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Charlie''s Word VBA questions
 
Posts: n/a
Default Word 97 in Windows XP to maintain formatting

Can I install Word 97 in Windows XP? I have Office 2003 with Word 2003
already installed.
However, I have many 97 documents that, when opened on 2003, line spacing
and text formatting is sufficiently changed to cause many, many problems.
These are student workbooks with font sizes of 12 and 14 points. Words on a
line flow to the next line causing paragraph/page overflow. Sometimes a word
actually fits on the line above. These documents contain a lot of formulas
and programming code examples so formatting and spacing is very precise and
critical. Even text forming formulas and program code in a table may
overflow resulting in misalignment of lines that must be precisely aligned.
I have tried every option I can think of including all compatibility options
as Word 6.0, 97 and 2003, with printer metrics turned on and off. The only
fixes I have come up with are doing things like reducing font size by .5
point, setting paragraph right indent by even as little as negative .05
inches. But I would have to do this line by line or paragraph by paragraph.
I spent nearly a week just finding (But not yet correcting) problems in ten
documents.
I am considering installing Word 97 to solve this problem (although I am not
sure it will). What conflicts will I encounter? Can I keep 2003 and 97? Is
there any other way to "freeze" spacing?
  #2   Report Post  
Graham Mayor
 
Posts: n/a
Default Word 97 in Windows XP to maintain formatting

This is nothing to do with any difference between the file formats of Word
97 and Word 2003 (which are effectively the same) but with the fact that
different printer drivers (and possibly different releases of the font
files) were used to create the documents. Word formats according to the
current printer driver. You would have to have the same printer driver (and
I mean the driver not the printer) and font outlines present as when you
created the document in Word 97. Adding Word 97 to your current installation
will not affect the issue.
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Formatting/TextReflow.htm

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org


Charlie''s Word VBA questions wrote:
Can I install Word 97 in Windows XP? I have Office 2003 with Word
2003 already installed.
However, I have many 97 documents that, when opened on 2003, line
spacing and text formatting is sufficiently changed to cause many,
many problems. These are student workbooks with font sizes of 12 and
14 points. Words on a line flow to the next line causing
paragraph/page overflow. Sometimes a word actually fits on the line
above. These documents contain a lot of formulas and programming
code examples so formatting and spacing is very precise and critical.
Even text forming formulas and program code in a table may overflow
resulting in misalignment of lines that must be precisely aligned. I
have tried every option I can think of including all compatibility
options as Word 6.0, 97 and 2003, with printer metrics turned on and
off. The only fixes I have come up with are doing things like
reducing font size by .5 point, setting paragraph right indent by
even as little as negative .05 inches. But I would have to do this
line by line or paragraph by paragraph. I spent nearly a week just
finding (But not yet correcting) problems in ten documents.
I am considering installing Word 97 to solve this problem (although I
am not sure it will). What conflicts will I encounter? Can I keep
2003 and 97? Is there any other way to "freeze" spacing?



  #3   Report Post  
Charlie''s Word VBA questions
 
Posts: n/a
Default Word 97 in Windows XP to maintain formatting

Thank you, Graham.
In fact, the old printer driver (HP) is installed on the XP machine as well
as a new (Canon) printer driver. I have switched back and forth between
printers, with "Use printer metrics" both On and Off. While I could
sometimes see very minor differences in the display, that did not resolve the
problem. And yet, a very small difference such as right indenting a test
paragraph by -.05" solved the problem for that one paragraph. I guess I
don't really understand how Word uses the printer to format the display and
print.
I also tried to install the old Arial font after renaming it "OldArial", but
Windows was smart enough to prevent it. I also took a snapshot of a test
paragraph on both machines and viewed them at 10x zoom. I didn't see any
differences in the pixels for each letter nor for spacing between letters.
It was just a guess on my part.

"Graham Mayor" wrote:

This is nothing to do with any difference between the file formats of Word
97 and Word 2003 (which are effectively the same) but with the fact that
different printer drivers (and possibly different releases of the font
files) were used to create the documents. Word formats according to the
current printer driver. You would have to have the same printer driver (and
I mean the driver not the printer) and font outlines present as when you
created the document in Word 97. Adding Word 97 to your current installation
will not affect the issue.
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Formatting/TextReflow.htm

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org


Charlie''s Word VBA questions wrote:
Can I install Word 97 in Windows XP? I have Office 2003 with Word
2003 already installed.
However, I have many 97 documents that, when opened on 2003, line
spacing and text formatting is sufficiently changed to cause many,
many problems. These are student workbooks with font sizes of 12 and
14 points. Words on a line flow to the next line causing
paragraph/page overflow. Sometimes a word actually fits on the line
above. These documents contain a lot of formulas and programming
code examples so formatting and spacing is very precise and critical.
Even text forming formulas and program code in a table may overflow
resulting in misalignment of lines that must be precisely aligned. I
have tried every option I can think of including all compatibility
options as Word 6.0, 97 and 2003, with printer metrics turned on and
off. The only fixes I have come up with are doing things like
reducing font size by .5 point, setting paragraph right indent by
even as little as negative .05 inches. But I would have to do this
line by line or paragraph by paragraph. I spent nearly a week just
finding (But not yet correcting) problems in ten documents.
I am considering installing Word 97 to solve this problem (although I
am not sure it will). What conflicts will I encounter? Can I keep
2003 and 97? Is there any other way to "freeze" spacing?




  #4   Report Post  
Suzanne S. Barnhill
 
Posts: n/a
Default Word 97 in Windows XP to maintain formatting

You might also try selecting "Do full justification like WordPerfect" in
Tools | Options | Compatibility. This usually compresses justified lines a
bit.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"Charlie''s Word VBA questions"
m wrote in message
...
Thank you, Graham.
In fact, the old printer driver (HP) is installed on the XP machine as

well
as a new (Canon) printer driver. I have switched back and forth between
printers, with "Use printer metrics" both On and Off. While I could
sometimes see very minor differences in the display, that did not resolve

the
problem. And yet, a very small difference such as right indenting a test
paragraph by -.05" solved the problem for that one paragraph. I guess I
don't really understand how Word uses the printer to format the display

and
print.
I also tried to install the old Arial font after renaming it "OldArial",

but
Windows was smart enough to prevent it. I also took a snapshot of a test
paragraph on both machines and viewed them at 10x zoom. I didn't see any
differences in the pixels for each letter nor for spacing between letters.
It was just a guess on my part.

"Graham Mayor" wrote:

This is nothing to do with any difference between the file formats of

Word
97 and Word 2003 (which are effectively the same) but with the fact that
different printer drivers (and possibly different releases of the font
files) were used to create the documents. Word formats according to the
current printer driver. You would have to have the same printer driver

(and
I mean the driver not the printer) and font outlines present as when

you
created the document in Word 97. Adding Word 97 to your current

installation
will not affect the issue.
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Formatting/TextReflow.htm

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org


Charlie''s Word VBA questions wrote:
Can I install Word 97 in Windows XP? I have Office 2003 with Word
2003 already installed.
However, I have many 97 documents that, when opened on 2003, line
spacing and text formatting is sufficiently changed to cause many,
many problems. These are student workbooks with font sizes of 12 and
14 points. Words on a line flow to the next line causing
paragraph/page overflow. Sometimes a word actually fits on the line
above. These documents contain a lot of formulas and programming
code examples so formatting and spacing is very precise and critical.
Even text forming formulas and program code in a table may overflow
resulting in misalignment of lines that must be precisely aligned. I
have tried every option I can think of including all compatibility
options as Word 6.0, 97 and 2003, with printer metrics turned on and
off. The only fixes I have come up with are doing things like
reducing font size by .5 point, setting paragraph right indent by
even as little as negative .05 inches. But I would have to do this
line by line or paragraph by paragraph. I spent nearly a week just
finding (But not yet correcting) problems in ten documents.
I am considering installing Word 97 to solve this problem (although I
am not sure it will). What conflicts will I encounter? Can I keep
2003 and 97? Is there any other way to "freeze" spacing?





  #5   Report Post  
Charlie''s Word VBA questions
 
Posts: n/a
Default Word 97 in Windows XP to maintain formatting

Thanks, Suzanne. Unfortunately, that didn't help.
Maybe it is helpful if I point out that (I'm rough estimating, not counting)
about 60 % or so of the paragraphs are not a problem. This is probably
because they are left justified and each line ends a sufficient distance from
the margin. I guess that about 30% or so of the paragraphs have one or more
words that flow to the next line. Probably only 2 or 3% of the paragraphs
have (usually) only one or two words that flow to the preceding line in the
paragraph. This is rare.
Frankly, none of this makes any sense to me, since I verified that the font,
font size and margins did not change.
Is there any possibility that Word calculates space between words or from
the end of a line to the margin, even if the paragraph is left-justified? If
so, could their algorithms have changed? I'm really clutching at straws, I
know.

"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote:

You might also try selecting "Do full justification like WordPerfect" in
Tools | Options | Compatibility. This usually compresses justified lines a
bit.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"Charlie''s Word VBA questions"
m wrote in message
...
Thank you, Graham.
In fact, the old printer driver (HP) is installed on the XP machine as

well
as a new (Canon) printer driver. I have switched back and forth between
printers, with "Use printer metrics" both On and Off. While I could
sometimes see very minor differences in the display, that did not resolve

the
problem. And yet, a very small difference such as right indenting a test
paragraph by -.05" solved the problem for that one paragraph. I guess I
don't really understand how Word uses the printer to format the display

and
print.
I also tried to install the old Arial font after renaming it "OldArial",

but
Windows was smart enough to prevent it. I also took a snapshot of a test
paragraph on both machines and viewed them at 10x zoom. I didn't see any
differences in the pixels for each letter nor for spacing between letters.
It was just a guess on my part.

"Graham Mayor" wrote:

This is nothing to do with any difference between the file formats of

Word
97 and Word 2003 (which are effectively the same) but with the fact that
different printer drivers (and possibly different releases of the font
files) were used to create the documents. Word formats according to the
current printer driver. You would have to have the same printer driver

(and
I mean the driver not the printer) and font outlines present as when

you
created the document in Word 97. Adding Word 97 to your current

installation
will not affect the issue.
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Formatting/TextReflow.htm

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org


Charlie''s Word VBA questions wrote:
Can I install Word 97 in Windows XP? I have Office 2003 with Word
2003 already installed.
However, I have many 97 documents that, when opened on 2003, line
spacing and text formatting is sufficiently changed to cause many,
many problems. These are student workbooks with font sizes of 12 and
14 points. Words on a line flow to the next line causing
paragraph/page overflow. Sometimes a word actually fits on the line
above. These documents contain a lot of formulas and programming
code examples so formatting and spacing is very precise and critical.
Even text forming formulas and program code in a table may overflow
resulting in misalignment of lines that must be precisely aligned. I
have tried every option I can think of including all compatibility
options as Word 6.0, 97 and 2003, with printer metrics turned on and
off. The only fixes I have come up with are doing things like
reducing font size by .5 point, setting paragraph right indent by
even as little as negative .05 inches. But I would have to do this
line by line or paragraph by paragraph. I spent nearly a week just
finding (But not yet correcting) problems in ten documents.
I am considering installing Word 97 to solve this problem (although I
am not sure it will). What conflicts will I encounter? Can I keep
2003 and 97? Is there any other way to "freeze" spacing?







  #6   Report Post  
Suzanne S. Barnhill
 
Posts: n/a
Default Word 97 in Windows XP to maintain formatting

I suspect there really was a change in metrics somewhere along the line. I
don't remember whether it was between 97 and 2002 or earlier that I saw
this, but I know that I had a complex lease form that, when opened in a
newer version, was actually cutting text off at the edge. I forget whether
the problem was with table cells that weren't quite wide enough any more or
right-aligned tab stops that had to be moved a hair in from the margin or
what, but it was very annoying.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"Charlie''s Word VBA questions"
m wrote in message
...
Thanks, Suzanne. Unfortunately, that didn't help.
Maybe it is helpful if I point out that (I'm rough estimating, not

counting)
about 60 % or so of the paragraphs are not a problem. This is probably
because they are left justified and each line ends a sufficient distance

from
the margin. I guess that about 30% or so of the paragraphs have one or

more
words that flow to the next line. Probably only 2 or 3% of the paragraphs
have (usually) only one or two words that flow to the preceding line in

the
paragraph. This is rare.
Frankly, none of this makes any sense to me, since I verified that the

font,
font size and margins did not change.
Is there any possibility that Word calculates space between words or from
the end of a line to the margin, even if the paragraph is left-justified?

If
so, could their algorithms have changed? I'm really clutching at straws,

I
know.

"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote:

You might also try selecting "Do full justification like WordPerfect" in
Tools | Options | Compatibility. This usually compresses justified lines

a
bit.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the

newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"Charlie''s Word VBA questions"
m wrote in message
...
Thank you, Graham.
In fact, the old printer driver (HP) is installed on the XP machine as

well
as a new (Canon) printer driver. I have switched back and forth

between
printers, with "Use printer metrics" both On and Off. While I could
sometimes see very minor differences in the display, that did not

resolve
the
problem. And yet, a very small difference such as right indenting a

test
paragraph by -.05" solved the problem for that one paragraph. I guess

I
don't really understand how Word uses the printer to format the

display
and
print.
I also tried to install the old Arial font after renaming it

"OldArial",
but
Windows was smart enough to prevent it. I also took a snapshot of a

test
paragraph on both machines and viewed them at 10x zoom. I didn't see

any
differences in the pixels for each letter nor for spacing between

letters.
It was just a guess on my part.

"Graham Mayor" wrote:

This is nothing to do with any difference between the file formats

of
Word
97 and Word 2003 (which are effectively the same) but with the fact

that
different printer drivers (and possibly different releases of the

font
files) were used to create the documents. Word formats according to

the
current printer driver. You would have to have the same printer

driver
(and
I mean the driver not the printer) and font outlines present as

when
you
created the document in Word 97. Adding Word 97 to your current

installation
will not affect the issue.
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Formatting/TextReflow.htm

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org


Charlie''s Word VBA questions wrote:
Can I install Word 97 in Windows XP? I have Office 2003 with Word
2003 already installed.
However, I have many 97 documents that, when opened on 2003, line
spacing and text formatting is sufficiently changed to cause many,
many problems. These are student workbooks with font sizes of 12

and
14 points. Words on a line flow to the next line causing
paragraph/page overflow. Sometimes a word actually fits on the

line
above. These documents contain a lot of formulas and programming
code examples so formatting and spacing is very precise and

critical.
Even text forming formulas and program code in a table may

overflow
resulting in misalignment of lines that must be precisely aligned.

I
have tried every option I can think of including all compatibility
options as Word 6.0, 97 and 2003, with printer metrics turned on

and
off. The only fixes I have come up with are doing things like
reducing font size by .5 point, setting paragraph right indent by
even as little as negative .05 inches. But I would have to do

this
line by line or paragraph by paragraph. I spent nearly a week just
finding (But not yet correcting) problems in ten documents.
I am considering installing Word 97 to solve this problem

(although I
am not sure it will). What conflicts will I encounter? Can I

keep
2003 and 97? Is there any other way to "freeze" spacing?






  #7   Report Post  
WordBanter AI WordBanter AI is offline
Word Super Guru
 
Posts: 1,200
Thumbs up Answer: Word 97 in Windows XP to maintain formatting

Yes, you can install Word 97 in Windows XP even if you already have Office 2003 with Word 2003 installed. However, there may be some conflicts between the two versions of Word, so it's important to be aware of them before proceeding.

One potential conflict is that both versions of Word may try to associate themselves with the same file types, such as .doc or .docx. This could cause confusion and make it difficult to open the files you want in the version of Word you want. To avoid this, you can choose which version of Word is the default for each file type. To do this,
  1. right-click on a file of the type you want to change,
  2. select "Open With," and then
  3. choose the version of Word you want to use.
You can also check the "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file" box to make the change permanent.

Another potential conflict is that some features or formatting options may not be compatible between the two versions of Word. For example, Word 97 may not recognize some of the newer fonts or formatting options that were introduced in Word 2003. This could cause some of your documents to look different or not display properly. To avoid this, you can try saving your documents in a format that is compatible with both versions of Word, such as .rtf or .txt. This will strip out any formatting that is not compatible and preserve the text and basic formatting.

As for freezing spacing, one option you could try is to use the "Keep lines together" and "Keep with next" options in the Paragraph dialog box. These options can help ensure that certain lines or paragraphs stay together and don't break across pages or columns. To access the Paragraph dialog box, click on the small arrow in the bottom right corner of the Paragraph group on the Home tab. From there, you can select the "Line and Page Breaks" tab and check the boxes for "Keep lines together" and "Keep with next" as needed.

Overall, installing Word 97 may be a viable solution to your formatting problems, but it's important to be aware of the potential conflicts and limitations. You may also want to consider other options, such as converting your documents to a different format or using the "Keep lines together" and "Keep with next" options to help preserve spacing.
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