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Please: Before you send me an e-mail, please consider asking your question at the WordPerfect for DOS forum at WP Universe. You may get a much better answer than you will get from me, and certainly a faster one.
If you wish to send corrections or suggestions to the material on this site, please do so by composing an e-mail to the following address:
em36{-at-}columbia{-dot-}edu
Of course, replace "{-at-}"with the @-sign and replace "{-dot-}" with a dot.
But please read this first: Before you send me an e-mail, please consult this site's troubleshooting page and search page to see whether the answers you need are already available here. Also, please consult consult the frequently-asked questions elsewhere on this page. If you asking a general question about WordPerfect (and not a question specifically about something you found on this site) please do not send me a private e-mail! Instead, please post your question in the WordPerfect for DOS forum at WP Universe instead of sending it to me as a private message.
I cannot promise to answer every question, but politely-worded messages are far more likely to be answered than others. I will not reply to messages that are written entirely in UPPER-CASE or entirely in lower-case (with, for example, "i am" instead of "I am"), or that are written without punctuation, or that are written in text-message shorthand (with, for example, "4 u" instead of "for you").
Note: If your e-mail service uses a challenge-response system that requires senders to click a link in order to authenticate themselves before you can receive the message (EarthLink SpamBlocker, for example), be very careful to add my address to your list of allowed senders before you send me an e-mail. Do not expect me to visit a web site in order to authenticate myself before I can reply to your question.
If you are asking for help about the information or drivers on this site, please include your WPDOS version (5.1, 5.1+, 6.0, 6.0a, 6.0b, 6.0c, 6.1, 6.2), your Windows version (95, 98, Me, NT, 2000, XP), and, if you have a question about printing, the full name of your printer (for example, HP DeskJet 990cse), not just the number ("HP 1100" can mean any of four completely different printers; I cannot help unless you include the full name of the printer), and the kind of printer connection you use (parallel port, USB, network, etc.). Also, if you are trying to print across a network or if you have WPDOS installed on a network drive, please give the fullest possible details about the kind of network you use (ordinary Windows network, Novell Netware, etc.), and whether or not WPDOS is installed on a remote network drive.
Also, before asking if a WPDOS printer driver is available for your new printer, please visit this site's WPDOS 5.1 driver page or WPDOS 6.x driver page. When the page is open in your browser, press Ctrl-F to bring up your browser's Find dialog, type some of the numbers or letters of your printer's name in the search or find field, and press Enter. For example, if you have an HP PSC-1210, type only the numbers 1210 in the search field; if you type anything more, you may not find the reference to your printer. Repeat the search if necessary until you find all references to your printer. If either of these pages reports that your printer can only work with WPDOS through the use of one of this site's methods of printing to any Windows printer, please do not waste your valuable time by writing to ask if there is a secret WPDOS printer driver that you can use to avoid setting up that method. If such a driver existed, I would rush to tell you about it.
If you are trying to use Smartype or PRD+ in Windows 2000 or XP according to the instructions elsewhere on this site, and you see an error message that says that no expanded memory is available, make certain that you have thoroughly studied the instructions on this site for modifying the memory settings of the desktop shortcut for a batch file.
If I ask you to "print to a file" and send me the "printfile," here is how to do it.
In WPDOS 5.1, use Shift-F7/Select/Edit/Port/Other and enter a filename (with the full path, as in c:\temp\output.prn or whatever filename you want). (Help! What does a "full path" mean?) Then "print" as you normally do, and the output will be sent to the filename that you specified; then use the same series of menus to change the Port setting back to what it was originally (probably LPT1).
In WPDOS 6.x, use Shift-F7/Select/Edit/Port/Filename and enter a filename (with the full path, as in c:\temp\output.prn or whatever filename you want). (Help! What does a "full path" mean?) Then "print" as you normally do, and the output will be sent to the filename that you specified; then use the same series of menus to change the Port setting back to what it was originally (probably LPT1). To print to a file in Windows applications, check the "Print to file" box in the Windows Print dialog; select a filename and a location where you can find the file after it is created.
Some problems with WordPerfect for DOS seem to have either (1) no known solution or (2) no solution that I know about, although someone else may have an answer. These problems include:
Please do not ask me for help with these problems. You may perhaps be able to find help with these problems on the WPDOS forum at WP Universe (free registration required before posting).
Q. Where can I find a WPDOS 5.1 printer driver for my new
printer?
A. See the WPDOS 5.1 printer driver page, and
read the frequently-asked questions near the top of the page.
Q. Where can I find a WPDOS 6.0, 6.1, or 6.2 printer driver for my new
printer?
A. See the WPDOS 6.x printer driver page, and
read the frequently-asked questions near the top of the page.
Q. I can't get WPDOS to work correctly under Windows XP.
Can you help?
A. See this site's Windows XP
compatibility page, and be prepared to spend an hour or more in studying its
recommendations.
Q. I can't get WPDOS to work correctly under Windows Vista.
Can you help?
A. See this site's Windows
Vista page, and be prepared to spend an hour or more in studying its
recommendations.
Q. Your printer-driver pages explain that some new printers
print smoothly from WordPerfect with one of your printer drivers, but that other
printers can only print from WordPerfect if I do some
fancy setup that requires more steps than I can even count. Can't you just
send me a driver that will let me print without reading and doing all that stuff?
A. No. If you want to avoid the complicated, fancy setup, take your
printer back to the shop and buy a printer that works with one of my drivers.
(But keep in mind that if you have Windows 2000, XP, or Vista, you can use this site's
automated installation which performs that complicated,
fancy setup for you.)
Q. I am a medical transcriptionist (or court reporter) and I
need help setting up my abbreviation-expander to use with WPDOS under
Windows.
A. See the medical transcriptionists'
survival guide elsewhere on this site.
Q. What is your opinion of the WPDOS 5.1 compatibility mode
included in recent versions of WordPerfect for Windows?
A. I think it is pointless and worthless, because it uses the
WPDOS keystrokes inconsistently; after you press a function key (or Alt-, Ctrl-,
or Shift-function key), the program does not open a WPDOS-style menu, but
instead opens the standard WordPerfect for Windows
dialog box that performs the function that you want to perform (footnote, font, format,
etc.). Other people seem to like it. If you want to know
more about it, download the WordPerfect for Windows Trial Edition from the
downloads page on Corel's web
site and try it yourself.
Q. Why don't you recommend the
DOSBOX emulation software as a platform for running WPDOS?
I am absolutely certain that DOSBOX is a far better solution than anything else you
describe on your site, even though I've never actually used WPDOS under DOSBOX
and have absolutely no experience with this wonderful and perfect solution (or:
even though I've never used DOSBOX at all, but I think I remember reading good
things about it). Why are you so stubborn, withholding, and
unhelpful?
A. Please see my answer to this
question elsewhere on this site.
Q. I have an old version of WordPerfect. Is there an
updater that will give me a new version? Even better, could you simply
send me a copy of WordPerfect for DOS, either by e-mail, or on a CD?
A. To obtain a copy of WordPerfect with a newer version
number than the one you already have, you must buy a copy of the newer version.
No
updater programs exist for updating 5.0 to 5.1 or 5.1+ or for updating 6.0 to 6.1 or
6.1 to 6.2. In other
words, if you have version a copy of 5.0 or 5.1,and you want 5.1 or 5.1+, you
must buy a copy of 5.1 or 5.1+. If you have a copy of 6.0, and you want
6.1 or 6.2, you must buy a copy of 6.1 or 6.2. See
this link for further information on obtaining WordPerfect for DOS.
Q. In the
WPDOS forum at wpuniverse.com you posted a link to some instructions on
this site. You said that those instructions would solve the problem that I
have been having on my new computer with WordPerfect. Without even trying
those instructions, I just know they won't work. Give me different
advice instead, and provide it as soon as possible.
A. If you already know that my advice will not work, before you have
even tried it, then you clearly know more about WordPerfect than
I do, and I can do nothing more to help. If, however, you eventually
decide to follow my advice, please let me know whether or not it works.
Q. In the
WPDOS forum at wpuniverse.com you offered a solution to a problem that I
have been having with WordPerfect, but I simply don't like your solution. It involves more
steps than I want to take and requires more time than I want to spend.
Please give me a simpler solution instead.
A. The solution that I offered is the
only way to solve
the problem that you described. If you don't want to solve the problem,
don't use my solution.
Q. Some of your instructions are simple, straightforward,
and really, um, boring. They're, like, linear. That kind of thing,
like, doesn't fit my clever, holistic personality, so I did
something complicated and, um, like, original instead. Now nothing works. I
can't, like, remember exactly which clever things I did, but I'm sure you can help
me sort it all out.
A. Please go back and follow the instructions, no matter how
boring and linear they may appear.
Q. I am so charming and lovable that all my friends
and acquaintances love to spend hours doing favors for me! When can you start
giving me advice on buying a new computer and installing WordPerfect on it?
A. Whenever you like! You sound like a splendidly
appealing person! All you need to do is pay my extremely high fee for
private consulting work! As soon as I receive my enormous retainer from you,
plus the enormous hourly fee (paid in advance) for the first few hours of work,
I will be delighted to begin! I don't charge much more than a high-powered
corporate lawyer will charge you for legal advice!
Q. [Extracts from an authentic e-mail message,
received from Ann P. on 26 November 2002.] Aren't you a dear for having
this site, but you are faced with a rank amateur ... We are trying to transfer hundreds of files into
[a new] computer. Is there a way to do this? And can you tell
me how in ... normal English?
A. Aren't you a dear for asking me to
provide a private consultation for no charge?
Q. [This is an authentic e-mail message, received from
Simon M. on 1 November 2005,
reproduced exactly as received.] Can you please make it easier to navigate trough your
sitemap. See it took me at LEAST 2 hours to find out that you were talking about
an program word perfect (wich i'm now downloading). can you please send the
program and a how to text to this e-mail. please. my best regards.
A. No.
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