Re: [TCLUG:10692] StarOffice

[Troy Johnson <john1536@tc.umn.edu>]

schewe@tcfreenet.org wrote:
> On  1 Dec, Schlough, Mark wrote:
> >       The import/export features for Word 95 and 97 are quite necessary in
> > today's luddite world.  People send Word(tm) documents in their e-mails
> > (oblivious to the fact that it's a closed proproetary format) and are not
> > capable of converting it to a more open format.  Thus my wife needs to read
> > the files, thus the uses SO.  Perfect, no, but when the need arises to fire
> > up the big ol' whale of an app, it fits the bill.
> I believe the file format is actually published.  You can also use free
> programs to view these files.  There is a free viewer for Windows that
> can be downloaded from Microsoft's site, there are ones for power point
> and excel too.  Under Linux you can use things like MsWordView to
> convert them to text or html.

I was under the impression that while the file format spec is available
(somehow), it was under some prohibitive license. I found this searching
on MS's site, and it leads me to believe that it is not actually a
published spec:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/periodic/period96/periodic/msdnn/dr_gui/gui29e.htm

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Word File Format

Hi, Herr Doktor:

I'm brand new in the Microsoft Developer Network, rather new in
programming, brand new in obtaining information from Microsoft. So, I
need to get complete info on Word file format. How and where can I get
this? 

Please tell me. I've spent hours looking for this everywhere. Perhaps
you're not the right guy for this-please tell me who should I ask. 

Thanks, 

Fred Thu 

Dr. GUI replies:

This one is a little hard to find, but some exploratory surgery on the
Microsoft Developer Network Library CD reveals that there's a document
entitled "Rich Text Format (RTF) Specification and Sample RTF Reader
Program." As the title implies, it includes a sample program that reads
RTF. This RTF specification is for Microsoft Word 7.0 (for Windows 95
and Windows NT), as well as for Word 6.0. 

You'll need to save your files in .RTF format in order to read .RTF
files. We don't document Word's .DOC format, but it's simple to save in
RTF-an easy macro can make it trivial for your users.
-----------------------------------

Anyone have an better information?

Troy