Microsoft KB Archive/50863

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Difficulty Reading Mac Word 4.0 RTF into DOS Word 5.0 PSS ID Number: Q50863 Article last modified on 08-08-1993 PSS database name: APpsConV

5.00

MS-DOS

The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Word for MS-DOS version 5.0

Summary:

When opening a document into Word for DOS version 5.0 that was originally saved from Word for the Macintosh version 4.0 as rich text format (RTF) with the “Default format for file” option checked in the File, Save As, File Format dialog box, the following error message will be received:

“Input file <path><filename> is not a correct file type for conversion”

This error occurs because the Macintosh internal RTF writer places a line of code at the beginning of the RTF output file that the Word for DOS 5.0 RTF converter, RTF_DOS.EXE, does not understand.

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem with the RTF_DOS.EXE utility supplied with Word for DOS version 5.0. This problem has been corrected in Word for DOS version 5.5.

More Information:

In Word for the Macintosh version 4.0, when saving a file as RTF, there is an option to make that format the default format for the file. When this option is used, Word places the RTF control word “” into the RTF file. This control word is not recognized by the Word for DOS version 5.0 RTF file converter, and thus, such files are rejected as invalid.

Workaround:

Remove the offending code by modifying the native RTF file as follows:
1. Open the document and select “No” when Word asks if you want it converted from RTF. This will open the document as text with all of its RTF code intact.
2. The first line of the document will have a section of code that appears similar to the following:
  
  {\def2 {…
  
  Remove the “” so that it appears as follows:
  
  {\def2 {…
3. Save the document with the text-only format, clear the screen, and open up the document again. This time, allow Word to convert it into a Word document.
Reload the file into Word for the Macintosh and save the file in RTF format again but without the “Default Format for File” option checked in the File, Save As, File Format dialog box.

Reference(s):

“Reference to Microsoft Word,” Word for the Macintosh 4.0, pages 313-314.

Additional reference words: wderror noupd