NWE loses page numbers when importing Word DOC file

[jtranter]

My wife runs a literary agency, and uses NWExpress (six months old). She has been castigating her authors for sending in electronic files of the typescripts of their work minus the required page numbers. (If you print out a typescript without page numbers, and accidentally drop the bundle of pages, it's hell trying to work out how to put them back again in the correct order.)

Imagine her chagrin when she (and I) discovered that Nisus Writer Express fails to import the page numbers that were there all along. Angry authors! Embarrassed agent!

Here, attached, is one such typescript (confidential, please) in the original DOC format it arrived with.

NWE fails to show the page numbers.
NWP shows the page numbers, but at the left-hand side of the page foot.
NeoOffice Writer and OpenOffice Writer both show the page numbers correctly: at the right-hand side of the page foot.

I will upgrade the two Nisus Express programs to Nisus Pro forthwith; meanwhile, you might like to know about the problem and perhaps fix it. Thanks,

JT

[mrennie]

Hi JT,

the import filters in Nisus Writer Pro are different from those used in Nisus Writer Express, and they are certainly more capable. I managed to open your document in Nisus Writer Pro with the page numbers intact (albeit on the left side of the footer area).

The problem results from an idiosyncratic approach to adding page numbers in Word. In Word, you can use the command Insert>Page Numbers to insert the page number. This method will create a floating text box with the page number inside the footer, which may or may not be interpreted correctly by other word processors (which is obviously not the case with Nisus Writer Express). The better approach in Word is to place the cursor in the Footer area and to insert the page number either via the Formatting Palette or by inserting a field. Doing so will result in a page number that is part of the text body, which drastically increases the chances of the page numbers being read correctly by the import filters of other non-Microsoft applications.

[martin]

mrennie has the right of it; the page numbers Word puts in using its automated feature are more likely to be lost in translation than manually inserted ones. I can only apologize for any embarrassment our importers may have caused you and your wife. We're always trying to improve our file imports, but it's a constant and dynamic battle.

Here, attached, is one such typescript (confidential, please) in the original DOC format it arrived with.

Though most of our forum members are super helpful, intelligent, diligent people who would no doubt respect your file's integrity, I must warn you that anyone can register for our forum. Anonymous users also have access. Basically, this is no place to post a confidential file. I've gone ahead and deleted your document attachment. In the future, you should submit confidential documents to us using our private support channels.

[jtranter]

Many thanks for your help, mrennie and martin. Our move to NWPro should alleviate the problem. And I take your point about confidential documents: thanks.

best

John