EchoSoft's A1Free and PC-Porter Offer VAX Migration Solutions
PSS ID Number: Q111363
Article last modified on 11-01-1994
PSS database name: CONVERT

2.00 2.00a 2.00a-CD 2.00b 2.00c 6.00 6.00a
WINDOWS

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The information in this article applies to:

 - Microsoft Word for Windows, versions 2.0, 2.0a, 2.0a-CD, 2.0b,
   2.0c, 6.0, 6.0a
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-

SUMMARY
=======
EchoSoft Corporation's A1Free software provides a means for extracting
documents from Digital Equipment Corporation's (DEC) ALL-IN-1 proprietary
file cabinet. A1Free also supports conversion of DEC WPS Plus (version 3.1
or higher) and DEC/DX documents from DEC's ALL-IN-1 proprietary file
cabinet to WordPerfect VMS documents in standard VMS directories on a VAX.
EchoSoft's PC-Porter software enables you to transfer these and other
documents, in groups, from the VAX to the PC without losing long VMS
filenames.
Because Microsoft Word supports conversion of WordPerfect file format, you
can use these products, separately or together, to move documents from
within proprietary DEC ALL-IN-1 accounts or other files on a VAX and use
them in Microsoft Word.

MORE INFORMATION
================

Description of A1Free Functionality
-----------------------------------
 - A1Free's primary function is to extract documents from the ALL-IN-1
   proprietary file cabinet structure by translating the pointer indexes,
   creating VMS directories in the user's tree with names based on the ALL-
   IN-1 Folder Names, and copying the ALL-IN-1 documents into the
   corresponding directories and naming them appropriately.
 - All A1Free created directories are appended with the _A1F designation
   for easy identification and access. These directories can be renamed
   later by the users or by the system manager.
 - All A1Free copied documents are named with the same names as their ALL-
   IN-1 counterparts (up to 38 characters). The documents are then appended
   with a filename extension based on the specific document type (.WPL for
   WPS Plus, .WPC for WordPerfect, and so on). They are then further
   appended with the last modified dates and times to ensure unique
   document names. These documents can be renamed later.
 - Log files are generated that identify how the job was executed, where
   each document was placed, and what type of conversions were performed.
   These log files are left on the system.
 - A1Free does not require that you limit access to the system.
   If a user is in ALL-IN-1 when A1Free attempts to access that account,
   the account specification is written to a temporary buffer. When all
   other accounts are extracted, the accounts that were busy are revisited.
   This process will continue until all accounts have been done.
   NOTE: If users do not log out of ALL-IN-1, A1Free cannot extract their
   documents. However, A1Free will extract the documents automatically once
   the user has logged out.
 - A1Free does not significantly affect processing on most systems
   (provided that these systems are tuned reasonably), because the
   software portion is run in batch mode and, by default, is set to minimum
   usage priority.
 - A1Free does not negatively affect ALL-IN-1, unless the Delete Original
   option is selected, or the A1Free-WPS2DX.SCP script is run (see below
   for details).
 - A1Free can convert WPS Plus (version 3.1 or higher) documents to
   WordPerfect format if WordPerfect VMS is installed on your system.
   If you do not have access to WordPerfect VMS, EchoSoft Corporation
   will make the product available to you.
 - A1Free has a unique security system built into it. It does not require
   accessing LMF or entering long and complicated license keys.

Description of PC-Porter Functionality
--------------------------------------
 - PC-Porter is document preparation software that runs on VAX/VMS. Because
   VMS files can have names of up to 39 characters, a period, and then a
   filename extension of an additional 39 characters (39.39), document
   names are traditionally truncated to the 8.3 format when transferred to
   MS-DOS, or the person initiating the transfer must manually enter
   a new name for each document as it is to be received by MS-DOS.
 - Because truncation reduces the filename to its first 8 characters
   followed by a period and the first 3 characters of the extension, it can
   cause documents to be lost. Documents are lost because no two documents
   with the exact same filename and extension can exist in the same
   location under MS-DOS.
 - PC-Porter prepares your documents while they still reside on the VAX/VMS
   system, so that you can use your favorite transfer protocol to move your
   files. This method allows you to transport all your documents to the
   MS-DOS system, whole directories at a time without concern for naming
   conventions.
 - PC Porter will prepare either a single VMS directory or a directory and
   all related sub-directories at your discretion. You can also instruct
   PC-Porter to prepare all the directories in a list during a single run.
 - More specifically, PC-Porter will either copy or rename (your choice)
   documents to a unique file ID number, and truncates the extension to
   three characters. As it is doing this, it also builds an index file and
   log files that identify what the original filenames were.
 - If you are using WordPerfect VMS, PC-Porter will place the original
   filename into the WordPerfect descriptive name field of the document
   summary even if the document never had a document summary before. This
   information will subsequently be retained in the summary information
   title field in Word when opening from WordPerfect format.

Support for A1Free and PC-Porter is the sole responsibility of EchoSoft
Corporation. For more information, contact:

   EchoSoft Corporation
   47 Union Street
   Watertown, MA 02172
   Phone: (800) 969-3246 inside the United States
          (617) 924-6981 outside the United States
   Fax:   (617) 924-7435

The EchoSoft products mentioned here are manufactured by a vendor
independent of Microsoft; we make no warranty, implied or otherwise,
regarding these products' performance or reliability.

KBCategory: kbinterop
KBSubCategory:
Additional reference words: textconv 2.00 2.00a 2.00a-CD 2.00b 2.00c
6.00 6.00a third-party third party 3rdparty winword word6 conversion
converted converts transfer transfers translation translate digital
equipment corporation dec dx wps + wps plus vax vms wordperfect perfect
migration migrate allinone all in one file name

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Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1994.