PC-Write Standard Level 2.01-2.02

Reference Manual Addendum
December 18, 1991

Installation

- "Formatted documents"

During installation, you choose whether you want Document Formatting to be
either 1) Automatic, or 2) Manual or unformatted. The first choice gives you
automatic one-inch margins, and turns on automatic formatting (auto-repage
and paragraph reformat). When the Getting Started booklet or the Reference
Manual refer to choosing to "create mostly formatted documents", we mean the
first choice.

Generally if you're new to word processing, or like the computer to manage
the details, pick Automatic. If you edit unformatted documents (like ASCII
files), or prefer to control formatting yourself, pick Manual. If you'll be
editing files created with earlier versions of PC-Write, pick Automatic if
you always edited them with auto-reformat on, otherwise pick Manual.

Don't worry too much about making the right choice; you can easily set the
margins and degree of automation you prefer later.

- Version 2.01 contains special support for Windows; see the file WINREAD.ME.

- For laptop users:

PC-Write works well on laptops. Here are some useful tips:

1. You can install and run PC-Write with only a single 720K disk drive.
Several auxiliary files (for example, the thesaurus) are installed to a
second diskette. PC-Write will prompt you to insert this disk when needed.
All PC-Write files fit easily on a 1.44M disk.

2. If your laptop screen is hard to read, two Customizer options may help:
Force a large, more visible, block cursor:
Screen options, Screen display, Monitor, Override cursor, Block cursor.
Leave every other screen line blank:
Screen options, Screen display, Screen lines, Spacing, Double spacing.

3. If your laptop has DOS 5.0 power management, use this Customizer option:
Screen options, Screen display, Monitor, Special, DOS 5.0 idle call.

4. If your laptop doesn't have the Grey+ and Grey- keys, use these instead:
Grey-: Ctl-O, or F11. Shf Grey-: Alt -, or Shf F11.
Grey+: Ctl-L, or F12. Shf Grey+: Alt +, or Shf F12.
To use F11 or F12, you must use this Customizer option:
Keyboard options, System type, Keyboard type, Extended, 12 function keys.

File Features

- Changing Directories in a File List

Any time you're viewing a list of files (File, List & open; or typing *.* or
F8 at a filename prompt) you can select any subdirectory name (they end with
a \) and press Enter. Then PC-Write lists the files in that directory.


Margin Features

- Temporary Indents

You can set temporary left, right, or paragraph indent positions. This is
handy when editing files without formatting, or to try out an indent for a
short time. Place the cursor at the indent position in a line, and press:

Ctl-[ Sets or clears a temporary left indent (left side of paragraph).
Ctl-] Sets or clears a temporary right indent (right side of paragraph).
Ctl-/ Sets or clears a temporary first line of paragraph left indent.

The symbols "[", "]", and "\" appear on the Status line when the matching
temporary indent is active.

- Long Dashes (M-Dash)

You may want a long dash -- as in this example, to set off a phrase. The
best way to do this is a Hard Hyphen followed by a normal hyphen, since
two normal hyphens in a row can get divided at the end of a line. To get
an M-dash that always remains intact, press Ctl-hyphen, then hyphen.

- Ruler Editing

When you're editing the Ruler line (Layout, Margin, Use ruler, Edit ruler;
or Ctl-F2) press the Shf-Grey- key to see the default Ruler line, or press
the Shf-Grey+ key to see the last embedded Ruler line in the document.


Paging Features

- Setting a Lower Page Number

You might set a page number (Layout, Paging, Page number; or .N) and give a
number smaller than the page before. This works fine when printing the whole
document (Print, All) but printing page-by-page (Print, View or Print, Range)
can't move forward to a page with a smaller number. To Print View or Print
Range in this case, place the cursor in the first part of the document and do
those pages, then move to the second part of the document and do the rest.


Merge Features

- Place Holders with Names

Place holders in a template document, such as {1} or {2}, show where input
fields will be placed. You can make these place holders more meaningful by
adding a dash and a name after the number, such as {1-Name} or {2-State}.

- Automatic Reformat with Merge

The Reference Manual tells you not to edit the input file with auto-reformat
on, since each input file line has exactly one record (if comma separated) or
one field (if line separated). But you may want to do the actual merge with
auto-reformat on to make output documents look better. Do this if you have a
place holder in a paragraph, and the field that replaces it could be short or
long. For example, a last name field could be "Ng" or "Anderson-Jacobson".


Help Features

- New Help menu item, Context

The Help pull-down menu has three items. They are:
Index: brings up the Help index page.
Context: brings help about the text at the cursor (same as F1 then F1).
Tutorial: brings up the Tutorial.


Printer Appendix

- Version 2.01 supports Postscript; see the file PSREAD.ME on the Printer disk.


PC-Write Wizard's Book

- This book is available separately from Quicksoft.


Font Selector Program

- This program is available separately from Quicksoft.



Notes on Other Products:


DOS 2.11

DOS 2.11 hangs when PC-Write looks for the mouse in the standard way.
To use DOS 2.11, install PC-Write, then edit the ED.DEF file with:
C>ed ed.def //*M:0,0,0,0,0

Then add the following line to the ED.DEF file:
*M:0,0,0,0,0


IMOUSE.COM (by J. Bond)

If you're using this mouse driver and get a Divide Overflow, fix this by:

1) Install PC-Write.
2) Don't load IMOUSE. Remove it from your AUTOEXEC.BAT file if necessary.
3) Run the Customizer with the DOS command CUSTOM.
4) Use the down and right arrow keys to select:
Keyboard options, System type, Reset repeat rate.
5) Press the space bar to select this item (mark it with X).
6) Press the left arrow key three times to get Save Changes, press Enter.
7) Open the ED.DEF file with PC-Write with the DOS command ED ED.DEF.
8) If it contains a line starting with *M, delete it.
9) You can now use the IMOUSE command. Put it in AUTOEXEC.BAT if you like.
10) Don't use these Customizer options:
Under Keyboard options:
Any Mouse 1 option except Mouse cursor
Any Mouse 2 option


Print Preview with Hercules "compatible" display adapters

If you can't do a screen preview, and you have a monochrome display adapter
that's supposed to be compatible with a Hercules graphics adapter, do this:

1) Open the ED.DEF file with PC-Write with the DOS command ED ED.DEF.
2) Look for a line that starts with &C. If you find one, delete it.
3) Add the following line:
&C:15

4) Don't use these Customizer options:
Under Screen Display, Screen Options, Monitor:
Override monitor or cursor
Special DOS idle time