menu.
To delete items, first open the current library, select the items to be deleted and choose Delete from the Item menu.
To name library items, open the desired library and select the item you wish to name. Choose Name from the Item menu. A dialog box appears. Type the desired name and click OK.
To switch library files, choose Open Library from the File menu. A dialog box appears. Select the desired library file and click Open. The dialog box disappears and CanOpener makes the chosen library file the current library. If there is no file currently open, the chosen library is opened and its contents displayed.
To create a new library, choose New Library from the File menu. A dialog box appears. Type the file name and click Save. The dialog box disappears. CanOpener creates a new library file and makes it the current library.
To Merge library files You can add the contents of any library to the current library. Choose Merge Library from the File menu. A dialog box appears. Select the desired library file and click Open. The dialog box disappears and CanOpener adds the contents of the chosen library to the current library.
SETTING PREFERENCES
To change preferences relating to opening files, choose Preferences/File from the Edit menu.
Open Files Fork tells CanOpener which fork to scan when a file is opened.
Search Files Fork tells CanOpener which fork to search when performing a Search Files operation.
Text Cleanup allows you to control the way CanOpener extracts meaningful text from files containing lots of 'gobbledygook'. We recommend you first view a file with text cleanup off in order to get a feel for what's in the file. If you find what you need you probably won't require any text cleanup. A Text Cleanup setting of Off or Standard is good for most situations, we recommend you experiment with changing the three parameters only if all else fails.
Click Off to switch text cleanup off. With text cleanup off, files will open faster but will display their entire contents including all control characters.
Click On to activate text cleanup. With text cleanup on, CanOpener reads the entire file but extracts only 'good' text as defined by three parameters: Min Ascii Length, Max Extended Ascii and Max Repeat Length. All parameters can be changed by using the scroll arrows, or dragging the elevator thumb to the desired value.
Click Standard to set all three parameters to their default values – recommended for most files.
Min Ascii Length: (Can be set to any value in the range 2-25.) Strings of characters will be discarded if they are shorter than this length. It's best to start with low values, say 2 or 3 and increase only if needed.
Max Extended Ascii Length: (Can be set to any value in the range 0-25.) Strings of 'special' characters (such as bullets and foreign accents) are discarded if they are longer than this length. A setting of 0 means all special characters will be discarded, and is the usual setting. However, you may want to increase this parameter if you need to keep special characters.
Max Repeat Length: (Can be set to any value in the range 2-99.) Text strings longer than this length are discarded if they consists of a single repeated character. A setting of 2 or 3 will discard the maximum amount of repeats and is safe with real text (since almost no words contain characters repeated 3 or 4 times). But if you wish to keep long repeats (such as strings of bullets, spaces, periods, dashes etc.) set this to 99 or switch text cleanup off.
.XXX Extension Mapping is only used when opening non-Macintosh files. Unlike Mac files, these files do not contain an internal file type, so CanOpener must determine the file type based on the file extension. It then chooses the correct filter to open the file. Click Off to ignore file extensions and open all files as text files without using a filter.
Click Forced to have CanOpener open the file only if it has the exact filter in the CanOpener Filters folder.
Click Smart to have CanOpener choose the filter it feels is best to open the file.
To change preferences relating to displaying files, choose Preferences/View from the Edit menu:
File List controls display of files in the file list.
Click Invisible Files to show invisible system files.
Click Alias Files to show file aliases (System 7 only).
Contents List controls display of items in the contents area.
Text Viewing lets you change the font and point size used to view text items. Press the Font button to show the font menu. Type the desired point size in the Size box.
View All Items allows you to automatically display file contents when CanOpener opens a file. Click View All Items if you want CanOpener to display all items found when a file is opened. The items are displayed sequentially with a delay between each determined by the value you type in the View Delay box.
Window lets you use the standard Mac window design. Just uncheck Use Abbott Window, then quit CanOpener and re-launch for the change to take effect.
