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My computer won't let me put in new paragraphs when I type my MS. What should I do? I think I'm using wordpad. And I don't know how to change anything. Thank you.
How to fix my problem? (word processor)
- Thread starter BlueDimity
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First, post the question in the Tech Help forum (a mod may transfer you there).
Second, download OpenOffice, and get a real word-processor. It's free, and simple to download; goooooogle Open Office and you'll get a download site. Nobody I know attempts to produce submission-format manuscripts in WordPad.
caw
Second, download OpenOffice, and get a real word-processor. It's free, and simple to download; goooooogle Open Office and you'll get a download site. Nobody I know attempts to produce submission-format manuscripts in WordPad.
caw
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Seconding Open Office. It's better than MS Word in my opinion. Wordpad isn't really worth anything for writing.
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It's perfect for distraction-free drafts. I use Wordpad when I want to get the words down, then move the text over to OpenOffice to edit and intergrate into the rest of the WIP. Seems to work for me.
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Wordpad used to really suck. No zoom -- impossible with my eyes. It has improved in Vista, but I'm so used to avoiding it I don't care. I use kPad, a free RTF editor that has a tabbed multi-document interface. I like tabs.
As for Open Office, it's okay, but for a lot of people it's a lot more than they need and it's just as complicated as M$-ware. Just a word processor is enough. Abiword.
As for Open Office, it's okay, but for a lot of people it's a lot more than they need and it's just as complicated as M$-ware. Just a word processor is enough. Abiword.
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I don't understand you folks who nickel and dime your most important tool. Nearly every agent I've seen, who wants an electronic copy of our work, wants it as a MS Word doc. You can buy the entire MS Office suite (Home Edition) for $79, and this is where you choose to save money? I just don't understand it.
And no, I don't work for MS. I just happen to have used it for years. I'm aware it has its problems, but 98% of the business world can't be wrong.
And no, I don't work for MS. I just happen to have used it for years. I'm aware it has its problems, but 98% of the business world can't be wrong.
OpenOffice can do MS Word docs. They're just talking about the file format. They don't care if you did it in OpenOffice or MS Word or whatever.
In fact, I imagine many agents use OpenOffice to read Word docs, not MS Word. I switched to OpenOffice because Word kept screwing up and OpenOffice seems to be much more reliable.
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It's got nothing to do with money, at least in my case. I bought my first copy of Word in the 80's and used the various versions up to the end of the 90's. Then I got angry enough at Microsoft and their dirty tricks as a company to basically despise them, which is still how I feel. I don't want to encourage them by giving them more money. I also don't trust them, and this is a distrust earned through long experience.
Anyway, Open Office is good as well as free. It's not like you're getting software of lesser quality. Open standards are also better for the user. I think the day is not far off when you'll be able to submit an odt file without raising an eyebrow, and IMO this will be a good day. In the meantime, OO's ability to save in doc format is good enough to suit me and many others.
98% of the business world can be sheep, which is exactly the situation. But the smart ones, including many government agencies worldwide, have been dumping proprietary file formats over the past few years.
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Ejket - I don't know what governments you've been dealing with. I just retired from government work. Every office I contacted used MS Office products - Outlook for mail, Word for docs, Excel for spreadsheets, etc.
I'm glad you're all happy with OO, and I hpe it lives up to your expectations. I, for one, will stick with the rest of the world.
I'm glad you're all happy with OO, and I hpe it lives up to your expectations. I, for one, will stick with the rest of the world.
OpenOffice is certainly good enough for any writer, but it's definitely inferior to MS Office in nearly every way. . .which doesn;t matter a bit if all you're doing is writing.
I don;t recommend Abiword, though. It doesn't handle really long documents well at all.
I don;t recommend Abiword, though. It doesn't handle really long documents well at all.
johnnysannie
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Open Office may work okay for writing but when it comes to uploading documents, most of the editors and gurus I deal with want it in MS WORD, nothing else.
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I had to use the track changes feature on a Word doc for copy edit revisions my editor sent. I use OO, and had real trouble with it -- not every feature worked -- there were some things i couldn't do, or maybe i just couldn't figure them out.
In any case, I since bought a discount Word 2003 program (that's what my editor uses) for $50 that's been money well spent, if only for the lessened aggravation and ease of work.
Personally, I've always preferred WordPerfect for writing, but you can't fight city hall.
Oh yeah . . . now WP on a DOS machine, that would still make me happy.
WP even now has the best export to HTML feature I've ever seen.
There was a short-live port of WP to Mac that was nifty. But my absolute favorite word processor EVER was MacWrite Pro on Mac OS 9.
I loved that thing, absolutely adored it. Miss it still. Clean, elegant, simple--I could even do kerning!
johnnysannie
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My experience with Open Office sucked; I learned the hard way to go with - and only with -MS Word. I'm glad it works for your needs but I had nightmare issues trying to have editors open documents written with Open Office with MS Word. Most did not have it - in my experience which may differ from yours.
I now have both Word 2007 (which came with my newest computer) as well as MS Word 1997-2003. The only issue I've had with the newer version is that not everyone can open WORD 2007 docs so I often have to convert to the older version.
Open Office reminded me of an old quote my grandfather liked to use - buy cheap, get cheap.
Me too! I bought WordPerfect 5.0 brand-new in the box and guarded it with my life. I went kicking and screaming into 1998 when I bought a new computer and I couldn't get my WordPerfect to work under Windows 98. (It turns out there was a way to do it, but I didn't know back then).
I still think WP was the best word-processing program ever. I still hate MS-Word, although now that's what I use.
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The Illinois Department of Natural Resources used to use WP for a time. The Forest Service used to use the Lotus suite. That program I totally hated. I've always liked WP, but use OO now, setting the option to save as a .DOC file.
For straight text, I used Notepad+. I use it in web design. The problem I've run into using a word processing program is the code it adds if you're cutting and pasting into a HTML document. I like being able to see the line numbers too.
For straight text, I used Notepad+. I use it in web design. The problem I've run into using a word processing program is the code it adds if you're cutting and pasting into a HTML document. I like being able to see the line numbers too.
> Oh yeah . . . now WP on a DOS machine
> I bought WordPerfect 5.0 brand-new in the box and guarded it wit my life.
Anyone else using 'vi' and TeX?
Going once...
-cb
> I bought WordPerfect 5.0 brand-new in the box and guarded it wit my life.
Anyone else using 'vi' and TeX?
Going once...
-cb