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Since disabling comments on this site, I'm actually hearing from more of you with questions ... so, as it seems people prefer to email rather than comment, I'm going to leave comments disabled. As always, you can ask me any Office-related questions you have. If the question is outside of my expertise, I'll try to direct you to where you can get an answer.
Migrating users from WordPerfect to Word
It had been awhile since this topic came up for me ...
Someone recently asked me by email for help related to this topic -- and I'd offered to post some tips here. I didn't hear back from that person, so expect their situation is resolved, but I still think it's a relevant subject for a number of people...
There are many places to find recommended steps for cleaning up documents converted from WordPerfect to Word, and Word 2003 requires a good deal less conversion clean-up than those documents did with earlier Word versions ... so this post isn't going to list how-to steps for things like getting rid of unecessary section breaks or checking for exact line spacing. BUT -- if you want such a list of how-to tips, leave a comment here and I will post one.
Instead, what I think is much less talked about but perhaps more helpful is understanding why documents can be so different from one Word Processing program to the next... That is, the logic behind the programs that can help you as a user adjust to getting your work done with totally new software.
It's like comparing apples to chocolate cake
When you start using Word, start fresh. Comparing WordPerfect to Word is much more challenging than comparing apples and oranges. In terms of software programs, you might say it's like comparing Internet Explorer and Photoshop... they're just totally different. Start off with no assumptions and you'll love Word a lot sooner.
Really, the only thing Word and WordPerfect have in common is that they both produce documents. But, these programs think completely differently. That doesn't mean that starting with Word when you've used WordPerfect for years needs to be hard. In fact, the best thing about Word, as I often say, is that the less work you do, the better your documents will be ... every time.
How the programs think, a brief and general summary
WordPerfect (referred to as WP for the remainder of this article) is based on SGML (Standard General Markup Language). You can see the concept of a 'markup language' (such as Hypertext Markup Language, or HTML) in its reveal codes. Notice, if you are a WordPerfect user, that the content in Reveal Codes looks quite a bit like HTML. (If you've never seen HTML, click on a favorite Web page and on the View menu in IE, click Source to see the page's HTML code.)
In WP, virtually every instruction has an on code and and off code... you create a document in a linear fashion -- top-down, like on a typewriter. Turn on bold, type, turn off bold, etc.
In contrast, Word thinks like a desktop publishing program. It looks at the document as a whole and enables you to format the document in logical pieces... such as paragraphs and sections (or rather, font, paragraph, section - if you think of it in terms of the 3-levels of formatting - check out an earlier post, Word Philosophy 101, for an introduction to the 3-levels of formatting and lots of other Word concept tidbits).
Word doesn't create documents in a linear fashion ... it looks at the big picture. You'll usually work most effectively and efficiently in Word when you format from the outside-in. That is, determine what you can do to the entire document at once (such as margins or page orientation), then what needs to be unique for each section (such as headers and footers), then the layout and formatting of large elements such as paragraphs and tables, etc...
Comparison by stereotype...
I haven't used this analogy in awhile, but it's one of my favorites. I do need to provide a disclaimer upfront because it's not politically correct :) - so I hope no one will be offended or take this too seriously ... I am playing on well-known stereotypes, not defending them (and I think it's pretty funny, myself :) ... That said, here goes ...
Word is to WP as a stereotypical man is to a stereotypical woman in a relationship...
WP is very much like a girl. It's all about communication. We need to know what each other is thinking at all times. If we aren't communicating at all times ... how will we ever move forward? WP wants to 'reveal' itself to you. If you can't work that way, it is bound become stressful for both of you.
On the other hand, Word is very much like a guy. It likes things simple. You do your thing, Word does its thing ... and you check in periodically, at the end of a paragraph, end of a section. If you make things more complicated than they need to be ... chances are that things between you and Word won't go very well.
Well, personally, I'm a feminist who's very fond of men and I find Word to be much more logical (even though my first word processing program, years ago, was WP). But, feminine or masculine, if you're used to your reveal codes and formatting as you go, making the change to the layout-oriented approach of Word can be a bit of an adjustment...
For example, Word doesn't have reveal codes because there are no codes to reveal. Font formatting is stored in the character to which it is applied, paragraph formatting is stored in the paragraph mark at the end of the paragraph, and section formatting is stored in the section break at the end of the section. However, you can reveal the formatting for a given selection to see all Font, Paragraph, and Section formatting at a glance. (On the Format menu click Reveal Formatting, or press Shift+F1)
To help understand how Word thinks and make it work more easily for you, start with the link earlier in this article to my Word Philosophy 101 post (as well as any of the relevant Webcast and article links in the right-hand column of this site), and also check out an excerpt from my book that's currently on Office Online ... Making Your Word Documents Behave.
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