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Q157085: WD97: Limitations of Converting WordPerfect 5.x Documents

Article: Q157085
Product(s): Word 97 for Windows
Version(s): WINDOWS:97
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbinterop word97
Last Modified: 14-NOV-2000

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Word 97 for Windows 
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SUMMARY
=======

The WordPerfect 5.x converter included with Word 97 is designed to take
advantage of features and conversion capabilities specifically available in Word
97. For best results converting to and from Word 97, use the WordPerfect 5.x
converter that comes with Word 97.

Converting a file from Word format to WordPerfect format and back again may cause
the loss of some formatting (for example, fonts, justification, styles, and mail
merge) unless you load, paginate, and save the converted file in WordPerfect
before converting back to Word.

MORE INFORMATION
================

The following table lists features that are not completely converted, are not
supported on one product or the other, or that require some comment.

The key is as follows:

  Yes   The feature is converted from one product to the other
  
  No    The feature is not completely converted from one product to the
        other.
  
  N/S   The feature is not supported in one of the products.

              Word 97 to         WordPerfect 5.x
Features      WordPerfect 5.x    to Word 97         Comments
------------------------------------------------------------

All caps      Yes                 N/S               All caps formatting
                                                    becomes all capital
                                                    letters.

Hidden        Yes                 N/S               Hidden text in Word
                                                    becomes WordPerfect
                                                    comment text.

Strikethrough See comment         See comment       WordPerfect strikeout
                                                    becomes strikethrough
                                                    formatting in Word and
                                                    vice versa;
WordPerfect
                                                    redlining becomes
                                                    tracked changes in
                                                    Word and vice versa.

Underlining   Yes                 Yes               Underlining format is
                                                    preserved, but the
type
                                                    of underlining may be
                                                    changed.

Spacing       No                  N/S
(condensed,
expanded)

Kerning       Yes                 Yes

Alignment     Yes                 Yes               Centering codes may
                                                    have to be
individually
                                                    repositioned in
                                                    WordPerfect after
                                                    conversion.

First-line    Yes                 Yes               First-line indents are
indents                                             created with tabs in
                                                    WordPerfect.

Page Break    Yes                 N/S               Approximated with a
Before                                              page break in
                                                    WordPerfect.

Space         Yes                 N/S               Approximated with
                                                    blank before/after
                                                    paragraph lines in
                                                    WordPerfect.

Tab leaders   See comment         Yes               From WordPerfect to
                                                    Word, the dot, dash
                                                    and underscore tab
                                                    leaders convert to the
                                                    same in Word. All
                                                    other WordPerfect tab
                                                    leaders convert to dot
                                                    leaders in Word.

Leading/      N/S                 No
baselines,
Lines/ 
baselines

[Center]/     N/S                 See comment       From WordPerfect to
[Flsh Rgt]                                          Word, Center and Flush
codes                                               Right codes convert to
                                                    center- and right-
                                                    aligned tab stops.

Widow control Yes                 Yes

Margins       Yes                 Yes               Word margins are
                                                    measured from the
                                                    paper's edge to body
                                                    text; WordPerfect
                                                    margins are measured
                                                    from the edge to the
                                                    header. The conversion
                                                    adjusts the margins as
                                                    needed to preserve
                                                    page layout.

Newspaper     Yes                 Yes
columns

Parallel      N/S                 See comment       From WordPerfect to
columns                                             Word, parallel columns
                                                    convert to tables. If
                                                    a parallel column
                                                    layout contains a
                                                    page-anchored box, the
                                                    entire parallel column
                                                    layout is converted to
                                                    newspaper columns.

Tables        Yes                 Yes               Vertical merging of
                                                    cells is not
                                                    converted.

Table         No                  No
formulas/ 
math

Decimal       N/S               See comment         From WordPerfect to
table cell                                          Word, decimal table
alignment                                           cell alignment is
                                                    converted to right
                                                    paragraph alignment.

Default       No                Yes
tab stops

Footnotes     Yes               Yes                 Endnotes placed at the
                                                    end of sections in
                                                    Word
                                                    are placed at the end
                                                    of the document in
                                                    WordPerfect because
                                                    WordPerfect doesn't
                                                    have sections.
                                                    Restarted numbers and
                                                    separators are not
                                                    converted. Custom
                                                    footnote marks in Word
                                                    are added to automatic
                                                    numbering in
                                                    WordPerfect.

Gutter        Yes               Yes
margins,
paper size

Comments      Yes               N/S                 Word comments become
                                                    WordPerfect comment
                                                    text.

Outline,      Yes               Yes                 WordPerfect paragraph
paragraph                                           numbers convert to
                                                    Word numbering,
                                                    sequence fields by
                                                    default.

Word 7.0 Lists                                      Word's automatically
                                                    numbered
                                                    lists convert to
                                                    paragraph numbers. To
                                                    convert WordPerfect
                                                    paragraph numbers to
                                                    plain text, set this
                                                    option in the registry
                                                    FavourSequenceFields=
                                                    No using the
                                                    EditConversionOptions
                                                    macro.

Print merge   Yes               Yes                 Word data source
commands                                            documents can be
                                                    either tab or comma
                                                    delimited or in table
                                                    format to convert to
                                                    WordPerfect. Word
                                                    automatically converts
                                                    WordPerfect secondary
                                                    files to Word data
                                                    source document
                                                    format. Conditional
                                                    print merge constructs
                                                    and macros are lost
                                                    when converting to
                                                    Word.

Date/time     Yes               Yes                 Default formats only.
stamps

Subdocuments  Yes               Yes
(INCLUDE field)

Equations     No                No

Extended      Yes               See comment         From WordPerfect to
characters                                          Word, not all extended
                                                    characters are
                                                    converted.

Text boxes,   Yes               Yes                 Some text boxes and
lines                                               lines convert to Word
                                                    drawing layer objects.
                                                    Drawing layer objects
                                                    are visible only in
                                                    page layout view, in
                                                    print preview, and
                                                    when printed. Drawing
                                                    layer objects do not
                                                    appear in normal view.

Line draw     Yes               Yes                 WordPerfect line draw
                                                    characters are
                                                    converted; however,
                                                    Word line spacing
                                                    causes gaps to appear
                                                    between line draw
                                                    characters on
                                                    successive lines. To
                                                    correct this problem
                                                    for printing, set line
                                                    spacing to equal the
                                                    current font point
                                                    size.

Macros        No                No

PRIVATE       N/S               See comment         From WordPerfect to
field codes                                         Word, PRIVATE fields
                                                    are inserted by the
                                                    converter to preserve
                                                    information needed to
                                                    accurately save the
                                                    file back to
                                                    WordPerfect format.
                                                    These fields shouldn't
                                                    be edited and have no
                                                    effect on the
                                                    document.

Styles        Yes               See comment         From WordPerfect to
                                                    Word, styles con-
                                                    -taining
                                                    paragraph formatting
                                                    codes convert to
                                                    paragraph styles.
                                                    WordPerfect styles
                                                    containing only
                                                    character formatting
                                                    convert to character
                                                    styles in Word. Text
                                                    contained in a style
                                                    is converted as normal
                                                    text. Other features,
                                                    such as tables,
                                                    graphics, and so on,
                                                    are retained in
                                                    documents but are not
                                                    given Word styles.

Document      See Comment       See Comment         WordPerfect can assign
Titles\                                             a Descriptive Name to
Descriptive                                         a file; much like Word
Names                                               can assign a Title.
                                                    Word imports the
                                                    Descriptive Name into
                                                    the document Title
                                                    property and exports
                                                    the document Title
                                                    property into a
                                                    Descriptive Name.

Additional query words: conversion converts converting transferred transferring transfers import export textconv WordPerfect wpft 6.x 5.2 5.1 5.0 5.x

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Keywords          : kbinterop word97 
Technology        : kbWordSearch kbWord97 kbWord97Search kbZNotKeyword2
Version           : WINDOWS:97
Issue type        : kbinfo

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