Microsoft KB Archive/90772

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Where WinWord 2.0 Searches for Converters to Install/Use

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Q90772

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The information in this article applies to:


 * Microsoft Word for Windows, versions 2.0, 2.0a, 2.0a-CD, 2.0b
 * Microsoft Windows versions 3.0, 3.1

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SUMMARY
When you choose to convert a document from a foreign file format, Word first searches for the appropriate converter in the Word program directory. If the converter is not found here, Word then scans the WINDOWS\MSAPPS\TEXTCONV directory (where WINDOWS is the name of your Windows program directory).

If the appropriate converter has not yet been installed, Word will search for and automatically install all valid Microsoft or third- party converters that have either a .CNV extension or a name beginning with CONV combined with a .DLL extension from either the Word or the TEXTCONV directories. If the same converter exists in both the Word and TEXTCONV directories, the converter from the Word directory will be installed.

The CONV-xxx.DLL naming convention was used by Word versions 1.0, 1.1, and 1.1a, as well as Mastersoft Corporation's converters supplied with its &quot;Word for Word: Word for Windows Add-In&quot; product. Word for Windows 2.0 names all converters with a .CNV extension.

NOTE: Mastersoft is now owned by Inso. For more information, please contact Inso. For information about how to contact Inso, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

"Q65416 Hardware and Software Third-Party Vendor Contact List, A-K" If a matching WIN.INI converter entry exists, but the converter file it refers to cannot be found, Word will return the error:

Word cannot start the converter xxxxxxxx.CNV

where &quot;xxxxxxxx.CNV&quot; is the name of the converter in question.

You can change the location where Word initially searches for a converter by manually editing the path to the converter in the [MS Word Text Converters] section of WIN.INI. For example, in a network installation, you may want Word to search for a converter in a directory on a user's local drive. In such a case, an original WIN.INI entry that is similar to

  MSWordDos=Word for MS-DOS, X:\APPS\WINWORD\WORDDOS.CNV, doc could be changed to

  MSWordDos=Word for MS-DOS, C:\CNVRTERS\WORDDOS.CNV, doc As long as you actually copy the converter file WORDDOS.CNV to this location, the WIN.INI entry will instruct Word on where to find it.

Additional query words: geninfo

Keywords : kbinterop kbconversion

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Technology :