ClipBook Page from Write Loses Formatting and Fonts

• Microsoft Windows for Workgroups version 3.1

SUMMARY

When you copy information from the Windows for Workgroups Write application to the Clipboard and create a ClipBook page out of that information, the appearance of the information changes and loses special formatting and fonts. This article explains why.

MORE INFORMATION

When you copy information from an application to the Clipboard, the information is copied in one or more formats. Most clipboard viewers, including the Microsoft Windows operating system version 3.1 Clipboard viewer and Windows for Workgroups ClipBook Viewer, are able to display Clipboard data in a limited number of formats such as text, picture, bitmap, and palette. Write documents are complicated because they contain a mixture of different fonts, colors, and special formatting information. Windows provides a separate format, called OwnerDraw, that allows the Clipboard viewer to display such complex renderings without knowing everything about the way Write displays its information. When using this format, the Clipboard viewer communicates with the owner of the information, such as Windows Write, and that application does all the work and actually draws within the Clipboard viewer window. The Clipboard viewer simply notifies Write if the window has been scrolled or needs to be redrawn.

This scheme only works while Write is running. Once you close Write, the OwnerDraw format is no longer available, and the Clipboard viewer displays the Write information in the next best format, usually a text format.

When you create a ClipBook page, only information that can be saved is used. The OwnerDraw format cannot be saved, so application-specific formatting and font information is lost.