WD98: Tab Settings in Tables Lost When Saving As Text Format

• Microsoft Word 98 Macintosh Edition

SYMPTOMS

If your Word document contains a table that is formatted with tab stops and tabs, some or all of the tabs may be lost when the document is closed and re-opened. This problem occurs if you save the document in any of the following formats:

• Text only
• Text Only with Line Breaks
• MS-DOS Text
• MS-DOS Text with Line Breaks
• Text With Layout--opened as Text Only
• Text With Layout--opened as Text With Layout

STATUS

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

MORE INFORMATION

When the Word document contains a table and it is saved in one of the formats listed in the "Symptoms" section of this article, the converter will do different things to the tab stops and tabs within the table. The results will vary depending on the type of format the Word document is converted to.

For example, if you have a 2-column by 2-row table containing the following tab stops and tabs

   ----------------------------------------------------------
   |     Left tab          |           Center tab           |
   ----------------------------------------------------------
   |              Right tab|              Decimal tab 3.445 |
   ----------------------------------------------------------

Text Only, Text Only w/Line Breaks, MS-DOS Text, MS-DOS Text w/Line Breaks

With these formats the conversion will remove the left, center, and right tab stops, but the tabs marks will remain. The decimal tab stops and tabs will be removed. The columns and rows of the table will be separated by paragraph marks. The above example will result in the following when saved as one of these listed file formats:

      --> Left<P>
      --> Center<P>
      --> Right<P>
   3.445<P>

Text With Layout Opened as Text Only

With this format, the conversion will maintain the rows, remove the tab stops and tabs, and will put spaces between the columns. The number of spaces depends on location of the tab stop. The sample table resemble the following when saved in Text With Layout and opened as Text Only:

   .............Left..........................Center<P>
   .................Right.................3.445<P>

Text With Layout Opened as Text With Layout

For the format of Text With Layout opened as Text With Layout, the conversion will place all entries on one line, tab stops will be removed, and spaces will be inserted between the entries. The number of spaces depends on the location of the tab stop. The sample table will result in the following when saved in Text With Layout and opened as Text with Layout:

   Left..........................Center.Right............3.445<P>

   ARTICLE-ID: Q155426
   TITLE     : WD: Tabs in Tables Lost When Saving As Text With Layout