WordPerfect 5.x Import Converter Limitations for Word 6.x/7.0

ID: q131040


The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Word for Windows 95, version 7.0
  • Microsoft Word for Windows, versions 6.0, 6.0a, 6.0c
  • Microsoft Word for Windows NT, version 6.0


SUMMARY

This article provides information about limitations when converting between WordPerfect 5.0 or 5.1 for DOS--or WordPerfect 5.1 or 5.2 for Windows--and Word for Windows, versions 6.0, 6.0a, and 6.0c, Word for Windows NT, version 6.0, or Word for Windows 95, version 7.0 when using the updated WordPerfect 5.x converter supplied in the Microsoft Supplemental WordPerfect Conversion Kit.

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

Each section covers a group of Word 6.x properties equivalents. The key is as follows:

Yes: The feature exists in both products, is converted from one product to the other, and requires some comment.

No: The feature is not completely converted from one product to the other.

S/C: See the associated comment.

N/S: The feature is not supported in one of the products.


                  Word        WP 5.x
                  to          to
Feature           WP 5.x      Word         Comments
=======           ========    ========     ========

Character Formatting:

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

  Character       No          N/S
  Spacing
  (condensed,
  expanded)

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

  Kerning         Yes         Yes

  Strikethrough   S/C         S/C         WordPerfect strikeout becomes
                                          strikethrough formatting in Word;
                                          WordPerfect redlining becomes
                                          revision marking in Word. Word
                                          strikethrough formatting converts
                                          to strikeout in WordPerfect; Word
                                          revision marking converts to
                                          WordPerfect redlining.

  Word and        N/S         No
  Letter
  Spacing

Paragraph Formatting:

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

  Leading         N/S         S/C          From WordPerfect to Word, only
  adjustment/                              Secondary Leading Adjustment
  baselines                                (between paragraphs) is
                                           converted; it is converted as
                                           space after paragraph.

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

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

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

  Tab leaders     S/C         Yes          Dot tab leaders, minus sign tab
                                           leaders, and underscore tab
                                           leaders are converted to the
                                           same tab leaders in Word. all
                                           other WordPerfect tab leaders
                                           become dot leaders in Word.

Section Formatting:

  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. If problems are
                                           experienced with margins (for
                                           example, if they are set outside
                                           the printable range in Word),
                                           choose Page Setup from the File
                                           menu, select the Margins tab,
                                           and click OK. If margins need to
                                           be adjusted, Word will ask to
                                           fix them.

Newspaper         Yes         Yes
Columns

Parallel          N/S         S/C          From WordPerfect to Word,
Columns                                    parallel columns convert to
                                           tables. If a parallel column
                                           layout contains a page-anchored
                                           box, the entire parallel column
                                           converts to newspaper columns.

Tables:

  Tables          Yes         Yes          Vertical merging of cells is not
                                           converted from WordPerfect to
                                           Word.

  Table           No          No
  Formulas/ 
  Math

  Decimal table   N/S         S/C          Converted to right paragraph
  cell alignment                           alignment.

Document Formatting:

  Footnotes       Yes         Yes          Footnotes placed at end of
                                           sections in Word are converted
                                           to endnotes since WordPerfect
                                           doesn't have sections.
                                           WordPerfect custom footnote
                                           marks are added to automatic
                                           numbering in Word.

Other Features:

  Advance         Yes         Yes          WordPerfect advance codes are
                                           converted to ADVANCE fields in
                                           Word. Advance codes that have
                                           the affect of advancing text
                                           upward on a page cannot be fully
                                           emulated in Word. Absolute
                                           vertical advance in headers is
                                           not converted.

  Annotations     Yes         N/S          Annotations become WordPerfect
                                           Comment text.


  Equations       S/C         S/C          From Word to WordPerfect,
                                           equation objects are converted
                                           as editable equation boxes.
                                           Equation fields are not
                                           converted from Word to
                                           WordPerfect. From WordPerfect to
                                           Word, equations are converted as
                                           editable equation objects.

  Extended        Yes         S/C          Not all of the extended
  characters                               characters that are available in
                                           WordPerfect are converted.

  Macros          No          No

  Outlining/      Yes         Yes          All are converted to SEQUENCE
  Paragraph                                fields by default in Word.
  Numbers*

Print merge       Yes         Yes          Word data source documents
commands                                   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.

  Styles          Yes         S/C          From WordPerfect to Word, styles
                                           containing 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.

  Subdocuments    Yes         S/C          WordPerfect master documents
  (INCLUDE                                 and subdocuments convert to Word
  field)                                   master documents and
                                           subdocuments. Word master
                                           documents and subdocuments
                                           convert to WordPerfect master
                                           documents and subdocuments.

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

  PRIVATE         N/S         S/C          PRIVATE fields are inserted
  field codes                              by the WordPerfect converter to
                                           preserve information needed to
                                           accurately save the document
                                           back to WordPerfect format.
                                           These fields should not be
                                           edited and have no effect on the
                                           document. 
*Numbering/Outline features:

WordPerfect's Numbering/Outlining features are converted to SEQ (sequence) fields in Word by default. To convert WordPerfect's Numbering/Outline features to Word's paragraph numbering features, follow the steps below:

  1. From the Windows Program Manager, run File Manager, select the file Mstxtcnv.ini (located in your Windows directory), and choose Open from the File menu. The Mstxtcnv.ini file is opened into Windows Notepad.


  2. In Mstxtcnv.ini, locate the section titled [WordPerfect5Conv]. Add the following entry on a new line after the last existing entry in the section:
    FavourSequenceFields=No


  3. Choose Save from the Windows Notepad File menu, and exit Notepad and File Manager.


Now when you convert WordPerfect 5.x documents, WordPerfect's numbering features will be converted to Word's numbering features.

Note on Round-Trip Conversions

Converting a document 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 document in WordPerfect before converting back to Word.

The information in this article is derived from the WPCONV.DOC document that is installed by the Supplemental WordPerfect Conversions Kit in the Word directory.

For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q126176 Word 6 WordPerfect Conversion Kit Available

Additional query words: 6.00a 6.00c winword ntword wordnt word6 textconv convert converting transfer translate word7 word95

Keywords :
Version : WINDOWS:6.0,6.0a,6.0c,7.0; winnt:6.0
Platform : WINDOWS winnt
Issue type :


Last Reviewed: October 25, 1999
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