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From: steve@thelake.mn.org (Steve Yelvington)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st.tech
Subject: Re: How do I upload formatted txt
Message-ID: <A230757974@thelake.mn.org>
Date: 22 Feb 91 07:46:02 GMT
Organization: St. Croix Valley C and Ski
Lines: 47

[pdel@ADS.COM writes ... ]

> Hello, I've run into a problem trying to upload a 1st Word document
> to my Unix machine at work.
> 
> It doesn't look like you can transfer something like this which has
> formatting characters in it.
> 
> This particular doc looks like this:
> 
> Hi^^Mom^^how^^are^^you^^hope^^everything's^^going^^okay^^sure^^am^^having^^fu
> n
> 
> I assume all the ^^ chars are messing up the transfer.
>
> I think I have all the port settings right because I tried transferring
> some other text docs with no problem.

Here's the catch: You're *not* transferring text. You're transferring a
formatted file that should be regarded as binary.

If you really want to transfer it, use a communications protocol such
as Xmodem or Zmodem. But I suspect that's not really what you want to do.
Of what use would a First Word-formatted file be on a Unix system?

You probably really want editable plain text. There are a couple of
ways to get it. One is to load First Word, deselect WP mode (in one of
the drop-down menus) and save the file as plain ASCII text. Another
is to use a stand-alone conversion filter program; I've seen several
over the years, but I don't know if any are currently in the archive.

This is a common problem, by the way. The general solution is to look
for a way to ``print to disk,'' i.e., create a disk file that is
plain text. Many word processors have such an option. In such cases
you may have to tweak the formatting a bit. For example, ST-Writer
can save ASCII by printing with 0 left margin, 0 top and bottom
margins, and no page numbering.

Not long ago I helped a friend extract his brother's detective novel
from Wang word processor format. Now, that was a chore! A fellow in
Australia (praise the network) sent me a conversion program that
rescued us. Without that program I suspect I'd still be wrestling
with it.

----
  Steve Yelvington / P. O. Box 38 / Marine on St. Croix, MN 55047 USA
  INTERNET: steve@thelake.mn.org    UUCP: plains!umn-cs!thelake!steve