Switching from Windows to the Mac

Which files can you move from your Windows PC to your Mac? Almost all as long as you have the software installed that can interpret them.

For Office documents, you'll need Office 2004 and Office 2008. For Adobe products like  Photoshop or Acrobat, you will need the Mac version of it. The software for the PC normally won't install on the Mac so you will probably need to purchase a Mac license and software to continue your work.

For those with lots of audio or video files, you'll probably use QuickTime Player that's included with the Mac. It will support AAC, H.264, JPEG 2000, etc. the complete list is here: http://www.apple.com/quicktime/player/specs.html

Transferring Data files:
    1.    Use an external hard drive, flash drive.
    2.    burn to a cd/dvd
    3.    use the piratedrive: http://www.ecu.edu/cs-itcs/piratedrive/MAC_matrix.cfm
    4.    If you don't have many, send them by email.
 


Transferring emails:
Anything under your InBox in Outlook will reappear in the same location in Entourage.However, there are no PST files in Entourage and this must be handled differently. Put in a Help Desk ticket and someone from ITCS will help you. The new Outlook in Office 14 which might be released by the end of summer will import PST files
 

Transferring favorites:
Internet Explorer favorites do not transfer. However, Firefox favorites will. Before disconnecting the Windows machine, open Firefox and export your favorites to your Desktop. They can be imported into Firefox on the Mac later.

Transferring photos:
Copy photos from your Photos folder to Macintosh HD/Users/<yourhomefolder>/Photos on the Mac.

Transferring music:
If you use iTunes, be sure to deauthorize your iTunes on the Windows side. Then authorize it on the Mac side.

First, make sure all your files are in one place. Go under the Advanced menu and select "Consolidate Library" to pull everything into one library. You'll also want to make sure you go into the iTunes Preferences and make sure that both the Advanced tab's "Keep iTunes Music folder organized" and "Copy files to iTunes Music folder..." are both checked. Then move the entire iTunes library (My Documents > My Music folder) to Macintosh HD/Users/<yourhomefolder>/Music. Once there, open iTunes on the Mac and go under File menu and select "Add to Library...". Direct it to the iTunes folder you copied over and click on Choose.