I have been following the problems that RTF has caused and I thought I would
describe what I do here.
This assumes that you have a Mac and Claris applictions (preferably MacWrite
Pro 1.5).
With the Newton Works XTND file in the Claris Translators folder you can
make direct translations from a Works-capable Newt to MacWrite and back
using NCU and the two documents will be identical in formatting.
With me, Works documents normally come from accumulating notes and outlines
with Twerx then doing some formatting in Works. Otherwise, I upload the
accumulated data as a works doc to my PowerBook and do the formating there.
In NCU, just press the Export Works button with the Newt connected, select
the documents to upload and choose MacWrite Pro 1.x format to save them in.
The doc will appear in MWP exactly as it did on the Newt including page
margins and everything. You can edit it and then dowload it back through NCU
again.
I have two MacWrite stationary files, one which is 109mm wide to accommodate
the MP2K in portrait and one 159mm wide for the eMate in landscape.
I copy my data from elsewhere into these, perform any necessary formating
then download them with NCU.
I have found that for some large Works documents, I prefer to keep a
reference doc in MWP on the PB and "publish" them back to the Newts where
they are needed. Data captured on the Newts is uploaded with X-Port (because
I use outlines a lot and it preserves the indenting), added to the reference
doc then copied back to the Newts.
A little refinement is that I have common stylesheets on the Newt
(WriteStuff) and in MacWrite so documents have a consistent appearance and I
have the necessary fonts on the Mac to display uploads correctly.
Using this approach means no intermediate files and fast transfers. MWP can
itself save in many formats and is supported by MacLink translators so can
be used as an intermediate to something else.
The integration between Newt Works and MacWrite is very good because they
are essentially the same core code. I still use MWP as my main WP - I really
like it and can't bear Office, though I know a lot of you are constrained by
work or platform into using it.
For those with a PC, I suggest (cheekily) that an old Mac that can be had
for virtually nothing (LCIII) will make interactions with the Newt much
simpler and more effective.
Incidentally, I only get -1 errors with NCU on the Mac if the Newt is
running short of heap. I usually soft reboot the Newt before connecting and
all is well.
Joel.
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