[stylist] Word to ASCII Translation in Recent Word Versions

[Peter Donahue]

Good afternoon everyone,

    Yesterday I was made aware of some problems on one of the Web sites I 
manage where characters were either added or mistranslated when I converted 
content submitted to me in Microsoft Word to Text for inclusion on site 
pages. We're currently using Microsoft Word XP which is notorious for 
mistranslating native documents in to ASCII. We're talking about things like 
appostrophies being replaced by question marks or a question mark appearing 
beside an appostrophy, or quotation marks being translated in to 
appostrophies. This is not the kind of thing you want happening if you're 
producing documents to share with others or to post on the Internet.

    I'd like to know if Microsoft addressed this problem in Word 2003 or 
2007 as we're contemplating an upgrade from Office XP to Office 2007. Any 
thoughts, suggestions, recommendations and other feedback will be very much 
appreciated. Thanks for the help.

Peter Donahue


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