Problem with Word 97 SR-2, WPS files. and HP DeskJet 895 Cxi

[JustMe12345]

A user received a zipped file containing two WPS files.&nbsp;&nbsp;She downloaded and unzipped the files.&nbsp;&nbsp;When she tried to open them in Word, she got little boxes and stuff on her screen.&nbsp;&nbsp;She asked me to help her.<br><br>I used the Open dialog box in Word to get open the file.&nbsp;&nbsp;It opened up, but it showed the formatting as control characters.&nbsp;&nbsp;We sent it to the printer.&nbsp;&nbsp;We thought that was the end of it.<br><br>No such luck.&nbsp;&nbsp;Now...<br><br>When she tries to open an existing file in Word using the Open dialog box, it shows the formatting characters.&nbsp;&nbsp;If she closes it then opens it again using the 'recently used file list' (on the File menu), it opens okay, doesn't show the formatting characters and life is wonderful.<br><br>Can anyone explain what the hell we did and how we can fix it?&nbsp;&nbsp;We've powered down the machine and printer to no avail.<br><br>Help!!!<br><br>

 

[BobCrawf]

Go to Tools&gt;Options&gt;View&gt;Formatting Marks<br><br>Make sure Checkboxes are set properly.<br><br>Bob Crawford<br><br>

 

[Dreamboat]

Go to File-Open.<br><br>Change the Files of Type to open from &quot;recover text from any document&quot; to Word documents or all files--ANYTHING but &quot;recover text...&quot; <p> <br><a href=mailto: dreamboat@nni.com> dreamboat@nni.com</a><br><a href=

http://www.wedomanuals.com>

</a><br>

 

[Dreamboat]

PS: Open the WPS file with Microsoft Works and save it as an Excel spreadsheet (I believe). <p> <br><a href=mailto: dreamboat@nni.com> dreamboat@nni.com</a><br><a href=

http://www.wedomanuals.com>

</a><br>

 

[JustMe12345]

Bob, I tried your suggestion but no luck.<br><br>Dreamboat, I'll do that for the new documents, but what about the old ones?<br><br>Thanks for your help.

 

[Dreamboat]

I guess I don't understand. Do you have Windows? Most Windows PCs come preloaded with Works. And what do you mean you'll do that for the new ones? What's the difference between the new ones and the old ones?<br><br>WKS is an MS Works spreadsheet; WPS is an MS Works document. You should be able to open them directly from Excel and Word.<br><br>If the answer is NO to both of the above, find someone who has MS Works who can open and save them to something compatible for you.<br><br>How many files are we talking? <p> <br><a href=mailto: dreamboat@nni.com> dreamboat@nni.com</a><br><a href=

http://www.wedomanuals.com>

</a><br>

 

[JustMe12345]

The problem isn't opening the WPS files.&nbsp;&nbsp;Somehow opening these files in Word has change some settings.&nbsp;&nbsp;<br><br>When opening an existing Word document with the 'Open' dialog box, the document doesn't show the formatting in the document, instead it shows the actual formatting codes (+r+b...etc).<br><br>But, when you close it and then use the 'Recent file' list from the 'File' menu to open the same document, the document displays with the correct formatting.<br><br>I need to find out what was changed and fix it so the actual formatting is done instead of showing the formatting codes.<br><br>Do you see what I mean?<br>

 

[Dreamboat]

Yes. This is classic behavior of having selected &quot;recover text from any file&quot; as the &quot;files of type&quot; to open in the Word File Open dialog box.<br><br>I already said this in my first post. Perhaps you have two copies of this file on the pc: one that was saved with text coding, and one that is fine. Do a find files to check it out. <p> <br><a href=mailto: dreamboat@nni.com> dreamboat@nni.com</a><br><a href=

http://www.wedomanuals.com>

</a><br>