You Upgraded the PC. The WordPerfect, Works, and iPhone Photos Still Will Not Open.
A new Windows 11 PC is a great gift. The folders you copied onto it come along fine; the programs that used to open them do not.
TL;DR
You set up a new Windows 11 PC, copied the old folders across, and now some files will not open: WordPerfect (.wpd) letters, Microsoft Works (.wps) documents, old .wks and .123 spreadsheets, and iPhone .heic photos. The files are usually fine. The new PC simply lacks the programs that made them. Convert the legacy files to DOCX, XLSX, PDF, or JPG on the new PC and keep the originals.
The new machine is out of the box, the bow is on the floor, and the transfer finished without errors. Then you double-click a letter from years ago, a school report written in Works, or a folder of photos from a phone, and Windows asks which app to use. Nothing is lost. What changed is the software around the files.
The new PC has your files, not your old programs
A file copy moves documents, photos, and spreadsheets. It does not move the programs that created them, and many of those programs are long gone. When the new PC has no app that understands a format, the file just sits there with a blank icon.
- WordPerfect (.wpd) letters and reports from older home and office PCs.
- Microsoft Works (.wps) documents from family computers.
- Older .wks and Lotus 1-2-3 (.123) spreadsheets with budgets and records.
- iPhone .heic photos that some apps and websites will not accept.
This is not the same job as retiring the old PC
If the old computer is still on your desk, start with Migrating Files Off an Old Windows PC, which covers getting files off a machine you are about to replace. This guide picks up afterwards: the files are already on the new Windows 11 PC, and the job is making them open there.
The Windows 10 dates
Free Windows 10 support ended on October 14, 2025. Consumer Extended Security Updates run until October 12, 2027. Those updates keep an old Windows 10 PC patched; they do not make legacy files open on the new one.
What to convert each file to
- WordPerfect (.wpd) and Works (.wps) documents → DOCX to edit, PDF for a copy that will not change.
- .wks and .123 spreadsheets → XLSX, or CSV for plain data.
- iPhone .heic photos → JPG for sharing, or PNG for a lossless copy.
Convert the folder on the new PC
Keep the originals
Leave the copied folder as it is. Convert into a new folder so the originals stay untouched.
Add the whole folder
Point Legacy File Converter at the folder. You do not need to sort it by file type first.
Pick modern formats
Choose DOCX or PDF for documents, XLSX for spreadsheets, and JPG or PNG for photos, then convert. Everything runs on this PC.
Think before uploading
Holiday folders often hold letters, tax records, and family photos. Converting locally keeps them on your own machine instead of a stranger's server.
Summary
A new Windows 11 PC opens modern files, not every format from the last few decades. Your WordPerfect, Works, older spreadsheet, and HEIC files are still there. Convert copies to DOCX, XLSX, PDF, JPG, or PNG, keep the originals, and the folder opens again. Legacy File Converter does this offline on Windows; see the Supported File Types list for every format it reads.
Convert your files
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