What is CanOpener 4.0?

CanOpener is a tool to extract resources like text, images and sound from applications. It similar to ResEdit but can only read resources, sometimes even better than ResEdit can.

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CanOpener accesses text, pictures, and sounds contained in files you can’t open because you don’t have the appropriate application. Just drop a file onto CanOpener and the file appears (or is played, if it’s a sound file) along with the file’s directory and resource information. You can save text and sounds to use in other programs, and you can convert images into one of 22 different formats, New in version 4.0 are filters for cleaning up files and finding text, a Web link, and a separate utility for filtering files in batches.

Unfortunately, CanOpener’s interface is confusing. For instance, choosing a new file in the directory pane doesn’t automatically update the other windows. And the handy new Web link button lets you easily access the CanOpener User Services Web Page, but that site is void of useful information.

The Filter option, however, is a worthwhile addition. After opening a text file, you can choose from this pop-up menu to show only sentences with dollar signs, numbers, telephone numbers, names, question marks, IP addresses, or any other strings you specify. You can also ask it to strip out HTML codes, extra carriage returns, and blank spaces. These filters can be useful (especially when you use them in conjunction with CanOpener Extractor, the new stand-alone utility that performs bulk data mining), but they don’t always work as expected. For example, on test files containing phone numbers, CanOpener insisted there were no numbers because they weren’t in what it considers sentences. This sort of problem is compounded by the fact that there there’s no explanation of how any of the filters work.

Until Abbott Systems improves the interface and provides decent documentation, most users would be better off with freeware and shareware programs that perform many of the same tasks as CanOpener, including Apple Data Detectors, GraphicConverter, and MagicBullets.

Linzmayer, Owen W. (June 1998). CanOpener 4.0. MacAddict. (pg. 52).

Download CanOpener 4.0 for Mac

Architecture

68K + PPC (FAT)

System Requirements

From Mac OS 7.0

Compatibility notes

Emulating this? It could probably run under: SheepShaver