Text and Paragraph File Formats

Passing data between applications is an inexact science - don’t believe those who pretend otherwise!

Any productivity package which has anything unique to offer will almost certainly have its own unique data format to encapsulate the information it needs in its files. It is difficult for one application to read the data formats of other applications because of these different data structures. As a result, most applications provide facilities to save out a subset of information so that another application can import it.

PipeDream provides two plain text file formats to help transfer text to and from other word processors and desktop publishing (DTP) packages. These are Text format (formerly documented as 'ASCII' format) and Paragraph format. They are very simple and differ from each other in only one respect.

Saving in Text and Paragraph Format

Text is saved as plain text without any font style information. The only page layout information provided is TAB characters which separate columns. No formulae from number cells are saved; instead the current value of each cell is saved. Display formats are also saved so that if you are loading the file into a DTP package, you will get leading and trailing characters, thousands format and your brackets settings. If the data is to be loaded back into PipeDream, you may prefer to change the Options dialogue box settings so that only plain numbers are printed. Then, when you have reloaded the file, you will be able to use the Number<>Text command (Cmd-BNT) to convert the numbers back into numeric cells. The settings you need in the Options dialogue box are:

With Text format, PipeDream saves a line separator at the end of each line. You can specify the line separator in the Save dialogue box.

With Paragraph format, PipeDream puts a separator at the end of each paragraph. This is the format that DTP packages and many more recently written word processors use. In particular, you will probably find Paragraph format the best for saving to Impression and Ovation.

Loading in Text and Paragraph Format

PipeDream can also load files in both of these formats. To load a Text or Paragraph format file into PipeDream, simply drag its icon to the PipeDream icon on the icon bar. PipeDream will automatically determine what the format is and load the file appropriately.

Sometimes, it isn’t easy to tell the difference automatically between Text and Paragraph format files because the formats are so similar. If you find that PipeDream has made the wrong guess, reload the file forcing the correct format. To do this, bring up the Load dialogue box with the Load command (Cmd-FL). You will see that PipeDream has retained the filename of the last file loaded; this is the file you want to reload. Choose the correct file format at the bottom of the dialogue box and then click the Load button (or press Return↵). PipeDream will load the file in the correct format.

For information on See
Other formats First Word Plus
PipeDream
VIEW
ViewSheet
Saving numeric information CSV Format
Lotus 1-2-3 File Transfer