WordPerfect problems with page numbers, footers, conversion

So I'm having a helluva time with WordPerfect. I switched over when I bought my Dell d1405 a couple months ago and converted all of my MS Word documents and have been having all sorts of problems, mainly related to page numbering and footers, but also just general annoyances (like making a change and not knowing how to fix it; WordPerfect seems overly complex for simple writing tasks--too many ways to screw up a document).

If anyone wants a go at it, the main problem is this: I can't reset page numbers and/or headers/footers. I have a novel with each chapter in different files; when I try to copy/paste them to one file so that I can print it out, it won't let me paginate them as one document--the page numbers are all over the place. Sometimes a page will think one character is on one page and the next character is on a different page! When I try to "set value" for each document so that Chapter One begins on page 1, Chapter Two on page 13, it won't let me do that--it gets confused. It seems to often want to start on page 6--when I enter in, say, page 34 for "set value," it changes it on me.

So I've been trying to clear out all page numbers and all footers--some pages have footers with the title of the book and page number--and I can't figure out how to do it. I want to just start over! How can I get my text on a clean document with no page numbers or footers? Or how can I clear them out entirely from old documents?

Any ideas? If this isn't the place to have this question answered, where should I go? Should I call my Dell tech support or will they not be able to help?

 

A secondary, but seemingly related, problem is that in some documents--not all--I can't seem to scroll or page down; the cursor seems stuck.

It shouldn't be this difficult.

 

this doesn't really answer conversion questions, but it seems like it would be easier (and more practical) to install Word and use it. it's much more common than wp and if you have to share docs with someone who does have word (which is pretty much everybody), they'll have the same problems you do.

 

Well the problem with that is that I've worked on these documents quite extensively over the last two months, so I wouldn't want to take my old Word versions from two months ago and use them; and I'm sure converting the WordPerfect versions back to Word would just be a nightmare.

 

In our school WP is more popular and widely used than microsoft word. The obvious reason is many of us find WP less buggy than MW. WP is also user friendly if you know the basic workaround on it of course.

 

I suggests three things:
1. make sure you have an updates installed for WP version you are using. this helps a lot especially on converting docs.

2. with regards to this question: "How can I get my text on a clean document with no page numbers or footers?"
Select the whole text by using the cursor as a guide. Don't use ctrl+A since this will copy header and footer. after this, paste it to a new document.

if this does not work. try this. click insert go to "header/footer" then click the applicable header/footer then click discotinue.

Hope this helps.

 

Couple of things to try:

1) Make sure you remove anything that looks like a header/footer from any of the documents. Chances are during the conversion they were changed into regular text. Then go back and re-create them.

2) Remember when formatting a document in WP, changes affect from the cursor forward. If you want to apply a consistant header/footer, make sure your're at the beginning of the document.

3) I think in WP there's a concept of Master Documents. That's probably what you need to manage your chapters - check the help files for it.

 

WordPerfect does not use "sections" for pagination like Word does. In WordPerfect, you simply ( simply! unlike anything done in Word!) insert a page number on a page.

Chances are, you have page numbering codes set in each individual chapter. To remove them, hit [Alt][F3] to reveal codes, then go to the first page of each chapter and delete the code. Alternatively, you can search and replace -- hit [ctrl]F, then with the "Find" field highlighted, go to "Match", "Codes...", and choose "Pg Num Set". Leave the "Replace" field blank (WordPerfect displays "<nothing>" or you can click in the field and delete everything there), then click "Replace".

You can get rid of headers and footers the same ways. Or any other codes.

As far as your stuck cursor is concerned, I've never encountered this in WordPerfect -- only in Word. Weird. Clicking in the document usually solves the problem, but I have no idea what causes it.

 

thats' all well and good while you're in that particular school, but i haven't seen WordPerfect used in a work setting for maybe 10 years. (this includes 3 years as an IT consultant traveling the USA, 2 years as in house IT support and 5 years as an attorney)

this would be an interesting Poll: Word or Wordperfect? and where do you use it.

also, i suspect the reason WP is used in your school is because when the two companies bid on providing software to your school, WP bid less. it really has nothing to do with the technical merits of either application.

what school do you go to? most universities i'm familiar with require MS Word.

 

^^^ 10yrs? Surprising, coming from an attorner, considering law firms were the last holdout of WP, since it was next to impossible to do Tables of Authorities in Word without some type of add in until recently (Office XP, was it, that they finally added it?). I'll give you 5.

 

nope, all my legal experience has been with Word and unfortunately .pdfs. for some reason, attorneys (except me) looooooooooove pdfs while i absolutely hate them.

keep your 5. i'm older than you think.

 

PDFs are popular for a couple of reasons, one of which is you can get Reader for free, so many government agencies like it for distributing info. There are also alot of security features built into the PDF format that other formats don't have, such as the ability to prevent printing & copy/pasting from the document, as well as the ability to use them as forms where the fields can then be captured into a DB. Also, when you have a PDF, it's always formatted exactly the same (vs. a Word document, which will re-format based on the current printer when opened). However, it's best used for distributing final documents, and is not really meant to be an editable word-processing format.

Edit - I may be older than you think, and have been around the block a few times as well, having been a partner in an IT firm that's done work in most of the top 10 NYC law firms, as well as up and down the East Coast.

 

1. I just downloaded and installed SP 3, so that the WordPerfect version is now 12.0.0.604.

2. I tried doing that but it is still having problems with the page numbers. It seems that the footers are gone and I CAN number the document from 1 on--which is much better than yesterday, and 75% of the battle--but when I try to do any other value--like 34--it wants to start me out on page 6. In other words, it seems that if I want to print out some part of the novel I have to do it from one manuscript so that the page numbers are consistent.

 

Very strange. I'd suggest you reveal codes ([alt][F3]) and just go through the whole manuscript page by page to see if there are some stray codes loafing around in there somewhere. Tedious, but it should get the job done.

 

How did you number your document? Try deleting all the page number. Then go to "Format", click "page", click "page numbering". this should do the numbering automatically without you inserting a number page by page. Hope this helps.