WD: Tabs in Tables Lost When Saving As Text With Layout

• Microsoft Word for the Macintosh, versions 6.0, 6.0.1, 6.0.1a
• Microsoft Word for Windows, versions 6.0, 6.0a, 6.0c
• Microsoft Word for Windows 95, versions 7.0, 7.0a
• Microsoft Word 97 for Windows

SYMPTOMS

When you save a Word document as either Text with Layout or MS-DOS Text with Layout, and the document contains a table that formatted with tab stops, some or all tabs which were in the table may be lost when the document is converted.

CAUSE

When the Word for Windows document contains a table, the converter separates the table columns by using a tab in the text file. The converter has a limitation in which it cannot handle a right-aligned tab correctly. This tab is lost in the text file and a space is placed between the text instead of the tab. All other tabs are retained from the table: table column separators, left-aligned, center-aligned, and decimal-aligned.

Microsoft Word for the Macintosh also allows for the conversion of Word documents into other formats, such as Text with Layout. When the Word for Macintosh document contains a table, the converter separates the table columns, as well as the tabs within the columns, into space delimited columns. No tabs are retained. This includes the tabs for table column separators, left-aligned, center aligned, right-aligned, and decimal- aligned tabs.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the products listed at the beginning of this article. Microsoft is researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.