WD: Word 2.x File Comments Lost Upon Conversion to Word 97

• Microsoft Word 97 for Windows

SYMPTOMS

When you open a Microsoft Word 2.x document in Microsoft Word 97, file property comments for the document are lost.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, use one of the following methods.

Method 1: Open the document in Word 7.x

If you have access to both Word 7.x and Word 97, follow these steps:

1. In Word 7.x, open the Word 2.x document.

2. Save the document as a Word 7.x document.

3. Open the Word 7.x document in Word 97.

Method 2: Save from Word 2.x as Rich Text Format (RTF)

1. In Word 2.x, save the document in Rich Text Format (RTF). To do this, follow these steps:

   a. On the File menu, click Save As.

   b. Change the Save File As Type to Rich Text Format (RTF)

   c. Save the document.

2. In Word 97, open the RTF file.

NOTE: To ease the transition of documents from one format to another, you can use the batch conversion macros that ship with Microsoft Word.

For more information about the batch conversion macros, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE ID: Q107439
   TITLE: Word for Windows Batch Conversion Macro

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

MORE INFORMATION

File property comments is a feature that allows you to store comments about the document along with the document. You can then search on the text of these comments at a later date using the search feature in Word.

In Microsoft Word 2.x and 6.x, file property comments are added by clicking the File menu, clicking Summary Info, and entering information into the Comments box.

In Microsoft Word 7.x and later, file property comments are added by clicking Properties on the File menu, and entering information into the Comments box.

For additional information, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q177859
   TITLE     : WD: Macintosh Word 6.x Comments Missing in File Properties

   ARTICLE-ID: Q166868
   TITLE : WD97: Properties (Summary Info) Comments in Wrong Format/Missing