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Robin E. Snyder
Senior Member
Username: robin

Post Number: 282
Registered: 08-2004
Posted on Thursday, December 03, 2009 - 12:47 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

For all you wordperfect users out there - have any of you ever had to convert files from word to wordperfect? Is it easy or cumbersome?
Richard L Matteo, AIA, CSI, CCS
Senior Member
Username: rlmat

Post Number: 360
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Thursday, December 03, 2009 - 01:04 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

Robin,

That's a switch My office is trying to get me to switch from WordPerfect to Word

If the Word Doc is in version 2003 , you can open it in wordperfect, if its version 2007, you can't
you would probably have to convert it to a plain text file first - at least, that's what I do
Hopefully someone out there has an easier solution
David E Lorenzini
Senior Member
Username: deloren

Post Number: 91
Registered: 04-2000


Posted on Thursday, December 03, 2009 - 01:27 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

Richard, I assume you are referring to the DOCX format of Word 2007. Microsoft provides a converter pack to convert from DOCX to DOC so they can be opened in Word 2003.
Here is what Microsoft says:

"By installing the Compatibility Pack in addition to Microsoft Office 2000, Office XP, or Office 2003, you will be able to open, edit, and save files using the file formats new to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007. The Compatibility Pack can also be used in conjunction with the Microsoft Office Word Viewer 2003, Excel Viewer 2003, and PowerPoint Viewer 2003 to view files saved in these new formats. For more information about the Compatibility Pack, see Knowledge Base article 924074."

The link to the Microsoft page is: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=941b3470-3ae9-4aee-8f43-c6bb74cd1466&displaylang=en
David Lorenzini, FCSI, CCS
Architectural Resources Co.
Robin E. Snyder
Senior Member
Username: robin

Post Number: 283
Registered: 08-2004
Posted on Thursday, December 03, 2009 - 01:48 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

Maybe I should ellaborate:

I have a client that has specs in word, but Nevada DOT is requiring them in WP. I am trying to find out if it is a cumbersome transition and, step 2, if there is anyone out there that has WP that would be willing to do the conversion. I don't have WP.
David J. Wyatt
Senior Member
Username: david_j_wyatt_csi_ccs_ccca

Post Number: 129
Registered: 07-2005
Posted on Friday, December 04, 2009 - 10:14 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

I have WP. E-mail me if you want to discuss further. djwyattsm@windstream.net
Richard L. Hird (Unregistered Guest)
Unregistered guest
Posted on Friday, December 11, 2009 - 09:32 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

Robin:

It is actually easy to go from WORD to Word Perfect with a little help from some macros. The other way around is a problem because you can never tell what is going on in WORD.

I do this all the time, so let me no if David Wyatt could not help you, send me an email at SpecEst@sbcglobal.net
John Regener, AIA, CCS, CCCA, CSI, SCIP
Senior Member
Username: john_regener

Post Number: 454
Registered: 04-2002


Posted on Saturday, December 12, 2009 - 01:34 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

The experts regarding using WordPerfect DOS in the current world of MS Word and Windows XP are at Columbia University. See the discussion regarding conversion from MS Word to WordPerfect DOS at:
http://www.columbia.edu/~em36/wpdos/wordtowpdos.html
John Bunzick, CCS, CCCA, LEED AP
Senior Member
Username: bunzick

Post Number: 1146
Registered: 03-2002
Posted on Tuesday, December 15, 2009 - 12:33 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

There's a link within the link about the difficulties of conversion. I knew that WP had embedded codes. This is the same as a number of other early word processors I used before MS Word became dominant. (All before WYSIWYG and page-oriented printing rather than line-printing. You had no choice but to look at codes to see what your text would finally look like. I'm sure of few of you old codgers remember that stuff.) Yet, the resolution of embedded codes are essentially what programmers call "spaghetti code." This means that they are completely linear, and as far as modern software engineering is concerned, poorly constructed. Object-oriented software design has been the current standard for many, many years now, so I don't see much of a future for the Word Perfect model. And Word Perfect for DOS? Really? DOS?
John Regener, AIA, CCS, CCCA, CSI, SCIP
Senior Member
Username: john_regener

Post Number: 455
Registered: 04-2002


Posted on Tuesday, December 15, 2009 - 03:45 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

Yeah, isn't it ridiculous to take your hand off the keyboard to manipulate the cursor and pull down several layers of menus to make text changes? And who'd want to not apply a style to every paragraph. And dating documents in the header using text is so anti-automation. Who'd want to stay with DOS and have to cope with such nonsense. Oh, wait! It's the other way around!!

"New and improved" Microsoft application. Kinda like "military intelligence" or "jumbo shrimp."

(Let the rabid partisanship about word processing programs loose!)
John Bunzick, CCS, CCCA, LEED AP
Senior Member
Username: bunzick

Post Number: 1147
Registered: 03-2002
Posted on Tuesday, December 15, 2009 - 06:08 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

John, Now, believe me I'm not a big Microsoft fan, but none of what you say is true with Word. I add font and paragraph formatting all the time using only keyboard commands--it's just a matter of learning what they are. I can automate processing of headers, if I want to, or use codes that change according to given conditions, if I want to. So, I'm not so sure where the bum rap comes from on Microsoft's products. It is true they are not technology leaders, and that marketing cycles force you to relearn occasionally. Really, I don't think this has much to do with Word versus Wordperfect, which I have nothing against. Wordperfect fans are perhaps like Mac fans--they populate a small segment of total users, and are enthusiastic in their support against the onslaught of the giant opposition. I get that. Thinking back to my CPM days (that is, before DOS existed), I would never want to go back. Many things are more easily done in a GUI environment. Relearning is no doubt one of the biggest issues with power users of any type of business application--many simply do not want to be bothered. (My 1960 Rambler still gets me where I want to go so why should I replace it?) However, I enjoy the new features I've found over the years in updated software.
Wayne Yancey
Senior Member
Username: wayne_yancey

Post Number: 292
Registered: 01-2008


Posted on Tuesday, December 15, 2009 - 06:24 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

And there is still enough room in the passenger seat of the Rambler to carry your 1984 Compaq luggable with 9" amber monitor, two 360K drives, and a RAM disk, plus the dot matrix printer.
Lynn Javoroski CSI CCS LEEDŽ AP SCIP Affiliate
Senior Member
Username: lynn_javoroski

Post Number: 974
Registered: 07-2002


Posted on Wednesday, December 16, 2009 - 09:31 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post

I wrote my master's thesis using Atari writer...on an amber monitor, printed on a dot matrix printer. Atari wasn't only for Pong. How far we've come in 25 years.

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