atw: Re: RTF vs. Word Formats: what do you lose Word -> RTF

Peter,

Ta for that.

I kinda thought Word would warn me too if I was losing anything in the conversion (it does have quite a good compatability checking tool that finds these things). The fact it doesn't warn for anything makes me think nothing is going astray.

But I'll avoid all the things you mentioned on your list :-)

Steve



On 15/10/2005, at 4:45 PM, Peter Bloxsom wrote:

Steven, I don't know why I'm answering this as I wouldn't claim to
be a Word guru. Probably avoidance behaviour: the alternative is
working on something that's currently too hard!

Anyway, some observations that may or may not be helpful...

It's been years since I used a Mac, but later versions of Windows
Word appear to write later versions of .rtf. Word's RTF format gets
updated to include control codes for new formatting, such as the
wavy underlines and nested tables that were added with Word 2000.
If I choose "Save As... Rich Text Format" in Word 2000, I get an
RTF file that includes, as far as I can see, any and all formatting
features I might have used, including wavy underlines, etc.
But if I choose "Save As...Word 97-2000 & 6.0/95 - RTF", Word
warns me about any formatting features I've used that will be
lost --
presumably, features the earlier Word versions didn't support.

So my guess is that it depends on the version of Word you're using
and the version of RTF it writes. If it's a reasonably recent
version of Word, it probably saves all its formatting in the RTF
file, or otherwise will warn you if you've used features that are
going to be lost. If you suspect it's saving an earlier RTF version,
that version will probably be in step with the features of an
earlier Word, so look in the Word Help for something like "What
happens when I save a document as Word 97?" (or whatever your
previous version is) to see which features are likely to be lost.

For example, in Windows Word 2000 that Help topic tells me that what
will be lost by saving to Word 97 includes fancy underline styles,
custom colors (beyond the 16 "Windows colors"), prevention of
picture overlap, certain text wrapping around pictures and tables,
nested tables and tables straddling page breaks, special directional
formatting for Asian text, and more.

------------------------------------------
Peter Bloxsom
http://www.netpublish.net
peter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

----- Original Message -----
From: "Steven Parkes" <steven@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, October 15, 2005 12:22 PM
Subject: atw: RTF vs. Word Formats: what do you lose Word -> RTF



Dear Word gurus,

I've discovered a fix to the occasional problem with working on

Word

files in both the Windows and Mac versions of office.

If a file is updated on the Mac and then refuses to open on the

PC,

simply save it as an RTF and then save it right back to Word

format.

It'll open no problem once back to the PC.

This appears to work like a charm. But a nagging doubt:

what am I losing when converting from MS Word to RTF?  What

formats/

features don't make the trip?

I've looked and all the things I thought would die (headers,

footers,

graphics, drawings) all survive.  So what disappears?

And if nothing would I better off simply managing all these cross-
platform documents as RTFs instead of relying on the supposed
consistencies of Word format?

Steve
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