The Processed Word

Answers to the most frequently asked questions about word processing.

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Over the past several months, a number of businesspeople have contacted me with questions about word processing -- some wonder which system or make to buy; others want to know how to communicate from one system to another. Since many of you probably have some of the same concerns, I've listed the questions I've been asked most frequently, along with my answers.

Q: Which word processor should I buy?
These days you can choose from dozens of microcomputer word-processing programs, which run the gamut from light-duty programs designed for home or school use to heavy-duty programs for tackling the most complex documents. For business your best bet is a medium-to heavy-duty program.

Medium-duty programs can easily handle typical business documents -- letters, memos, reports, and so on -- but they don't have all the editing and formatting features that enable you to work on several documents simultaneously, process graphics along with text, number footnotes automatically, create an index, or print more than one column on a page. All heavy-duty programs, on the other hand, boast these features and then some. Indeed, heavy-duty programs have more features than most people will ever use and can be difficult to learn and work with.

For medium-duty word processing on IBM PCs or clones, I recommend Q&A Write. For heavy-duty work, try WordPerfect or Microsoft Word. These two programs are developing faster than their competitors and now lead the market; neither is particularly easy to learn.

All Macintosh word processors, heavy-duty or otherwise, are easier to learn and use than their PC counterparts, so there's no real training advantage to lighter-duty programs. I recommend, in order of increasing complexity, WriteNow, Nisus, and Microsoft Word. WriteNow, which falls somewhere between medium- and heavy-duty, is the easiest to learn. Microsoft Word for the Mac, which is quite different from the PC version, offers the most document-formatting options, and because it is so popular, more accessory programs can be used with it. Nisus, my own preference, has the best editing features. You can, for example, undo any of your past several hundred changes; competing programs can undo only one change at most.

When all is said and done, however, forget about features; forget about price. Instead, choose the program that you can get help with at midnight on a Sunday when you have a proposal due at eight o'clock on Monday morning. In other words, choose the word processor used by your most technically astute friend who will be civil if you call at an uncivil hour. Having someone who can answer questions when you are really stuck far outweighs everything else about a program.

Q: When will we see Macintosh-style graphics word processing on the PC?
A few programs are already available for IBM PCs, but so far they are weak. Digital Research Inc. sells GEM 1st Word Plus for its graphics operating environment; this word processor lacks such basic features as reformatting paragraphs automatically after insertions or deletions. When you buy Microsoft Windows, the leading PC graphics environment, you get a copy of Microsoft Write, a bare-bones program. Samna's Amí is a more advanced word processor for Windows; it can create complex pages much more easily than the IBM PC versions of Microsoft Word or WordPerfect. Although it cannot automatically address and personalize form letters and lets you edit only one document at a time, it does point the way to more sophisticated programs that will appear later this year.

Q: Since my word-processing program lets me put graphics and text on the same page, is there any reason I would need a page-makeup program?
Maybe not. Some word processors and all page-makeup programs let you mix text, pictures, and decorative elements in the same document, but page-makeup programs offer a fuller range of layout tools and options for arranging the components of a page exactly where you want them. The page, rather than the document, is the working unit of a page-makeup program. This means that you can print two separate documents on one page and continue those documents independently on a following page, something word processors can't do. In other words, a heavy-duty word processor might enable you to put together a complex and good-looking report, but it won't help if you're trying to print a newsletter or a newspaper. For that you need a page-makeup program.

Q: Our office uses WordPerfect for word processing, but a branch office uses MultiMate. How can we use WordPerfect to edit their MultiMate documents and vice versa?
Because no two programs share computer file formats, every word-processing program stores document-formatting information (page breaks, columns, footnotes, and so on) differently, making it difficult to transfer documents intact. The best way to exchange files -- short of convincing everybody to use the same word processor -- is to use a file-conversion program, which translates one file format into another. Software Bridge can convert files among 16 popular IBM PC word processors, including MultiMate and WordPerfect. Because word processors have different features, file-conversion programs cannot always do an ideal job, but they are much more effective than using plain-text (ASCII) files to move the information. With a plain-text file, all formatting information is lost and has to be restored manually once the document is transferred.

Q: What about converting files from an IBM PC to a Macintosh program?
This involves two steps: first, moving the document from the PC to the Mac, then converting the file format. MacLinkPlus and LapLink Mac offer the simplest way to move files: a cable connecting the serial ports on both machines. MacLinkPlus also lets you connect two machines in different locations using modems and a telephone line. Both packages come with connecting cable and file-conversion programs for several word processors. MacLinkPlus is controlled from the Macintosh side and is easier to use than LapLink Mac, which is operated from the PC side. File conversion is not necessary with all word processors; Microsoft Word and WordPerfect for the Mac, for example, can read and write documents from their PC namesakes.

If you convert files often, you should consider linking your PCs and Macs in a local area network, which allows quick and simple exchanging of files. The TOPS network is the most cost effective.

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