WD: PRIVATE Fields Appear in Converted WordPerfect Documents (104986)



The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Word for Windows 95
  • Microsoft Word for Windows 95 7.0a
  • Microsoft Word for Windows 6.0
  • Microsoft Word for Windows 6.0a
  • Microsoft Word for Windows 6.0c
  • Microsoft Word for Windows NT 6.0
  • Microsoft Word for the Macintosh 6.0
  • Microsoft Word for the Macintosh 6.0.1
  • Microsoft Word 98 Macintosh Edition

This article was previously published under Q104986

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Word, when you open a document that is in WordPerfect 5.x or 6.x format, you may see PRIVATE fields at the beginning of and throughout the converted document.

CAUSE

This is a design feature of Word and the WordPerfect converter. A PRIVATE field stores data for documents converted from other file formats. The field contains data that allows Word to retain formatting information not used by Word but that is necessary for optimally converting the file back to its original format. At this time, PRIVATE fields are used only when converting documents from WordPerfect 5.x and 6.x format to Word.

PRIVATE fields do not affect document layout in Word. If you do not want PRIVATE fields to be displayed in your document, click the Show/Hide button on the Formatting toolbar. Sometimes there is no way to turn off the PRIVATE field, regardless of whether Show/Hide or Field Codes are turned off. However, it will not appear in print preview or when the document is actually printed.

MORE INFORMATION

The PRIVATE field that appears at or near the beginning of converted WordPerfect documents notifies Word that the document was originally opened from WordPerfect. This enables Word to make necessary adjustments to process other PRIVATE Fields for table of contents formatting codes and several other formats if you later choose to save the document in WordPerfect format.

Sometimes, whether Field Codes are on or off under the View Options or Print Options tabs of the Tools menu, the {PRIVATE} fields are shown in normal and print preview views and print {PRIVATE} on the document. When this behavior occurs, "Bookmark Not Defined" is also shown in page layout view. To work around this behavior, find these codes and cut them from the document.

You can search for these fields by using Replace or Find on the Edit menu. Type ^dPRIVATE. You can also manually search through the document for the {PRIVATE} fields, select them, and then click Cut on the Edit menu.

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:8/16/2005
Keywords:kbconversion kbfield kbinterop kbprb KB104986