Microsoft KB Archive/98269

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WD: Vertical (Bar) Tabs Lost Converting to Word for Windows

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Q98269

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The information in this article applies to:


 * Microsoft Word for Windows, versions 1.0, 1.1, 1.1a, 2.0, 2.0a, 2.0a-CD, 2.0b, 2.0c
 * Microsoft Word for the Macintosh, versions 5.0, 5.1, 5.1a
 * Microsoft Word for MS-DOS, versions 4.x, 5.x

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SUMMARY
Word for MS-DOS vertical tabs and Word for the Macintosh bar tabs each insert a vertical line drawing character or &quot;bar&quot; at the specified tab-stop position. The features are equivalent. Vertical (bar) tabs are not currently a feature of Word for Windows 1.x and 2.0.

MORE INFORMATION
The following is a summary of the results received for these formats when you convert to Word for Windows from each product:


 * When you open a Word for MS-DOS document into Word for Windows version 2.0c, the vertical bar character is lost and the tab-stop position is ignored. This is desirable functionality given that Word for Windows retains horizontal alignment of other elements on the same line.
 * With earlier releases of Word for Windows, the vertical bar character is lost, but a left-aligned tab-stop is retained at the original vertical tab position. The result is that text originally aligned at subsequent tab-stops falls back one tab-stop position to the left and appears misaligned.
 * When a Word for the Macintosh document is opened into Word for Windows from Word for the Macintosh format, the bar tab character is lost, but a left-aligned tab-stop is retained at the original vertical tab position. This causes text that was originally aligned at subsequent tab-stops to fall back one tab-stop position to the left and appear misaligned.
 * When a Word for the Macintosh document is saved in Word for Windows 2.0 format from within Word for the Macintosh and is subsequently opened in Word for Windows, the vertical bar character is lost and the tab-stop position is ignored for purposes of display. However, the numeric value of the tab-stop position does appear in the Format Tabs menu without any alignment option appearing checked.

Optimally, all of the conversion avenues above should be simply ignoring the vertical tab and not retaining a left-aligned tab-stop at that position.

STATUS
Microsoft has identified the problems that occur in conversion of Word for the Macintosh documents to Word for Windows as problems with Word for Windows 2.0 converter supplied with Word for the Macintosh and with the Wordmac.cnv converter supplied with Word for Windows. We are researching the problem and will post additional information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

NOTE: Word for Windows 6.0 and later support bar tabs. Word for MS-DOS version 6.0 bar tabs are now retained in conversion to Word for Windows.

Additional query words: textconv

Keywords : kbinterop kbconversion winword macword

Issue type : kbbug

Technology :