PERFECT WRITER NOTES
by Harry Ingham, WLAKUG, December 1987

(Some more tips on using Perfect Writer.)

1.  It's ok to move your screen margin father to the right.  This
can be done in the installation program, or you can do it by
punching control-X and then F, which sets the right margin
wherever the cursor is when you give the command.  Of course, if
you do it that way it will go away when you leave PW.  Moving the
margin has no effect on the output to the printer, but it gets
more text on the screen, if you look up and down the text a lot. 
I set my right margin way out at 70.

2.  I have a feeling that this remark will be a revelation to
some, and very old news to others:  you can keep a file of format
commands on your A disk, along with PW and whatever else you keep
there, and include it with the control-I command at the beginning
of every document.  After you get the hang of it, you may want to
keep one for  each type of output.  For letters and submissions,
your file can include your name and address, etc.

3.  If PW shows some funny characters, like !!!!@^&GG$%^&{[ then
the three best bets are as follows:  A.  You are trying to read a
.COM or data file with PW.  If there  are only a  few words  or a
few lines of readable text in the file, this is likely.  If there
is lots of readable text but it's mixed with a few funny looking
characters, then try case B: the file is damaged.  See if you
have a clean version in your backup files.  You DO keep backups,
don't you?  If the file is mostly OK but seems to have a few
arrows pointing upwards, tildes, and sequences that look like
M^J^, then try possibility C: you need to strip the file with
PIP.  Give PIP a normal order to copy the file, and then add [Z]
to the command.  For instance, to strip MINE.TXT, type PIP
MINE.TXT=MINE.TXT[Z]

4.  If you use the PW menu, this will not work.  Either skip this
paragraph, or quit using the PW menu.

Now:  If you have ZCPR or PluPerfect, then run PW from the B
disk.  That is, put your Perfect Writer disk in the A drive, and
your text disk in the B disk as usual, but then type b: to get to
the B disk, and type "PW" from there.  This saves you from having
to remember to type B: all the time, and keeps your A: disk from
gradually filling up with files you've forgotten to type the B:
for.  In other words, every time you type the name of a .MSS
file, it will automatically look for it on the B disk, whether
you are calling a file up or sending a finished file to disk.