How to open Word document when Word version unknown?

[Phil]

I'm writing a setup routine that needs to open a word document after
installation. What command will ensure that a version of word will
open given RTF file?

I tried "WordPad c:\path ...\file*.rtf" and it opened my file but was
missing lots of info (from Equation editor). Ideas?

Thanks,

Phil

 

[Jay Freedman]

I'm writing a setup routine that needs to open a word document after
installation. What command will ensure that a version of word will
open given RTF file?

I tried "WordPad c:\path ...\file*.rtf" and it opened my file but was
missing lots of info (from Equation editor). Ideas?

Thanks,

Phil

All versions of Word will open RTF files. The problem is how embedded
objects are handled.

Equation Editor is actually an external program that Word calls to render
and edit equation objects. If the RTF contains objects created by Equation
Editor, you must have at least the same version of the Equation Editor in
order to render them. EE went from version 2.0 to version 3.0 at Word 97.
All Word versions from that point to the present use version 3.0 of EE.
Version 3.0 will open objects created by version 2.0, but not vice versa.

The only report I could find of a problem with RTF conversion and Equation
objects is http://support.microsoft.com?kbid=157546. That involves
transferring files from Word 6.0 or Word 95 to Word 97 and back again -- are
you dealing with versions that old?

WordPad is *not* Word, it's a completely separate program that is able to
open most Word documents, but it doesn't have all the same features. It does
support Equation Editor, though, in the same way that Word does -- it calls
the external program to deal with the embedded object. If the version of EE
on the system is too old, you'd have the same problem.

Anyway, there isn't any command that you can use to "ensure that a version
of word will open given RTF file" -- there's no way to know until the file
opens successfully, opens with problems, or doesn't open at all.

 

[Phil]

Jay you missed my problem. I'm searching for a 'command line' way to
open whatever version a user has of word. In VB6 something like submit(
notepad, "myFileName") but instead of 'notepad' what should i use to
get word to open?

Phil

 

[Jay Freedman]

Jay you missed my problem. I'm searching for a 'command line' way to
open whatever version a user has of word. In VB6 something like
submit( notepad, "myFileName") but instead of 'notepad' what should i
use to get word to open?

Phil

WinWord

The name of the executable is WinWord.exe. It has been that since the first
version of Word for Windows.

 

[Charles Kenyon]

Not sure, but try winword.exe.
--
Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide


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[Phil]

Winword did the trick ... Thanks!

Phil