Displaying an RTF Correctly

English
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#1

This is a bit complicated. I have a volunteer who creates RTF files in Word and sends them to me to convert to text files to display on a website. I’ve always used WordPad to open these files, copy them and paste to my text editor. Suddenly, I have no longer have WordPad (Windows 11) and my amazing Writer has taken on its duties. Unfortunately, it doesn’t open them in a way that I can use. When I try to save as a text file or copy and paste to a text file, I get one long paragraph with no columns (tabs). I was able to open the file in Google Docs and then paste it to Calc but I can’t go from Writer to Calc. I’m wondering if I need to change a setting in Writer to make it more compatible.

Screenshot of original RTF file.

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image714×983 194 KB

Screenshot of RTF from Writer.

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image800×796 70 KB

Screenshot of finished TXT file.

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image939×812 87.8 KB

#2

Drop the usage of rtf and suggest to use .DOC or .docx instead… (.doc only if your volunteer uses something very old, wich can not produce .docx.)

#3

Are you able to post a small sample?
I see that the font is different, do you have the font needed for the file? If the font shown in Writer font field is in italics then you are using a substitute font.
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As Wanderer says, it is better to use a non-obsolete format, just get him to send you the file in .docx (.doc is also obsolete).

#4

I can paste a sample of what Writer is doing. I’m guessing that “XE” is maybe a formatting code? I’m fairly new to Libre and I haven’t learned much about it. I also know that the 1 character wide column (in the 2nd screenshot) is actually that - a very narrow column - but I don’t know how to adjust that in Writer.

XE "MAESTASAdela "MAESTAS SURNAME MORA COUNTY, NEW MEXICO

ALBUQUERQUE MAIN LIBRARY FILM

La Junta de los Rios (Watrous) Baptisms Film 0017836 Marriages 0017840

Mora Baptisms Films 0016837 & 0016839 Marriages 1930435 & 1930436

1845 Los de Mora Census VIRGINIA LANGHAM OLMSTED

Census - usgwarchives.net & familysearch.org

DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF FRAY ANGELICO CHAVEZ, OFM

MAESTAS, Adela (F)a
XE "NMMora " Baptism 12 Apr 1891 in Mora, NMa
XE "NMMora Co.Ojo Feliz " Birth Ojo Feliz, Mora Co., NMa

#5

Nope, it doesn’t paste well.

#6

Pasting is no good, it is re-interpreted by the web page. Use the up-pointing arrow (7th icon from left) to upload a document. Or you can drag a document from the file manager on to an open comment text area. You might need to add an extension of .odt to the file name to fool the web page.

Make sure that you can see the table boundaries. Click the View menu and make sure that Table Boundaries is ticked or highlighted. Hover over the cell boundary until you see a double-headed arrow then click and drag to widen.

#7

Is there any table? I think, this one is about tabs.

#8

Great! I can see the boundaries now and was able to widen the first column but it still has “extra” text in the first column that starts with XE in most cases.
METZGER.odt (40.5 KB)
This is a smaller file.

#9

I wasn’t really sure until I showed the boundaries but I know she uses Word to create a table.

#10

Thanks! I’ve asked her to send a copy saved as a doc or docx.

#11

Word supports odt which is the widely compatible document format since 2004.

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