Wanda,

If you have a number of WordPerfect files which you expect to use in Word,
here are a few ideas:

1) Investigate Levit & James (www.levitjames.com) product named CrossWords.
This product does an incredible job converting WP documents to Word. Many
law firms use this product. I've used it in many conversions from WP to
Word. They provide excellent service and assistance in fine tuning the
conversion for your set of WP documents.

2) Investigate MicroSystems (www.microsystems.com) - they also provide WP to
Word conversion capabilities. Their approach is different from Levit & James.
I have never used Microsystems WP to Word conversion product/system.

3) If neither of the above is a possibility, here's a taste of the approach
I take at law firms who cannot or will not use the Levit & James product
(CrossWords.) The approach works because it is based on the way Word works.

Create a template containing a standard set of styles relevant to your
documents. (This is usually done by the consultant working with the help
desk or the "Word" person at the firm.) Make sure this template's page
layout is as you desire. To improve Word's justification ( which is pretty
crappy), go to Tools, Options, Compatibility and choose "Do full
justification like WordPerfect 6.x for Windows". This template will be your
"container" for the text in the old WP doc. (One other thought - I have seen
way too many Normal templates with screwed up page layout, compatibility,
etc. I am almost tempted to say close Word, blow away your Normal template
and then open Word. It regenerates the Normal template.)

It is helpful to print the WP document, so you can refer to it for
formatting. Maybe your documents are not as long or rigidly formatted as
some legal documents, so you may not have to print the document.

Open the WP document in Word. Select all text EXCEPT the last paragraph
mark. As far back as Word 1.1 we knew that this last paragraph mark can
contain corruption and it can be helpful to not copy it.

Open a document based on the template discussed above which contains your
standard set of styles. The choose Edit, Paste Special, Unformatted Text.

Now you have unformatted text in a Word container.

Before you fixate on formatting paragraphs, words, etc. you should continue
to work in a "top down" fashion. Insert Section Breaks where needed. Start
at the first section and make page layout changes for that section as
desired. Set up your page numbering in this first section, as desired. (BTW
- Insert, Page Number from the menu is to be avoided. I have seen (and read)
that the "frame" (what is it called nowadays?) in which the page number is
placed can cause comparison problems when using, for example, a comparison
product like DeltaView. There are other issues as well with that damned
Insert, Page Number.) Proceed to the next section and make page layout
changes, set up page numbering; continue on this way.

Now you have a Word container whose sections are properly formatted,
containing unformatted text. Now you can apply styles, and then proceed to
formatting words (characters.)

If you need to generate a TOC, TOA, or set up automatic paragraph numbering;
or you need tables, etc. you can proceed in those directions, knowing the
container for your document is nicely set.

Maybe this helps ..? Or might have been overkill!

AnnieB







"wanda" wrote:

I have a document in word office - document was transferred from an old word
perfect program. After downloading the document, the format is wrong.