WD6X: Accented Characters Map Wrong When Character Style Removed

• Microsoft Word for Windows, versions 6.x
• Microsoft Word for the Macintosh, version 6.x

SYMPTOMS

When you remove the character style from words containing accented characters, the accented characters incorrectly change to other characters. This problem occurs in documents that have been converted from Word 5.x or 6.x for the Macintosh and saved in Word 6.x for Windows format prior to removing the character style.

CAUSE

Removing the character style by pressing CTRL+SPACEBAR inadvertently removes the Rich Text Format (RTF) code word \cchs256. Word requires this code to preserve the accented character using the Macintosh character set. Once the code has been removed, the character changes to the ANSI character equivalent, which may be an entirely different character.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, save the file in either Word 2.x for Windows format, or Rich Text Format (RTF) prior to opening the file in Word 6.x for Windows. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Open the file in Word 6.x for the Macintosh.

2. On the File menu, click Save As.

3. In the Save File As Type list, click either Word 2.x for Windows or Rich Text Format.

4. Click Save.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. This problem was corrected in Microsoft Word for Windows 95, version 7.0.

MORE INFORMATION

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

   ARTICLE-ID: Q86999
   TITLE     : Rich Text Format (RTF) Specification 1.4 Appnote
               Available

REFERENCES

"Microsoft Word for Windows User's Guide," version 6.0, Appendix A, "Character Sets".