Windows XP Wordpad

[Mabel]

What is this "rich text" business? If I save in rich text
(default) I get gobledy gook when I reopen the file, but
plain text doesn't work, either. How to save and recover
things on Wordpad?

[Sharon F]

On Sat, 30 Aug 2003 14:40:03 -0700, Mabel wrote:

> What is this "rich text" business? If I save in rich text
> (default) I get gobledy gook when I reopen the file, but
> plain text doesn't work, either. How to save and recover
> things on Wordpad?

Rich Text has been the default file type for Wordpad since it first
appeared in Windows 95. What are you trying to save in it? Newly typed text
or something that you have copied and pasted? Or?

--
Sharon F
MS-MVP - Windows XP Shell/User

[Mabel]

>-----Original Message-----
>On Sat, 30 Aug 2003 14:40:03 -0700, Mabel wrote:
>
>> What is this "rich text" business? If I save in rich
text
>> (default) I get gobledy gook when I reopen the file,
but
>> plain text doesn't work, either. How to save and
recover
>> things on Wordpad?
>
>Rich Text has been the default file type for Wordpad
since it first
>appeared in Windows 95. What are you trying to save in
it? Newly typed text
>or something that you have copied and pasted? Or?
>
>--
>Sharon F
>MS-MVP - Windows XP Shell/User
>.
>Thank you, Sharon, for taking an interest. I was trying
to save newly typed text. My problem may be that I don't
understand the purpose of Wordpad in the first place. I
was trying to use it as a simple word processing program
to type plain text for my own offline use and save it in
My Documents. Wordpad Help doesn't explain about rich
text vs. plain text except that the latter
loses "formatting," but when I saved in rich text and
reopened the file, it was all in code. I couldn't even
get it to save in plain text. I couldn't find any other
help that even addressed the subject. What am I
missing? (Maybe I just need to take a course in Windows.)

[Sharon F]

On Mon, 1 Sep 2003 14:16:02 -0700, Mabel wrote:

>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>On Sat, 30 Aug 2003 14:40:03 -0700, Mabel wrote:
>>
>>> What is this "rich text" business? If I save in rich
> text
>>> (default) I get gobledy gook when I reopen the file,
> but
>>> plain text doesn't work, either. How to save and
> recover
>>> things on Wordpad?
>>
>>Rich Text has been the default file type for Wordpad
> since it first
>>appeared in Windows 95. What are you trying to save in
> it? Newly typed text
>>or something that you have copied and pasted? Or?
>>


>Thank you, Sharon, for taking an interest. I was trying
> to save newly typed text. My problem may be that I don't
> understand the purpose of Wordpad in the first place. I
> was trying to use it as a simple word processing program
> to type plain text for my own offline use and save it in
> My Documents. Wordpad Help doesn't explain about rich
> text vs. plain text except that the latter
> loses "formatting," but when I saved in rich text and
> reopened the file, it was all in code. I couldn't even
> get it to save in plain text. I couldn't find any other
> help that even addressed the subject. What am I
> missing? (Maybe I just need to take a course in Windows.)

You're welcome, Mabel, and you're on the right track with Wordpad.

It is a very simple word processor. It supports formatted text: colors,
bold, italic, underlining, mixing different sizes of fonts and so on. It
can also produce a plain text document. Plain text is... well, just plain
text. One size, one style. No fancy stuff.

It sounds like you have this part down pat already.

After you finish typing and formatting, you saved the file as Rich Text.
Sounds good and again on the right track.

Question: After you save the file, can you see the file's icon? What does
it look like?

It should match the shortcut icon for the Wordpad program but minus the
shortcut arrow.

OR it will look similar to the icon that is shown in Wordpad's title bar
(lefthand corner): similar to a Notepad icon but with a red "A" in the
lower right hand corner.

If you see any other icon on the saved file, what does it look like?

When you open a saved Wordpad file, the contents *should* appear exactly
the same as when you last closed it. You should see "Wordpad" in the title
bar of this window.

Questions:

How are you opening the file? Double clicking on the file or using File>
Open from Wordpad's menu bar? Try both ways. Is "Wordpad" shown in the
title bar using both methods?

Just in case you're wondering why I'm asking you 100 questions:

Many different programs are capable of creating files with the RTF
extension. Not all of them are Rich Text Files. And for those that are, all
RTF files are not created equal. Rich Text from one program may not appear
exactly the same in another program.

I can think of a recent example of this: A version of AOL was saving files
created with that program's text editor (File > New) as Rich Text Files
(RTF). Problem: Their text editor is not 100% compatible with Wordpad. It
was impossible to tell from Windows Explorer which program had created
which file. In newer versions, AOL has changed their extension to RTX.
--
Sharon F
MS-MVP - Windows XP Shell/User

[Mabel]

>-----Original Message-----
>On Mon, 1 Sep 2003 14:16:02 -0700, Mabel wrote:
>
>>
>>>-----Original Message-----
>>>On Sat, 30 Aug 2003 14:40:03 -0700, Mabel wrote:
>>>
>>>> What is this "rich text" business? If I save in rich
>> text
>>>> (default) I get gobledy gook when I reopen the file,
>> but
>>>> plain text doesn't work, either. How to save and
>> recover
>>>> things on Wordpad?
>>>
>>>Rich Text has been the default file type for Wordpad
>> since it first
>>>appeared in Windows 95. What are you trying to save in
>> it? Newly typed text
>>>or something that you have copied and pasted? Or?
>>>
>
>
>>Thank you, Sharon, for taking an interest. I was
trying
>> to save newly typed text. My problem may be that I
don't
>> understand the purpose of Wordpad in the first place.
I
>> was trying to use it as a simple word processing
program
>> to type plain text for my own offline use and save it
in
>> My Documents. Wordpad Help doesn't explain about rich
>> text vs. plain text except that the latter
>> loses "formatting," but when I saved in rich text and
>> reopened the file, it was all in code. I couldn't
even
>> get it to save in plain text. I couldn't find any
other
>> help that even addressed the subject. What am I
>> missing? (Maybe I just need to take a course in
Windows.)
>
>You're welcome, Mabel, and you're on the right track
with Wordpad.
>
>It is a very simple word processor. It supports
formatted text: colors,
>bold, italic, underlining, mixing different sizes of
fonts and so on. It
>can also produce a plain text document. Plain text is...
well, just plain
>text. One size, one style. No fancy stuff.
>
>It sounds like you have this part down pat already.
>
>After you finish typing and formatting, you saved the
file as Rich Text.
>Sounds good and again on the right track.
>
>Question: After you save the file, can you see the
file's icon? What does
>it look like?
>
>It should match the shortcut icon for the Wordpad
program but minus the
>shortcut arrow.
>
>OR it will look similar to the icon that is shown in
Wordpad's title bar
>(lefthand corner): similar to a Notepad icon but with a
red "A" in the
>lower right hand corner.
>
>If you see any other icon on the saved file, what does
it look like?
>
>When you open a saved Wordpad file, the contents
*should* appear exactly
>the same as when you last closed it. You should
see "Wordpad" in the title
>bar of this window.
>
>Questions:
>
>How are you opening the file? Double clicking on the
file or using File>
>Open from Wordpad's menu bar? Try both ways.
Is "Wordpad" shown in the
>title bar using both methods?
>
>Just in case you're wondering why I'm asking you 100
questions:
>
>Many different programs are capable of creating files
with the RTF
>extension. Not all of them are Rich Text Files. And for
those that are, all
>RTF files are not created equal. Rich Text from one
program may not appear
>exactly the same in another program.
>
>I can think of a recent example of this: A version of
AOL was saving files
>created with that program's text editor (File > New) as
Rich Text Files
>(RTF). Problem: Their text editor is not 100% compatible
with Wordpad. It
>was impossible to tell from Windows Explorer which
program had created
>which file. In newer versions, AOL has changed their
extension to RTX.
>--
>Sharon F
>MS-MVP - Windows XP Shell/User
>.
>Thank you, thank you, Sharon. I'm going to start all
over now enlightened. I suspect my problem may have been
that what I was trying to save was my playing around with
fonts at random and making a mess. It'll probably go
fine now that I've bothered to read all the help
instructions and thanks to your kind expertise.

[Sharon F]

On Tue, 2 Sep 2003 14:28:47 -0700, Mabel wrote:

>Thank you, thank you, Sharon. I'm going to start all
> over now enlightened. I suspect my problem may have been
> that what I was trying to save was my playing around with
> fonts at random and making a mess. It'll probably go
> fine now that I've bothered to read all the help
> instructions and thanks to your kind expertise.

You're welcome, Mable and good luck!
--
Sharon F
MS-MVP - Windows XP Shell/User