Apple File Exchange (AFE) is a utility program for Apple Macintosh computers. It was included on the Apple "Tidbits" or "Install 2" disk in system versions 7.0 through 7.1. In

System 7.5 System 7, codenamed "Big Bang", and also known as Mac OS 7, is a graphical user interface-based operating system for Macintosh computers and is part of the classic Mac OS series of operating systems. It was introduced on May 13, 1991, by Apple Co ...

(released in 1994), it was replaced by PC Exchange. Apple File Exchange could read

floppy disk A floppy disk or floppy diskette (casually referred to as a floppy, or a diskette) is an obsolescent type of disk storage composed of a thin and flexible disk of a magnetic storage medium in a square or nearly square plastic enclosure lined ...

s from DOS/

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ...

and ProDOS ( Apple II) systems, as well as disks from Macs. This utility enabled Macs to read PC disks, but only if they were inserted after launching Apple File Exchange. If Apple File Exchange was not launched while inserting PC-formatted floppy, the Mac would complain that the disk inserted "was not a Macintosh disk" and requested initialisation. Apple File Exchange was a file content translator, in contrast to the File System Translator of Apple GS/OS which just translated the file system between different computers' storage formats. AFE could convert data files produced by one program for use in another, e.g. between AppleWorks and ClarisWorks.Apple File Exchange: Contrasted to File System Translators
Apple support archive article, last modified 2008

Bugs

A high-density diskette in DOS format formatted as a 720K disk would not function correctly; the Mac assumed that any high-density disk has been formatted as an HD disk. To solve this problem, a user could cover the square hole with a piece of tape ''opposite'' the write-protect tab, and re-insert the disk. (This square hole identifies the disk as a high-density disk.) Covering the square hole will make it appear to disk drive as a DD disk.

References

External links

''Apple File Exchange''
on WikiMac, the Mac wiki File Exchange Apple Inc. file systems Compatibility layers {{mac-stub