The WintextCom Documents feature uses the WintextCom Workspace folder.

WintextCom Documents enables you to create and access your documents, such as correspondence, using the WintextCom directory interface. You can easily create, work on and re-organise documents. You can move a document into an archive at the end of the WintextCom Documents list when you have finished working with it, or you can move it from this folder to a permanent location, or delete it.

You create a WintextCom document by simply creating an entry in the WintextCom Documents list available on the directory file menu or by pressing Control-K. You should type the document name in the name field, followed optionally by a description after a comma. You can type text to categorise the document in the information field, which WintextCom prefixes with a semicolon and appends an identity string of characters based on the date and time when the entry was created.

When you click or press ENTER on the entry, the document is created or subsequently accessed in the workspace folder. The filename consists of the text in the name field of the WintextCom list entry, up to, but not including, any comma, together with the text in the information field and a ".doc" or ".txt" extension. A ".doc" extension is appended if there is a template file for your word processor in the WintextCom home folder, Otherwise, a ".txt" extension is added. In either case, WintextCom documents are easily accessible from WintextCom's file manager, Windows Explorer or other software.

To use your word processor for WintextCom Lite documents, you need to create a document called "lpdocument.doc" in the WintextCom installation folder, "c:\WintextCom" by default. This file is provided with WintextCom in Windows Wordpad format. If you are using a different word processor, such as Microsoft Word, you should open "lpdocument.doc" and save it in the correct format; alternatively, each time you create and save a new document, you will be prompted to update the format for that particular document. If your word processor cannot process Windows Wordpad, you will need to delete "lpdocument.doc" and re-create it. To create a completely new document template, use the "New" item on WintextCom File Manage's file menu, or any other Windows facility associated with your word processor (Microsoft Office, for example, creates a new document shortcut on the start menu). This document serves as a template for WintextCom (light edition) to create a new document when you invoke a new document entry in the WintextCom Documents list. You can add text to it to create a template for initialising new work, such as a letterhead. If no template file is present, WintextCom creates a text document.

WintextCom II uses the document templates folder for the "lpdocument.doc" file. This file is also initially provided in Windows Wordpad format. Both WintextCom and WintextCom Lite will normally be able to create new documents immediately after installation.

You access documents in the WintextCom list simply by left clicking on their entry lines or highlighting them and pressing ENTER. Because of the date/time identity string, separate documents are created even if you use the same name in the list on a subsequent occasion.

WintextCom Documents does not restrict you to listing your documents in a discrete set of particular orders, as does listing a folder with Windows Explorer or the WintextCom file manger. You can re-organise your documents as you chose by individual document and by paragraph, and move them to the end of the list into an archive section if required. You can easily search for documents of a particular type by typing a semicolon followed by the category text you entered when creating the item, then using F3 to move to the next document in the same category. This allows you to easily use WintextCom documents for a range of purposes; however, you can also copy and rename the documents themselves from the WintextCom Documents folder ("work" in the WintextCom installation folder) to a permanent location on your computer, or include links in WintextCom Documents directly to other locations.

When WintextCom Documents is open, pressing Shift-sPACE will open the folder in the WintextCom file manager, or pressing Control-Shift-SPACE opens it in Windows Explorer. These keys also work in WintextCom Diary and Notes on the respective folders, when File Manager is started in Reading Mode. Using Shift-SPACE when no special directory list is open starts File Manager at the drive list in reading mode, or Control-Shift-SPACE opens your Windows documents folder ("my documents", for example) in Explorer.

WintextCom Documents entries can be set up to access documents in other locations with other programs, or perform any standard WintextCom menu operation. This is done by including a type field, which is separated from the name text by a semicolon.

WintextCom II offers powerful extensions to the documents feature, not supported by WintextCom Lite. You can specify a folder where the documents are placed on your computer, and the name of a document template. this enables you to set up as many document lists as you like, using different programs or the same program with different initialisations in the template. For example, you could set up a list for writing letters to a particular organisation or person, where each time you start a new letter, the document is created with both yours and their address already filled in. This feature can be useful if you frequently need to write a letter or memo to a particular recipient.

To set up a customised documents list, create a new directory file in the WintextCom installation folder. The first line of the file specifies the title of the directory window when the list is open, the path to the folder where new documents are placed, and the name or extension of the template file to use to create a new document. the general format of this line is:

",tTitle<Path*Template>".

The ",t" tells WintextCom that this is a command line, not to be included in the directory list as displayed.

After ",t", the text up to, but not including, the left angle bracket specifies the title of the directory list window when you have it open in WintextCom. Angle bracketed text is optional, you can use this line to just specify the title of any directory window (not just a documents list).

If angle brackets are included, either the entire text enclosed or the text up to, but not including, an asterisk ("*") is used to specify the folder in which documents are to be placed. This path does not need to be enclosed in quotation marks if it includes spaces. It must specify the exact path of the required folder. You can also specify the path for WintextCom Diary and Notes files in the same way, and the default folder for reading material.

An asterisk is an illegal character in a path. You can use an asterisk to terminate the path specification if you wish to specify a document template. The rest of the text in angle brackets specifies the name and/or extension of the file you wish to use as a template for new documents. If no path is included, the template is assumed to be in the WintextCom document templates folder. This folder is:

"document templates"

in the WintextCom installation folder. You will need to create the template here unless you place it somewhere else and specify the full path to it. If the template definition text begins with a period, just the extension is used and and a file called "lpdocument" with that extension must be present as the template n the WintextCom document templates folder.

Once the new list in initialised as above, you need to set up a WintextCom directory link, or submenu item, to it in your default documents list (that is displayed when you press Control-K or select the WintextCom Documents item on the directory file menu). Create an item with the exact name of the file in the name field (the path is assumed to be the WintextCom installation folder) and just a colon in the information field. When you press ENTER to close the store item dialogue with just a colon in the information field, a submenu item is created that opens the directory list specified in the name field.

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WintextCom Support for Writing and Printing Letters, Etc.