I have a couple of existing files that I was working on for a while. Just after buying a new computer, I was unable to open some old files using UTF-8 formatting. The text just appears as random symbols. I know it used to be easy to change in the formatting dialogue box, but I can't get it to work now. There is still the same set of symbols. I also can't get it to stay as plain text.
I think this is what you want:
File/Options/Advanced
Scroll to General and select Confirm file format conversion on open
In theory, that should ask you which file format when you open the file again. Choose the correct format and you should be all set.
The key here is that the Word files are not UTF format, only the converted files are. The actual formatting of Word files are based on enabling Word's features (i.e. being able to 'roll back' changes).
I solved the problem, and it was far more complicated than just 'UTF-8' encoding, something with which I'm extremely familiar.
Thanks. When I use the Confirm File Format Conversion on Opening, I get a dialogue box asking me to change the format. I can't seem to change anything in there. I'd like it to stay as plain text, but the only way I can see the text is by changing the font of the entire document. Some fonts have the text appear, but the formatting needs a lot of work. Perhaps that is the best that can be done.
If you DM me, I'll provide an email address and convert the file for you (I'm positive my Mac can do it).
It sounds like it's more than fonts and font sizes, possibly non-dynamic mono-spacing rather than adaptive spacing, where each character is its own width.
If you "i" is the same width as your "m", then you're using monospacing—which is easier to see for older eyes, yet it does change how the text appears on the page.
However, you really can't change the font of specific lines to segments. You can, say if you want to include the dialogue spoken in a foreign tongue, but generally, you use a specific font rather than randomly switching them, as doing that makes it much more difficult cleaning it up afterwards.
Also, certain fonts are more distinctive than others. If your 't's have little tails, then you have "serif" fonts, if not you have "non-serif" fonts (which makes a difference when speed reading, as it makes it easier to distinguish patterns at a glance, essentially observing the word without actually reading it.
Still, your best strategy is to pick a specific font and then make it your standard default font and not switching them around without a specific reason.
As a graphic-designer, I've long designed my own covers as well as formatting each of my books (SOL only allows limited formatting changes, which is better for most authors).
It sounds like it's more than fonts and font sizes, possibly non-dynamic mono-spacing rather than adaptive spacing, where each character is its own width.
This is NOT it. I've seen the file and resolved the OPs difficulties.
It was a text-encoding problem, complicated by MS Word and Windows code pages.
It was a text-encoding problem, complicated by MS Word and Windows code pages.
A well-known problem, as Word maintains each documents entire history in its coding. So I've posted directly from Word, as I typically covert it to html, stripping that extraneous coding, then re-converting to whatever format is required.
Unfortunately, Calibre, the handiest conversion tool, duplicates every single label, making my 'clean' conversions a mess, as Calibre's conversions from Word or much worse than Word's default.
Then again, converting to UTF (as SOL prefers) should resolve those Windows code pages, once you've cleaned the html, of course.
Unfortunately, Calibre, the handiest conversion tool
How is that handier than save as html in Word?
Just write in plain text with Markdown + SOL tagged formatting. No problems, ever. No extra encoding, no history, etc.
I use file versioning for history, and it's simple to convert those plain text files to anything I need with Scrivener, Pages, or just about any other tool
I'm too old-school, trained to use WORD when working in business as a technical consultant, where they required its use. However, I've never trusted markdown, as a 'structured' tool, like WORD and a couple of others, you can set the standard for whatever paragraph you want, and it'll automatically adjust to that standard on the fly.
Whereas most Markdown work I've read, have NO structure of any kind, and since I've always preferred using established publishing standards, I also dislike those works which have none of any kind. Those are just painful wading through.
In fact, for promising stories, I've often copied the text and transmitted it to Word so it's easier to correct the many, many typos and mistakes.
In fact, for promising stories, I've often copied the text and transmitted it to Word so it's easier to correct the many, many typos and mistakes.
On the contrary, it's FAR, FAR easier to do that in BBEdit with Grammarly than in Word. Far less bloat, no silliness with Word formatting, and the ability to change every instance of a string across 15,000,000 words in 2s or less. Ditto for searching for any string (including regular expressions) across all 15,000,000 words in 2s or less. Text replacements can also include regular expressions.
In addition, by having the files in a private GitHub repo, I can trivially roll back to any version of any individual chapter (ditto with my backups, though they don't respect versions the way git does, just what happens to be on disk at the time).
Markdown feeds directly into Scrivener, where I can set all the formatting rules, by output type (ePub, PDF, Word) and that formatting doesn't interfere with my text in any way, shape or form. Oh, and none of it is proprietary.