WD98: Opening Text Only Files Changes Right and Left Margins (185529)

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Word 98 Macintosh Edition, when you open a file saved in the format of *.txt, the right and left margins are changed from a default of 1.25 inches to 0.92 inches.

CAUSE

By design, when a document is opened as a text file in Word, the native (Built-in) text converter for *.txt files will convert the right and left default margins to 0.92 inches.

WORKAROUND

Method 1: Adjust the Margins

To manually adjust the margins to the desired settings, follow these steps:

On the Format menu, click Document and click the Margins tab.
Modify the Left and Right margins to the desired size.
Click OK.

Method 2: Use Insert File Command

To insert the document into a new blank document, follow these steps:

On the File menu, click New, on the General tab select Blank Document (), and then click OK.
On the Insert menu, click File.
Change the Files Of Type setting to Text Files (*.txt).
Locate and select the desired file, and then click Insert.

NOTE: If you have Confirm Conversions on, click OK to convert the file from Text Only.

MORE INFORMATION

The Text Only (*.txt) import conversion does this to correctly preserve the line breaks in text documents. Unlike Word, most other word processors use a default left and right margin of one inch (2.54 cm). When these programs convert their files to Text Only (*.txt), some of them insert carriage returns at the end of each line to preserve the layout. When these documents were imported into earlier versions of Word, the extra carriage returns caused the layout to be different due to the slightly narrower default margins in Word. The extra .08 inch (0.21 cm) at each right and left margin is a "cushion" to make up for any differences in font metrics.

Native (Built-in) Text Converters in Word

Word 98 can directly import the following text formats:

MS-DOS Text
MS-DOS Text with Line Breaks
Text Only
Text with Line Breaks