Brother International WP1700MDS Owners Manual - English - Page 89

Using Your Brother Word Processing Files in a PC or Using a PC File in Your Brother Word Processor You may wish to use the word processing data you create on your Brother Word Processor in a personal computer or vice versa. To do this, you must be sure that the files are compatible. This means that the files must be in ASCII format and that the files must be contained on a 720K or 1.44M DOS formatted diskette. • 720K or 1.44M Formatted Diskettes The first step in making the data compatible is the diskette format. The Brother Word Processor recognizes the type of diskette (720K or 1.44M) and formats the diskette to the corresponding DOS compatible format. So, taking files from your Brother Word Processor to an IBM compatible PC is simple. 00ocwc. However, if you plan to move data from a PC to your Brother Word Processor, you cc must be sure that the diskette containing the file is formatted to a 720K or 1.44M DOS format. The file must also be stored in the root directory on the diskette. You can format your diskettes on the PC or on your Brother Word Processor. Your PC manual should list the steps necessary to complete this operation. However, many PC users find it difficult to format diskettes on a PC. In that case, format the diskette on the Brother Word Processor, insert the diskette into the PC and save the ASCII file to the diskette. (Be sure to save in the root directory.) • Converting a File to ASCII Format Word Processors and computers do not store data in the same format. In order to transfer your text files from your word processor to a computer, or vice versa, the files must be converted to a standard text format that both units can understand. This standard format is called ASCII. The CONVERT function transforms your text files from the word processing format to an ASCII format. It can also transform ASCII file format files that were created on a computer into the word processing format that your word processor uses. • What is an ASCII File An ASCII file, which contains text, is stored in a format called ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange). It consists of printable data containing no special formatting codes for underlining, boldface, etc. These special formatting features, such as underlining, do not translate correctly between your word processor and a computer. Therefore, when a file is converted to ASCII, all special formats are eliminated. Once the file is transferred, the file must be reformatted and any special effects must be added. Conversions to, or from ASCII files are carried out according to the IBM PC Code page 437. For details about code page switching, refer to your DOS manual (DOS command mode device codepage). A table on page 276 shows all characters that can be correctly converted. Characters which are not included in that table are converted into blank spaces. 79