too limited in formats it handles - RMFarr

If you want to edit Word docs, quit complaining and pay for Microsoft Word. NOBODY but Microsoft makes anything that can reliably open and edit Microsoft Word docs, because that's the way Microsoft wants it. All the "professional" products I've paid for that purport to open and edit Word docs eventually fall short. Think of the registration fee as a business expense.

If you just want to grab the text from Word docs, (or anything else) Tex Edit works just fine, thank you. I've used it to rescue corrupted Word docs many times.

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Tuesday, September 14 2004 @ 08:40 PM PDT

Limitations - tombb

Dear SMCaulay:

Thank you for the feedback concerning Tex-Edit Plus (and for registering).

Fortunately, I am able to implement many user requests.

I just wish I could implement them all.

Because of Tex-Edit's use of the WASTE text engine, there are limitations in my ability to emulate real word processors (e.g. Word). Luckily, very few folks have asked for native translation of Word's proprietary format, whereas many people have demanded that I keep TEP as lean as possible. As you will note, the free-ware TextEdit from Apple (Cocoa) can extract the text and style data from native Word docs, but it is a suboptimal choice for serious use. To really "do it right" (and I am unaware of any apps other than MSWord that do) would require a LOT of work.

Concerning RTF files: I do not have reports of any problems. If you have run across an RTF that won't open with TEP, would you please email it to me or tell me its URL so I can fix the bug. (It might be a "file extension" or "file type" error of some sort.)

Concerning HTML files: I use TEP for all my HTML needs, which are admittedly simple. Please note the sample scripts in the latest archive: one button de-scrambles and syntax-hilites your HTML file and the second button renders the edited file in your browser.

I promise to keep improving TEP so that users feel that they are getting their money's worth.

Hey, at least I try to be more responsive to user opinions than MS. ;-)

Sincerely,
Tom Bender
p.s. please feel free to contact me at my email address (tombb@aol.com) so that I can give your messages more personal attention.

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Friday, September 24 2004 @ 02:39 PM PDT