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WordPerfect Hint - using a Generic/Text Printer to make an ASCII file
Step 1 - Create the ASCII text file from Word Perfect
  1. From Word Perfect, open the document (.wpd) you want to make an ASCII from.
  2. Select "File", then "Print".
  3. Change "Current printer" to "Generic / Text Only". (Usually in the "Details" tab).
    SEE: How to add the Windows Generic / Text Only Printer driver to your list of printers.
  4. Click "Print to file".
  5. Beneath "Print to file", type this File name "C:\sample". (This will become "C:\sample.prn" later)
    NOTE: Word Perfect will always append ".prn" to the File name!
    NOTE: If you type "C:\sample.prn" Word Perfect changes it to "C:\sample.prn.prn" -- watch out!!
  6. Click "Print". Word Perfect creates and writes to your new ASCII file.
  7. Close Word Perfect. To take Word Perfect out of "Generic / Text Only" mode.
  • Note: This works best when your entire document is using a fixed pitch font (such as Courier New)
  • Note: Some page reformatting can take place during the conversion - use our ProEDIT to manually repair any conversion problems.

Step 2 - Open the ASCII text file in ProEDIT - Verify the Conversion

Clean up the ASCII file: add missing page breaks, fix Title Pages, etc.

  1. Start ProEDIT by pressing "Start", "Programs", ("PROTEXT" or "ETSPRO"), then "ProEDIT".
  2. Select "File", "Open" and select the ASCII TEXT file which you created (above).
    (Type "C:\sample.prn" in the "File name" box if you used our filename suggestion above)
  3. Visually inspect and clean up the document, inserting Page Breaks if needed.
    There MUST be a PAGE BREAK at the bottom of EVERY PAGE in the document!
  4. Select "File", "Save", and exit ProEDIT.
  • Note: You can enable ProEDIT "Options", "Run ProTEXT on Exit".
    to automatically open your file in ProTEXT!
ProEDIT

Step 3 - Open the ASCII text file in ProTEXT

Run ProTEXT (the condensing program)

  1. Start ProTEXT by pressing "Start", ("PROTEXT" or "ETSPRO"), then "ProTEXT".
  2. Select "File", then "Open" and select the ASCII TEXT file which you created.
    (Type "C:\sample.prn" in the "File name" box if you used our filename suggestion above)
  3. Select "File", then "Print" to Print your Condensed Transcript.
  4. Proceed to "Run ProDEX" (or you can enable "Options", "Run ProDEX on Exit").

Run ProDEX (the keyword indexing program)

  1. Start ProDEX by pressing "Start", "Programs", ("PROTEXT" or "ETSPRO"), then "ProDEX".
  2. Select "File", then "Make an Index" and select the ASCII TEXT file which you created.
  3. Select "File", then "Print an Index" to Print your Word Index.

How to Install the Generic / Text Only Printer driver on your computer.
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