Corel Ventura file conversion

[bobbydvt245]

Hi, I'm looking to import my old Corel Ventura files (vp extension) into a new publishing program. I could covert the files to PDF, but I'm not sure how much extra work that would require to re-format. Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks.

[Bob_Niland]

Do you still have access to a working copy of Ventura?

If so, what other formats can it export or save to?

[bobbydvt245]

Yes, and the other formats are .PDF, .chp, .sty, and .doc or .txt.

[Barb Binder · Accepted solution]

Hi Bobby:

Reformatting is a given. The best I would hope for it not to have to retype the text. If it were me I would try .doc or .pdf (and then export the text out of Acrobat). And I thought I Ventura could export to .rtf (Rich Text Format) but it's been a very long time since I used Ventura so maybe I'm making that up. RTF would attempt to bring formatting along with it, as would Ventura to .pdf and export to .rtf.

In either case, there will be clean-up time spent in Word, and then you can import the text into FrameMaker and format it with Fm paragraph, character and table tags.

~Barb

[Matt S - Tech Comm Tools]

I agree with Barb, but with two mods:

• Don't spend time cleaning up in Word. Do the cleanup in Fm.
• Don't work with PDF, but with the RTF or DOC formats to avoid loss of paragraph and pagination info.

[bobbydvt245]

Thank you all for your help! I'm going to take Barb's suggestion and see how it goes. I've been able to use Corel Ventura since I have a PC with xp still installed but figured I was on borrowed time. I knew it was going to be a lot of work to transfer but hopefully with these suggestions it will avoid a full re-write.

[Barb Binder]

Great. If you have further questions, just let us know.

~Barb

[mikej1]

I realise this is an old post, but in case it's of use: I use Ventura 10 every day, running perfectly (or as perfectly as any program runs!) on 64-bit Windows 10.

[mbapub]

I can't get the program to run with Win 10. How did you get it to run? I was running it on a Win7 computer with a virtual XP machine. Thanks.

[mikej1]

After installing Ventura, copy \System32\Redist\MS\System\mfc42.dll from the CD to the C:\Program Files (x86)\Corel\Ventura10\Programs\ folder. You could also set the compatibility of ventura.exe to an earlier version e.g. WinXP (SP2) but I didn't find this to be necessary. To do this, go to C:\Program Files (x86)\Corel\Ventura10\Programs\ folder, right click on ventura.exe, choose Properties and click on the Compatibilty tab.

[bluemacygirl]

Hi Mike,

I just had to get a new laptop with Windows 11. I've been using Corel Ventura for years and would love to be able to keep using it or at least be able to access my files. When I had to switch to W10, I had a computer tech install Ventura. He is now gone. Will the install instructions you provided for Windows 10 also work for W11? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[mbapub]

I don't know. I now have Win11 and can't get Ventura to load. But I also haven't asked my techs to see if they can get it to work. Possibly there's just a missing DLL. Good luck!
Devorah Fox
[PII removed by moderator]

[bluemacygirl]

I just got Ventura 10 to load on Windows 11 by going to MS page on XP Service Pack. Then once compatibility mode was activated, I followed Mike's instructions. The issue was that it wouldn't even load unless compatibility mode was set up first. Works like a charm. I am one HAPPY lady!

[mikej1]

Hi, I don't know either! I'm still using Ventura 10 daily on Windows 10 64-bit. I came across a comment on another website that Ventura 10 will run on Win11 but it gave no details. The key to getting Ventura to run on Win7 to 10 was the mfc42.dll file (as I explained in my previous post), so I can only suggest that you try that with Windows 11.