Enable Word Processing Converter Capabilities and Limitations

See Character Attributes.

All character attributes such as bold, italic, superscript, subscript, and underline are imported as expected.

Enable's snaking and side-by-side columns are imported as expected.

Enable's Document Title will appear on the first page as standard text followed by a page break when imported to Word.

Enable's %ALT is converted to Word's different odd and even header and footer feature.

Enable's %LNUM is converted to Word's line numbering feature.

The following %commands are converted to the following Word field codes:

      Enable     Word
      %Command   Field Code
      --------   ----------
      %DATE      DATE
      %NUMDATE   DATE
      %TIME      TIME
      %INCLUDE   INCLUDETEXT

Enable special characters are supported in Word through the Symbol function found on the Insert menu. During conversion, all special characters are transferred to the closest matching character in either the Symbol or MS LineDraw fonts supported by this Symbol function. A point size is assigned to each according to the size set in the Enable document.

When an Enable document is imported, character type face, point size and attribute (for example, bold and italic) are mapped based on the default Windows printer.

Enable has an option that allows a single footnote to be continued at the bottom of the following page. Word does not process the text of long footnotes in the same way. As a result, an imported Enable document with a footnote that continues from one page to another is formatted differently.

The Enable option to save footnotes at the end of a document results in footnotes being printed on a separate page. When imported into Word, the footnotes will begin where the text of the document ends.

The conversion utility does not import pictures and graphs contained within an Enable document.

See "Rulers."

See "Text Flow and Text Alignment."

Enable and Word provide similar but different functionality for indexes. In Enable, index terms can be created in two ways. One method is to insert an index special entry by selecting TOOLS, INDEX, INSERT and keying the index term into the "special" area. The second approach is to apply the Enable index attribute to the characters of the index term. This is done in a way similar to applying an italic or bold attribute to text. The first method does not show the index term in the body of the printed document, the second does.

When Enable compiles the index, it creates a new document containing only the compiled index. This index document is a standard Enable file and is generally given an extension of WPI. In most cases, the Enable user places an %INCLUDE filename command at the start of the original document to cause the index document to be printed. In other cases, the user may use the interwindow-copy function to copy the contents of the index document into the original document.

Unlike Enable, Word does not create a separate document when the index is compiled. In Word, the user selects one of the INSERT options to cause the index to be created and inserted into the original document.

Each %INCLUDE filename command in an Enable document is converted into a field in the Word document, specifically the INCLUDE TEXT field. As a result, the Enable-generated index document is printed by Word as expected. Also, if the index document was interwindow-copied into the original document, it displays and prints as expected.

During the conversion process, an XE field is inserted into the Word document for all index entries found in the Enable document. These can readily be used by Word to compile a new index.

See "Character Attributes."

Occasionally with an imported Enable document, line numbering does not appear when printed or displayed in page preview in Word. This can occur because of differences in ruler structure between Word and Enable. The problem can be corrected by moving the left margin in Word to the right using the Page Setup command.

Because Word allows only one line-space setting per paragraph, only the last line-space setting used in a paragraph in Enable is retained.

Enable's outlines (including any blank lines within the outline) are imported as Word's bullets/numbering.

Enable's overstrike attribute are converted to dashes.

Password-protected Enable files are not imported into Word. Remove the password in Enable first, and then import into Word.

Word supports a single hyphenation zone that applies to an entire document. Enable permits the hyphenation zone to be reset with each ruler. Due to this difference, only the last hyphenation zone set within an Enable document is used to set the hyphenation zone in Word.

Alignment tabs consisting of several characters on an Enable ruler can be adjusted to accommodate implementation differences between Word and Enable. For example, if you have typed N's (for numeric tabs), or carets(^) (for centering), or X's (for alphanumerics) on an Enable ruler and the length of the item being aligned is greater than the number of alignment characters, then when imported into Word, the item adjusts to the left of where it aligned in Enable.

See "Character Attributes."

All Table of Authority entries are converted to Word's comments and the spade reference marks are discarded.

Enable and Word provide similar but different functionality for table of contents (TOC). In Enable, a TOC entry is created by inserting a "special" TOC entry. This entry contains the TOC term plus codes that determine the level and the numbering to appear to the left of the term when Enable compiles the TOC and creates a new document containing the text of the TOC. This TOC document is a standard Enable WP file and is generally given an extension of .WPT.

In most cases, the Enable user places an %INCLUDE filename command in the beginning of the original document to cause the TOC document to be printed. In other cases, the user may use the interwindow-copy function to copy the contents of the TOC document into the original document.

In Word, TOC entries are generally created by applying a style to the entry. Word has a number of built-in styles for this purpose. The style applied to the entry determines its level (in the compiled table), the indenting, and other formatting needs. Alternatively, a Word user can insert a special field type (TC) for creating TOC entries.

Unlike Enable, Word does not create a separate document when the TOC is compiled. The Word user selects one of the INSERT options to cause the table to be created and inserted in the original document.

Each %INCLUDE filename command in an Enable document is converted to an "Include Text" field. As a result, the Enable-generated TOC document is printed by Word as expected. Also, if the table was interwindow-copied into the original document, it displays and prints as expected.

During the import, an XE field is inserted into the Word document for each TOC entry found in the Enable document. The text of the TOC entry is included within the body of the Word document. These XE fields can readily be used by Word to compile a new table.

The level assigned to the TOC entry is forwarded during the conversion process. However, Enable and Word have different methods of compiling and offer different features for providing any optional numbering to appear to the left of the term. These are product specific and not part of the conversion process. Word has many more options for formatting the TOC than does Enable.

Enable's tables, which are tabbed text, are imported into Word as tabbed text.

See "Rulers."

Enable does not flow text through its "special" text areas, such as comment text. When an Enable document is imported into Word, the text above and below any "specials" will appear as part of one paragraph.

Hanging indents in Enable that begin in the middle of a paragraph are preserved going to Word, but the indented portion acts like a separate paragraph. Centered and flushed right text is implemented in Enable 3.0/4.0 by inserting blanks before the text. These blanks are preserved during import. The text may not appear to be centered or flush right if the font is changed or if Word reformats the lines.

See "Character Attributes."

See "Character Attributes."

See "Character Attributes."

Word's bullets/numbering is exported to Enable's outline.

All character attributes such as bold, italic, superscript, subscript, and underline are exported as expected with two exceptions. Enable cannot underline any subscript or superscript text. If this combination is used in Word, superscript takes precedence when the file is exported to Enable. Also, underline that is applied on a word-by-word basis is not exported. See "Fonts" for related information.

Word's raised/lowered functionality is converted to Enable's superscript/subscript. Word's small caps and all caps are converted to normal Enable text with capital letters. Any strikethrough in multiple columns is ignored.

Word's variable-width columns are exported as Enable's side-by-side columns in 4.5. For Enable 3.0 and 4.0, they are exported as single columns. For a method of exporting variable-width columns to Enable 4.0, see "Converter Options."

Word's fixed-width columns are exported as Enable's snaking columns. If the gutter width is less than .2 inch, the gutter width is set to Enable's minimum value of .2 inch. (In some cases, this may result in columns being shifted off the edge of the page.)

Any font changes in multiple columns are ignored for export to Enable 3.0 or 4.0.

Line numbering changes in multiple columns are ignored.

Any strikethrough in multiple columns is ignored.

Endnotes created in Word are exported to Enable as footnotes.

Special characters (Word's Symbols) that are in the value range 240-255 of the DOS codepage are not exported. Those in the ranges of 0-15 and 127-239 are exported on a "best match" basis for the MS LineDraw font only. Characters that do not have an equivalent in the DOS codepage (for example, Wingdings) cannot be exported successfully.

Word's PAGE, DATE, TIME, INCLUDETEXT, TC, and XE fields are exported to the equivalent Enable feature. For all other Word fields, the text last associated with the field is displayed as standard text. All date fields display in month name, numeric day, and year format.

The marked differences in font and printer support that exist between the text-based Enable versions and the Windows-based graphics-oriented Word are likely to have a significant impact on the printed appearance of a document that has been exported from Word to Enable. Among these differences are:

All non-numeric footnote references (which appear as a superscript text to the right of the reference text) are included in the export. However, Enable's sequential numeric values are inserted into the non-numeric references.

Enable has a feature that allows a single footnote to be continued at the bottom of the following page. Word does not process the text of long footnotes in the same way. As a result, an exported Word document with a long footnote is formatted a little differently.

In an Enable-created document, all footnotes are saved at the top of the document. However, in an exported Word document, instead of saving the footnotes at the top of the document, footnotes are saved as they are encountered within the Word document. This does not cause any problems when opening the exported document in Enable. However, such files should either be printed from within Enable word processing or be resaved in Enable before they are printed from the main menu in Enable.

In Word, text can be entered into a frame, which can be positioned and sized by the user. Since Enable does not have a corresponding feature, text within a Word frame may appear at unexpected positions on the page when the exported document is opened in Enable. Since graphics are not exported, the frame box is not included in the exported document.

If a header or footer is present in the Word document, the distance between the header/footer and the first/last line of text is set to .33 inch.

Hidden text in Word is exported as an Enable Comment.

Enable and Word provide similar but different functionality for indexes. In Enable, index terms can be created in two ways. One method is to insert a "Index Special" entry by selecting TOOLS, INDEX, INSERT and keying the index term into the "special" area. The second approach is to apply Enable's index attribute to the characters of the index term. This is done in a way similar to applying an italic or bold attribute to text. The first method does not show the index term in the body of the printed document; the second does.

When Enable compiles the index, it creates a new document containing just the text of the compiled index. The index document is a standard Enable file and is generally given an extension of .WPI.

During the export process, Enable does not automatically compile the index entries in the Word document and create a second Enable document containing the index information. All index terms in a Word document are exported to Enable's "Index Special" entry. These do not have Enable's "index character attribute" applied to the index term(s). However, the exported document includes the compiled indexes as standard text.

See "Character Attributes."

Word has the capability to separate paragraphs by a specified number of points. Since Enable does not have this feature, such information is omitted in the export. As a result, any exported Word document containing spacing before and/or after paragraphs has different line spacing than the original, which may also affect pagination when the document is opened in Enable.

The 3.0 and 4.0 versions of Enable used the fixed number of positions on the ruler between the left and right margins to determine where lines should break. This behavior produces significant variations in text format, especially where proportional fonts have been exported from Word. Additionally, the use of large fonts on a line exported to these versions may produce overlap to previously printed lines. This is due to the fixed vertical spacing used in Enable 3.0 and 4.0. Use the %LINES command, change line spacing, or insert one or more blank lines above the overlapping line to correct such anomalies before printing.

See "Page Setup."

Enable and Word handle construction and formatting of text outlines in very different ways. Word treats each outline level with an implied hanging indentation. Enable does not. When outline text is exported, no text is lost, but the display and printing of the data will appear different than in the original Word document.

Due to the differences in the way Word and Enable support fonts, the exported Word document is often paginated differently in Enable. The degree of difference varies, based on the level of support Enable provides for the default Window's printer. See "Fonts" for related information.

See "Character Attributes."

Exported documents may contain extra rulers. This is due to the different way Enable and Word handle text flow such as hanging indents.

Alignment tabs (such as centering, decimal, and right) are adjusted to accommodate implementation differences between Word and Enable.

The ruler in Enable 3.0/4.0 indicates the maximum number of characters allowed on a line, not the maximum width of the characters in inches. The export converts Word's margins based upon 10 cpi. Whenever a proportional font or a fixed pitch font that is not 10 cpi is in use in the Word document, the corresponding area of the exported Enable document may require adjustment to the ruler.

See "Character Attributes."

Strikethrough characters in Word are converted to the overstrike attribute in Enable. Strikethrough characters in multiple columns are ignored for all exports.

See "Character Attributes."

table of authorities (TOA) references are not converted. The compiled TOA from Word will appear in the Enable document as standard text.

Enable and Word provide similar but different functionality for table of contents (TOC). In Enable, TOC entries are created by inserting a "special" TOC entry. This entry contains the TOC term plus codes that determine the level and the numbering to appear to the left of the term when Enable compiles the TOC and creates a new document containing the text of the TOC. This TOC document is a standard Enable WP file and is generally given an extension of .WPT.

In most cases, the Enable user places an %INCLUDE filename command at the start of the original document to cause the TOC document to be printed. In other cases, the user may use the interwindow-copy function to copy the contents of the TOC document into the original document.

In Word, TOC entries are generally created by applying a style to the entry. Word has a number of built-in styles for this purpose. The style applied to the entry determines its level (in the compiled table), the indenting, and other formatting needs. Alternatively, a Word user can insert a field type (TC) for TOC entries and a field type (TOC) for where the compiled table will appear in the document. Unlike Enable, Word does not created a separate document when the TOC is compiled. The Word user selects one of the INSERT options to cause the table to be created and inserted in the original document.

Only Word's TC fields are exported as table of contents entries. Text containing one of the Heading styles is not automatically treated as TOC entries.

All level information is retained in the exported document. No TOC style information is exported.

Word's tables are exported to Enable 4.5 as side-by-side columns. As this feature is not available in Enable 3.0, the tables are exported to a single column in that version. The default for export to Enable 4.0 is also a single column; however, see "Converter Options" for a method to convert tables to side-by-side columns in Enable 4.0.

Tables defined in headers, footers, and footnotes are not converted to side-by-side columns. Rather, a single space is inserted between the cells, maintaining the text in a row.

See "Rulers."

Since Enable 3.0 does not have the capability to reformat the entire document with one command, files exported from Word to Enable 3.0 need to be reformatted manually. This is most quickly accomplished by going to each ruler within the document and pressing ALT/F6 and ENTER.

See "Character Attributes."