Can't wrap imported text

[Gary Goldberg]

Despite the Mac MVP help I've received, when I import text into Word98 from
something I've written in BBEditLite6 the paragraphs contain lines of
differing lengths and no options (widow w/orphans, keep with next, keep
line together)
alter the text at all.

BBEditLite has a single key combination for hard wrapping. The only reference
I can even FIND in the Word98 index is for wrapping text around the graphic.

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Gary:

BBEdit creates in "Plain Text" format. In that format, there is a newline
character at the end of each line of text.

On Import, Word converts each line into a paragraph. But in the original,
it's a discrete line. That's the principal difference between plain text
and a word-processing document -- in plain text, there is no such thing as a
paragraph with more than one line in it.

To convert the result, use any of the "re-wrap email" utilities around.
Perhaps the easiest is to paste first into Entourage, format as HTML,
re-wrap the text, then paste the result into Word.

In Word, you can search for double paragraph marks and convert them to a
tag, then search for single paragraph marks and convert them into a space,
then search for the tag and convert it into a paragraph mark.

JE posted a macro to do that a few weeks ago. Here are the search strings:

Search for ^p^p and replace with <Para>
Search for ^p and replace with " "
Search for <Para> and replace with ^p

Hope this helps

Despite the Mac MVP help I've received, when I import text into Word98 from
something I've written in BBEditLite6 the paragraphs contain lines of
differing lengths and no options (widow w/orphans, keep with next, keep
line together)
alter the text at all.

BBEditLite has a single key combination for hard wrapping. The only reference
I can even FIND in the Word98 index is for wrapping text around the graphic.

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Consultant Technical Writer
Sydney, Australia +61 4 1209 1410

 

[Elliott Roper]

Despite the Mac MVP help I've received, when I import text into Word98 from
something I've written in BBEditLite6 the paragraphs contain lines of
differing lengths and no options (widow w/orphans, keep with next, keep
line together)
alter the text at all.

BBEditLite has a single key combination for hard wrapping. The only reference
I can even FIND in the Word98 index is for wrapping text around the graphic.

OK. hit cmd-8. Can you see the pilcrow marks at the end of every line?
(Mirrored P with a double vertical - ¶ if your newsreader character set
is the same as mine)
OK, they are paragraph marks. Can you see one extra in a line of its
own at the end of each paragraph? OK, hang on to your seat, here is how
to get your text wrapping properly.

select all. cmd-shift-h should bring up the find and replace. Turn off
wildcards if it is on. In the find field enter ^p^p. In the replace
field enter /\ or something else guaranteed to never be in your
document. Hit replace all. Change ^p^p to ^p in the find field. Set the
'replace with' to a single space. Hit replace all. Change the find
field to /\ and the replace field to ^p. Hit replace all. Geddit?

I'd recommend recording that as a macro if you do lots of grabbing text
from applications that slap CR, CRLF or LF at the ends of lines like
BBedit is wont to do.

For added couth, you might do a find and replace with space^w and
replace with space to rid your document from accidentally introduced
multiple spaces.

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Despite the Mac MVP help I've received, when I import text into Word98 from
something I've written in BBEditLite6 the paragraphs contain lines of
differing lengths and no options (widow w/orphans, keep with next, keep
line together)
alter the text at all.

As far as the options go, you can apply them via Format | Paragraph, or by
applying a style with "keep with next" etc as part of the definition.

DM

 

[Gary Goldberg]

Thanks, I'll try this (since I don't have Entourage). I supposed
that at some point I'd have to do edit some Word coding, but I'd
rather do it as a keystroke command (I have no experience with
macros, never having needed them before).

 

[Gary Goldberg]

I did all this and got a single block of text and had to go back and separate
the paragraphs again. But at least the paragraphs had complete lines.

 

[Elliott Roper]

I did all this and got a single block of text and had to go back and separate
the paragraphs again. But at least the paragraphs had complete lines.

That's because you left out the last step
It's caused by top-posting. You blow your attention span quota too
early in the day.

 

[JE McGimpsey]

It's caused by top-posting. You blow your attention span quota too
early in the day.

<g>