funny symbols

weird symbols

funny symbols when using WordSmith Tools

 

1. Check your text files. Look at them in Notepad. Do they contain lots of strange symbols? These may be hidden codes used by your usual word-processor. Solution: open them in your usual word-processor and Save As, with a new name, in plain text format, sometimes called "Text Only" or .txt. In Word 2003 the option looks like this:

 

save_as_text_Word_choice

 

and then choose Unicode:

 

save_as_text_Word_menu

 

2. Choose Texts, select the text file(s), right-click and View. Does it contain strange symbols?

3. Use Text Converter to clean up and convert and your text files to Unicode.

 

Greek, Russian, etc.

4. If the text is in Russian, Greek, etc. you will need an appropriate font, obtainable from your Windows cd or via the Microsoft website.

5. If you have several lists open which use different character sets, and you change Font or Text Characteristics, the lists will all be updated to show the current font and character set, unless you first minimize any window which would be affected.

 

funny symbols when reading WordSmith data in another application

 

WordSmith Tools can Save or Save As and Saves as text by printing to a file. "Save" and "Save As" will store the file in a format for re-use by WordSmith. This format is not suitable for reading into a word processor. The idea is simply for you to store your work so that you can return to it another day.

 

"Save as Text", on the other hand, means saving as plain text, by "printing" to a file. This function is useful if you don't want to print to paper from WordSmith but instead take the data into a spreadsheet, or word processor such as Microsoft Word. It is usually quicker to copy the selected text into the clipboard.

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