WD2000: Limitations of Converting WordPerfect 5.x Documents (240854)



The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Word 2000

This article was previously published under Q240854

SUMMARY

The WordPerfect 5.x converter included with Microsoft Word 2000 is designed to take advantage of features and conversion capabilities specifically available in Word 2000. For best results converting to and from Word 2000, use the WordPerfect 5.x converter shipped with Word 2000.

Converting a file 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 file in WordPerfect before converting it back to Word.

MORE INFORMATION

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

The key is as follows:
   Yes   The feature is converted from one product to the other.

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

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

 
                     Word 2000       WordPerfect
                         to            5.x to
   Features       WordPerfect 5.x     Word 2000    Comments
   ------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
   All caps             Yes              N/S       All caps formatting
                                                   becomes all capital
                                                   letters.
 
   Hidden               Yes              N/S       Hidden text in Word
                                                   becomes WordPerfect
                                                   comment text.
 
   Strikethrough     See comment     See comment   WordPerfect strikeout
                                                   becomes strikethrough
                                                   formatting in Word and
                                                   vice versa; WordPerfect
                                                   redlining becomes
                                                   tracked changes in Word
                                                   and vice versa.
 
   Underlining          Yes              Yes       Underlining format is
                                                   preserved, but the type
                                                   of underlining may be
                                                   changed.
 
   Spacing              No               N/S
   (condensed,
   expanded)
 
   Kerning              Yes              Yes
 
   Alignment            Yes              Yes       Centering codes may have
                                                   to be individually
                                                   repositioned in
                                                   WordPerfect after
                                                   conversion.
 
   First-line           Yes              Yes       First-line indents are
                                                   indents created with
                                                   with tabs in WordPerfect
 
   Page Break           Yes              N/S       Approximated with a page
   Before                                          break in WordPerfect.
 
   Space before         Yes              N/S       Approximated with blank
   /after paragraphs                               lines in WordPerfect.
 
   Tab leaders       See comment         Yes       From WordPerfect to
                                                   Word, the dot, dash, and
                                                   underscore tab leaders
                                                   convert to the same in
                                                   Word. All other
                                                   WordPerfect tab leaders
                                                   convert to dot leaders
                                                   in Word.
 
   Leading/baselines     N/S              No
   Lines/baselines
 
   [Center]/[Flsh Rgt]   N/S          See comment  From WordPerfect to
   codes                                           Word, Center and Flush
                                                   Right codes convert to
                                                   center- and right-
                                                   aligned tab stops.
 
   Widow control         Yes             Yes
 
   Margins               Yes             Yes       Word margins are
                                                   measured from 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.
 
   Newspaper columns     Yes             Yes
 
   Parallel columns      N/S          See comment  From WordPerfect to
                                                   Word, parallel columns
                                                   convert to tables. If a
                                                   parallel column layout
                                                   contains a page-anchored
                                                   box, the entire parallel
                                                   column layout is
                                                   converted to newspaper
                                                   columns.

   Tables                Yes             Yes       Vertical merging of
                                                   cells is not converted.
 
   Table formulas        No              No
   /math
 
   Decimal table         N/S          See comment  From WordPerfect to
   cell alignment                                  Word, decimal table
                                                   cell alignment is
                                                   converted to right
                                                   paragraph alignment.
 
   Default tab stops     No              Yes
 
   Footnotes             Yes             Yes       Endnotes placed at the
                                                   end of sections in Word
                                                   are placed at the end of
                                                   the document in
                                                   WordPerfect because
                                                   WordPerfect doesn't have
                                                   sections. Restarted
                                                   numbers and separators
                                                   are not converted.
                                                   Custom footnote marks
                                                   in Word are added to
                                                   automatic numbering in
                                                   WordPerfect.
 
   Gutter margins,       Yes             Yes
   paper size
 
   Comments              Yes             N/S       Word comments become
                                                   WordPerfect comment
                                                   text.
 
   Outline, paragraph    Yes             Yes       WordPerfect paragraph
   numbers, Word 7.0                               numbers convert to 
   Lists                                           Word sequence fields 
                                                   by default.
                                                   In Word, automatically
                                                   numbered lists convert
                                                   to paragraph numbers.

                                                   To convert WordPerfect
                                                   paragraph numbers to
                                                   plain text, set this
                                                   option in the registry
                                                   FavourSequenceFields=No
                                                   using the
                                                   EditConversionOptions
                                                   macro.
 
   Print merge commands  Yes             Yes       Word data source
                                                   documents 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.
 
   Date/time stamps      Yes             Yes       Default formats only.
 
   Subdocuments          Yes             Yes
   (INCLUDE field)
 
   Equations             No              No
 
   Extended characters   Yes          See comment  From WordPerfect to
                                                   Word, not all extended
                                                   characters are
                                                   converted.
 
   Text boxes, lines     Yes             Yes       Some text boxes and
                                                   lines convert to Word
                                                   drawing layer objects.
                                                   Drawing layer objects
                                                   are visible only in page
                                                   layout view, in print
                                                   preview, and when
                                                   printed. Drawing layer
                                                   objects do not appear in
                                                   normal view.
 
   Line draw             Yes             Yes       WordPerfect line draw
                                                   characters are
                                                   converted; however, Word
                                                   line spacing causes gaps
                                                   to appear between line
                                                   draw characters on
                                                   successive lines. To
                                                   correct this problem for
                                                   printing, set line
                                                   spacing to equal the
                                                   current font point size.
 
   Macros                No              No
 
   PRIVATE field codes   N/S         See comment   From WordPerfect to
                                                   Word, PRIVATE fields
                                                   are inserted by the
                                                   converter to preserve
                                                   information needed to
                                                   accurately save the file
                                                   back to WordPerfect
                                                   format. These fields
                                                   should not be edited and
                                                   have no effect on the
                                                   document.
 
   Styles                Yes         See comment   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. Other features,
                                                   such as tables,
                                                   graphics, and so on, are
                                                   retained in documents
                                                   but are not given Word
                                                   styles.
 
   Document Titles     See Comment    See Comment  WordPerfect can assign
   \Descriptive                                    a Descriptive Name to a
   Names                                           file; much like Word
                                                   can assign a Title. Word
                                                   imports the Descriptive
                                                   Name into the document
                                                   Title property and
                                                   exports the document
                                                   Title property into a
                                                   Descriptive Name.
				

REFERENCES

For more information about converting WordPerfect files, click Microsoft Word Help on the Help menu, type convert between Word and WordPerfect in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topic.

Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:3/2/2001
Keywords:kbinfo kbinterop KB240854