Updated March 29, 2000

WordStar and Major Word Processors

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Lotus

From the days of AmiPro Lotus has made sure that effective import and
export filters existed for WordStar. With AmiPro 3.1, Lotus switched to
using Mastersoft filters <wsw2w4w.html> for WordStar which enabled
import and export of styles.

Word Pro 96 included import filters for WordStar Dos and Windows. To
export one needs the WPExport program from the Lotus FTP site.
<http://www2.support.lotus.com/ftp/pub/desktop/WordPro/win95/updates/140876.zip>


Word Pro 97 included both import and export filters. The only glitch was
a custom install is needed to install them.

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Corel

From its beginning WordPerfect included WordStar import and export
ability. Again a custom install is needed to install the filters for
later versions of WordStar for Windows.

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Microsoft

Although some versions of Microsoft Office ship with the WordStar
filters, most users of WinWord have to downloaded filters from the
Office update site.

For Word for Windows 6 for Win3x (WinWord6), there is a version of the
Mastersoft WordStar filter <WSTAR.ZIP> for WordStar for Dos. (This
filters also works with Microsoft Works 2.0 for Win3x.)

To install the filter, unzip the filter and place where other CNV files
are found (in the case of Works 2.0, c:\windows\msapps\textconv). Then
modify the WinWord6.INI to include the following:

[MSWord Text Converters]
WordStar=WordStar,c:\windows\msapps\textconv\wordstar.cnv,*

For Works 2.0 the line in WIN.INI should read:

[MS Text Converters]
WordStar=WordStar,c:\windows\msapps\textconv\wordstar.cnv,*

For Word for Windows for Win9x (Word95 and Word97) the WordStar filter
is part of the "Supplemental Text Converters for Word [97]". It will
import and export WordStar for Dos and read WordStar for Windows. The
filter is found at

http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/index.htm

Look for "Supplemental Text Converters for Word [97]
<http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/downloadDetails/wdsupcnv.htm>".

To install the Win9x filter, run the downloaded file and the filter will
be installed automatically.

While the WinWord6 filter appears to have no limitations, the Win9x
versions appears not to work with large WordStar files. Also, as noted
by John Beach, to recognize the WordStar file the file extension should
correspond with the version being converted.  For example WordStar 4
files should have the extension *.WS4 and WordStar 6 *.WS6.

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Word for Windows Rich Text Format

The common file import/export format is Word for Windows Rich Text
Format (WinWordRTF). WordStar for Windows can be updated to handle this
format. WordStar for Dos files need to use Star Exchange 5.0 which comes
with WordStar 7.0d. This program can still be ordered.

Star Exchange 5.0 (SE5) is a WordStar Dos customized version of Software
Bridge (a program bought and retired by Inso). Version 5 added a Rich
Text Filter which for WordStar Dos files is effectively WinWordRTF.

Star Exchange can be purchased from Mattel's The Learning Company.
Instructions are on the Cuenet Web site. After you have installed Star
Exchange you will also need to download the update file from The
Learning Company FTP site.

To achieve WinWordRTF with SE5, the following settings need to selected
for RTF in Star Exchange:

Output Character Set  > ANSI
Document Right Margin > 7.5
RTF Version Number    > Version 1

With these settings the SE5 menu system can be used to select multiple
files for conversion. Or, one of the following BAT files can be used for
single files.

In all the BAT files change the directory/folder references to your
location of SE5.

[1] To convert a file to a predetermined folder/directory every time if
your files are in different folders/directories to

=====================

c:
cd \ws\convert
convert -i=%1\%2.ws -o=c:\convert\%2.rtf -c=WS5,RTF

=====================

This version requires two pieces of following the BAT file on the
command line:

     WS72RTF.BAT MyLocation Filename

MyLocation is the directory in which the file to be converted is
located.  Do not include the final "\". The BAT will add it.

Filename is the name of the file to be converted.  Do not add an
extension. Use WS for your WordStar files.

What the BAT will do is convert a WS file in the location you define to
the c:\convert directory with the same filename with a RTF extension.

[2] To convert a file to a predetermined folder/directory, if your WS
files are always in the same folder/directory.

====================

c:
cd \ws\convert
convert -i=MyFolder\%1.ws -o=c:\convert\%1.rtf -c=WS5,RTF

====================

Replace MyFolder in the BAT file with the folder/directory where your WS
files are located.

This version requires only one piece of information. The name of the
file you are converting.

     WS72RTF.BAT Filename

Again no extensions for the filename. The converted file will be placed
with the same name in the predetermined folder/directory.
 

[3] To convert a file to the same folder/directory in which your WS
files are located.

====================

c:
cd \ws\convert
convert -i=%1.ws -o=%1.rtf -c=WS5,RTF

====================

This version requires only one piece of information. The name and
location of the file you are converting.

     WS72RTF.BAT Myfolder/Filename

Replace MyFolder with the file's folder/directory. Again no extensions
for the Filename. The converted file will be placed in the same
folder/directory as the file being converted.

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