From: Word Perfect Magazine
 Title: ASCII Makes it Easy (02/01/94)
Author: Gayle G. Humpherys

 ========== ASCII MAKES IT EASY - TRANSFERRING TEXT BETWEEN PROGRAMS ==========
     When you walk through a grocery store, you can always tell the name brands
from the generic brands. Name brands come in fancy packages with recognizable
product logos. Generic brands are plain-often just black text on white packages.
     Computer files also come in name and generic brands. Name-brand files are
those created by a specific program, such as WordPerfect. WordPerfect files have
recognizable program names and often include fancy formatting that can't be used
in other programs.
     Generic computer files might not be as fancy, but they serve the basic pur-
pose of transferring text from one program to another. These generic computer
files are often referred to as "ASCII" or "DOS" text files.
     If you're not familiar with ASCII files, read on to learn how to retrieve
and save these files in WP5.1. You'll also learn how to convert an ASCII
delimited file into a secondary merge file and create a 5.1 macro that quickly
turns a secondary file into ASCII delimited format. If you're using 6.0, be sure
to see below: "ASCII FILES IN WordPerfect 6.0."

     ========== WHAT ARE ASCII FILES? ==========
     ASCII (pronounced "askee") stands for American Standard Code for
Information Interchange. The terms "ASCII text" and "DOS text" are
interchangeable. ASCII files contain no formatting - only text, spaces and
carriage (hard) return codes. When you save a WP document as ASCII text, all of
the formatting codes are stripped out. Tabs are converted to spaces, and soft
returns (where lines wrap) are converted to hard returns. When a file is in this
format, it can be retrieved in many other programs without needing any
additional conversion, since the WordPerfect codes have been removed.

     =========== SAVING WordPerfect 5.1 DOCUMENTS AS ASCII TEXT FILES ==========
     When you want to save a WordPerfect document in ASCII TEXT format, you have
two choices in WordPerfect 5.1.
     1. The first method is the standard Text In/Out method. With the document
on-screen, press Text In/Out (Ctrl-F5), (1) Dos Text, (1) Save. At the prompt,
type a new filename for the ASCII file and press (Enter). This method strips
out all codes, leaving only text, spaces and carriage (hard) returns.
     2. The second method involves the CONVERT.EXE utility included with WP5.1.
To use this method, first exit WordPerfect and change to the directory
containing your WordPerfect program files (such as c:\wp51). Type CONVERT at the
DOS prompt, then at the prompts enter the path and filename for the input and
output files. From the menu that appears, press (1) WordPerfect to another
format, then press (7) ASCII Text File.
     Note: Once a document has been saved as ASCII text and you make further
changes to it in WordPerfect, you must save it again as ASCII text using one of
the above methods. When you exit the document don't save it again - otherwise,
you'll save it in WP format instead of ASCII.

     ========== RETRIEVING ASCII FILES IN WordPerfect 5.1 ==========
     You don't need a special conversion utility to retrieve ASCII files into
WordPerfect. In 5.1 you can retrieve an ASCII file as a normal document. But a
faster and perhaps better method is to use the Text In/Out feature.
     ASCII files contain carriage return/line feed (CR/LF) codes, which end a
line and move the cursor to the beginning of the next line. When you retrieve an
ASCII file with Text In/Out, you have the option of  choosing whether the CR/LF
codes should be converted to soft returns [SRt] or hard returns [HRt].
     To use this feature, press Text In/Out (Ctrl-F5), (1) DOS Text. Then you
want CR/LF codes to be converted to hard returns, so press (2) Retrieve (CR/LF
to [HRt]). Using this option places a hard return at the end of every line in
the document. If you press (3) Retrieve (CR/LF to [SRt] in HZone) instead, a
soft return is used when the CR/LF code falls in the hyphenation zone at the
end of the line. This method allows lines in a paragraph to use soft returns,
while hard returns are used for CR/LF codes in the middle of a line or when two
CR/LF codes are next to each other. Type the name of the file and press (Enter).

     ========== ASCII FILES IN WordPerfect 6.0 ==========
     If you're using 6.0, you can retrieve an ASCII file as a normal document.
You'll be asked to confirm the format of the file so WP can make the proper
conversion. When you want to save a WP document as ASCII text, with the document
on-screen, press Save As (F10). Type the filename for the document (if you
haven't already) and press (Tab). Press (2) Format, select ASCII Text (Standard)
and press (Enter) twice to save the file. You can also use the ConvertPerfect
2.0 utility included with 6.0 to convert files.

Transmitted:  10-26-94 18:54:23 EDT from WordPerfect Corporation