OFFICE 12.5

The major new feature in Papyrus OFFICE 12.5 is a major update for compatibility to MS-Word formats. Users who exchange MS-Word documents (especially for the newest versions of MS-Word) will benefit greatly from this improvement.

Feature List of Enhancements in Papyrus OFFICE 12.x

1. "Multiple Undo"
1.1. Recreating undone changes (Redo)
1.2. Undo with "Seven League Boots" - the Undo-Popup
1.3. Tips and Tricks about Undo

2. Papyrus documents in Portable Document Format (PDF)
2.1. PDF in general and their implementation in Papyrus 12.5
2.2. PAP / PDF Hybrids - true PDF, but editable in Papyrus

3. New features for text processing with Papyrus WORD
3.1. New dictionaries for spell checking
3.2. Converting between typographical and ASCII quotation marks
3.3. Papyrus WORD: Title, Topic, Author, Company, Keywords
3.4. Underlining
3.5. Import and Export of MS-Word .DOC format improved
3.6. Complete Unicode and improved keyboard layout support
3.7. Isolated graphic objects (text reflow)
3.8. Absolute height for table rows
3.9. Dialog for form fields, new "check" fields
3.10. Save all pictures in the document
3.11. Default storage for imported pictures
3.12. Running Papyrus from USB memory sticks

4. New features in the Database section - "Papyrus BASE"
4.1. New "changed" fields, including "User" and "Computer"
4.2. Adjusting database forms to conform to field changes
4.3. Sorting report templates
4.4. Data record number in the data entry window
4.5. Names for stored queries
4.6. Selected data records remain when editing data
4.7. Each record on a new page of tabular reports
4.8. Papyrus BASE: Date export for ASCII and CSV files
4.9. Just for fun (and as an example): Sudoku Database

5. Minor changes and enhancements
5.1. Tip-Dialog
5.2. Improved support for Dual Displays
5.3. Papyrus WORD: Edit / Special Menu
5.4. Papyrus Word: Improvement in the Paragraph and Text Style dialogs
5.5. Papyrus Word: File extension "*.pav" for templates
5.6. Papyrus Word: Ruler marks for drag operations

6. Differences in Papyrus 12.5 (from V.11)
6.1. Hyphenation after slashes "/"
6.2. Line breaks now with Shift+Return
6.3. Papyrus WORD/BASE: Results of division operations
6.4. Standard font for databases now has Unicode characters
6.5. Deleting and inserting lines in (report) tables with cell references

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1. "Multiple Undo"

The requirements made by modern software (as well as requests made by many users) have moved us to implement a new undo, now allowing multiple steps.
In Papyrus 12.5, you may "take back" any number of changes made to your documents, including text, graphic, or table operations. The only limitation imposed is controlled by the size of memory in your system (see below).

1. Recreating undone changes (Redo)


Recreating the state of a document to the way it appeared before an Undo was performed is called "redo" (this "puts back" the change that was "undone").
Another explanation is that "Undo" moves from the current state "backwards" in time (toward the original document), whereas "Redo" moves forward (toward the most recent editing step). After you perform an Undo, you can (if you wish) then cancel it (Redo).


2. Undoing with "giant steps" using the Undo-Popup


The toolbar contains an Undo popup with curved arrows to the left and right on either side for Undo and Redo.
As the document is edited, each action performed is added to the list in the popup (following "<Start>", see the example above), and may be "undone" freely as desired. The left arrow is the "Undo" button (used to go back to previous steps), the right arrow is the "Redo" button, used to cancel each Undo, thus returning back towards the most recent document state. Each button click performs one Undo or Redo step.
On the other hand, if you wish to undo or redo more that just a few steps, the popup may be used to jump over multiple steps in an instant. Selecting a step directly from the popup returns the document immediately to the state it had when that change was made.


3. Tips and Tricks for Undo and Redo

After you cancel a number of changes with Undo, if you then make any new (manual) changes to the document, you eliminate the ability to use Redo to take back the cancelled changes.

For this reason, Papyrus warns you when more than 10 Redo-Steps are discarded. Clicking on "Continue" confirms the (manual) change just made, and the Redo-Buffer is cleared.
For "block drag" operations, moving text blocks or graphic objects between documents, the operation will be undone (or redone) concurrently in both documents, but only when exactly one operation is involved, and both documents are in identical "undo" states (it always remains possible to undo as many steps as desired in either document exclusively).
The Miscellaneous page of the Options notebook contains a setting that controls the maximum amount of memory used for the undo buffer.

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2. Papyrus documents in Portable Document Format (PDF)

1. PDF in general and their implementation in Papyrus 12.5

Papyrus 12.5 allows the creation of PDF files - directly from Papyrus, simply by saving any Papyrus document as a PDF file.
PDF is the most common universal document exchange format, permitting files to appear in exactly the same form, no matter what computer or operating system is used. For text documents intended for Internet distribution, for doctoral theses, scientific papers, or for any sort of information archive, PDF is the format of choice.
For over 15 years, PDF documents have been used with every significant operating system (Windows, Mac OS X, Unix, Linux, Windows Mobile, Palm, OS/2, etc.) to display (and print) documents corresponding exactly to the original, intended form. For this reason, the PDF (Portable Document Format) specification originally created by Adobe has become a de facto worldwide standard.
For each operating system, there is a display and print program supplied by Adobe: the so-called Acrobat Reader, which is available to everyone free of charge via the Internet (see www.adobe.com).
The PDF files generated by Papyrus may be opened with any PDF program (such as Adobe's Acrobat Reader), and are highly efficient, fully compatible, and offer a range of options (such as resolution, to control the file size). Hypertext elements (such as links and tables of contents) are implemented completely in the PDF.
The PDF format used by Papyrus largely follows the ISO-standard recently defined for "PDF/A", and will be adjusted by R.O.M. to completely fulfill this important new ISO definition.

Papyrus gives you direct access to virtually every feature made possible by the PDF format:

• Embedded character fonts, including complete Unicode support (such as those used in foreign alphabets)
• Bitmaps and WMF/EMF vector graphics
• Notes: Text objects with the option "visible only on screen" are output as notes
• Table of contents: Headers with the attribute "include in table of contents"
• Hyperlinks: within the document, to Internet addresses, or to external files
• Author, Title, Topic, Keywords
• Forms with data entry fields and checkboxes

The Papyrus Help-Menu ("?") now contains a new key topic about " Creating PDFs with Papyrus".
2. PAP / PDF Hybrids - true PDF, but editable with Papyrus

Exporting to PDF format is normally a "one way street": PDF files are normally not editable (and if so, then only in a limited fashion, excluding some text processing features). Papyrus OFFICE 12.5 offers a simply elegant solution for this problem: since the PDF format permits embedding binary data, Papyrus 12.5 simply includes the necessary text information (in other words, the Papyrus file itself) in the PDF file, which then remains available for Papyrus to read.
The resulting PAP/PDF hybrids are a unique invention for Papyrus. For the first time, this permits complete PDF compatibility for files that may be re-edited at any time, without restriction. Since Papyrus files are remarkably efficient, the exported PDF files are increased only marginally in size, but most important, they remain completely compatible with every PDF display and print program!
The document type PAP/PDF (optionally using the extension *.PAP.PDF, or simply *.PDF, as you choose) can be opened and read with any version of Acrobat Reader, but because of the "hidden" text data in Papyrus format, it remains freely editable when opened in Papyrus 12.5 - Papyrus handles PAP/PDF files as normal Papyrus documents.
The PAP/PDF Format should be especially interesting for anyone who needs to archive documents. Until now, there has never been a universal format that could be so easily modified and updated.
An extra benefit of the editable PDF format is that it is no longer necessary to Search for the original text file used to generate the PDF - the information needed is already there.
If you choose, Papyrus can also generate "pure" PDF files (not including the embedded data in Papyrus format). This may be desirable for files that should not be modified by the recipient.
To set whether Papyrus saves PDF files as pure PDF data or as a PAP/PDF hybrid, open the "General" page of the options notebook under Import / Export.

The Papyrus Help-Menu ("?") now contains a new key topic about " Creating PDFs with Papyrus".

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3. New features for text processing with Papyrus WORD

1. New dictionaries for spell checking

We have integrated the newest dictionaries from our Canadian supplier (Wintertree) with our own long-standing extensions (including all the suggestions sent to us by you, our loyal customers). The logical result is the best spell checking that Papyrus has ever had. Of course you may continue to use your own additions and custom dictionaries, which remain completely compatible with Papyrus OFFICE 12.5.
2. Converting between typographical and ASCII quotation marks

This new feature in the "Edit" > "Special" menu works on a marked text block or (after asking for confirmation) on the entire document. The kind of typographic quotes converted to (or from) is taken from the setting chosen on the Keyboard page of the Options (Win) or Preferences (Mac) notebook (only the type of quotes selected there are affected). The options notebook page also contains separate buttons to perform these same conversion functions.
3. Papyrus WORD: Title, Topic, Author, Company, Keywords

There is a new page available under "Document" -> "Document Properties" -> "Author etc.", which allows you to specify various items of information for each document. These fields are also used when exporting documents to PDF, RTF, and HTML files.
"Title": Description of the document. If no Title has been specified, the file name will be used as the title (when exporting). For unnamed (new) documents, the contents of the first non-empty paragraph in the document will be used. Title corresponds to the field that previously appeared under HTML-Title (this page is now called "HTML-Header").
"Topic" is an extension to the Title, especially useful for exporting to PDF and RTF formats.
"Author" (for new or edited documents, where no other Author has been specified) will be set to the user name currently logged on (in the operating system).
"Company" can be used to indicate a company name for the document, if desired. Company is also useful for PDF and RTF exports.
"Keywords" are a list of search terms, separated by spaces (used exclusively when exporting PDF and RTF formats).
4. Underlining

Papyrus now generates underlining itself, instead of depending on operating system and graphic driver functions. This has solved a number of problems with various graphic card drivers, which provided insufficient support for operating system generated underlining. In addition, it leads to a noticeably better appearance, and avoids the problems that occur when underlining Small Caps, or other special combinations.
5. Import and Export of MS-Word .DOC format improved

These functions have been continually reworked and vastly improved (due in no small part to suggestions provided by users):
• 90/270 degree rotations in table cells (180 degrees is not supported, this is a limitation imposed by RTF)
• Vertically joined table cells (previously only horizontal joining was permitted)
• Vertical table cell borders as well
• Table cell line styles
• Improved support for .DOC files generated by OpenOffice
• Highlighter color / highlighter text (comment text exported as remark)
• Text background color
• Improved recognition of landscape formats
• Hypertext Links (HYPERLINK fields) and Labels
• Table cell background colors from newer versions of Word
• Unicode - International special characters supported (some used to appear as a question mark "?")
• Word-compatible handling for international special characters in the MacOS-Codepage. Previously, these sometimes were not imported correctly. As it turns out, if "\mac" appears at the beginning of the document, it is necessary to ignore all subsequent codepage instructions, if the document is to remain compatible to MS-Word in regards to the special characters. This does not agree with the RTF specification, but MS-Word needs it that way.
• Improved character font assignment, alternative font names are now interpreted correctly.
• MacOS: parsing of the OLE stream now works much more dependably.
• Corrected error: occasionally the character font in an imported document would switch back to the document default (normally Arial) for no apparent reason, sometimes even in the middle of a word (this resulted from "crooked" data structures in MS-Word).
6. Complete Unicode and improved keyboard layout support

Under Windows NT/2000/XP the Unicode versions of system calls are now used wherever possible. This means that you can use (for instance) cyrillic or greek keyboard layouts to enter text in all dialogs. Support for multiple (directly selectable) keyboard layouts now works completely via Unicode.
Unicode is also supported for path and file names; for instance, you could even name a document Русский.pap.
The entry in Papyrus‘ text windows and dialogs should now (with help of Windows Text Services) support all languages that use latin alphabets, or variants thereof, including - (European Latin and extended Latin): Polish, Czech, Croatian, Rumanian; (Cyrillic): Russian, Ukrainian; (Greek Alphabet): ancient and modern Greek; and finally Hebrew. Languages that use other alphabets may or may not work, and may require some additional adjustments.

Limitations: Command line functions do not support Unicode file names (this includes double-clicking on files on the Windows desktop, since the file name is passed to the program via a command line call); Tooltips use only the ANSI layout.
Under Windows 95/98/ME Unicode is only partially supported. Given the rate that these system versions are disappearing from the market, it is not feasible to provide complete Unicode support. Dialogs will continue to display the [U+nnnn] representations for special characters under Win 95/98/ME. Text entry with special keyboard layouts will work in document windows, but switching between keyboard layouts under Win 95/98/ME may not work: if a dialog has the system "focus", the operating system cannot inform Papyrus about the keyboard layout switch.
7. Isolated graphic objects (text reflow)

Under "Graphics" -> "Object properties" -> "Word wrap" it is now possible to "isolate" objects from the text, meaning that no text appears either to the right or the left of the object, as long as the object is at least partly within the text margins (or column).
8. Absolute height for table rows

In addition to the "minimum" height for table rows, it is now possible to define a fixed cell height. When a table cell contains more text than can fit in the space defined, it nevertheless keeps its size, and an overflow indicator appears (a red cross). This can be used for tables that should always keep a specified layout, no matter what they contain.
9. Dialog for form fields, new "check" fields

For each text object, it is now possible to select (under "Graphics" -> "Object Properties" -> "Form field") whether the text object should become a entry field, when the document is converted to a form. You can choose between a text entry field and a check field.
The previous method to specify form fields (selecting all the text objects, and then changing the document type to "form") is still allowed. If there are text objects selected when the document is converted to a form, Papyrus will ask whether these objects should be used as entry fields.
Check fields may be text objects of any size, which may also contain text. For fields containing text, you should leave about a half inch (15 mm) on the left side, for the cross that appears when the user checks the field.
It is also possible to define table cells as text entry or check fields.
To use the document as a form, you must change the document type to "Form" (under Document / Document Properties / Document Type).
Form fields (including both text and check fields) are also exported into PDF format, but only when the document type is set to "form".
10. Save all pictures in the document

The context menu for pictures in the picture catalog now permits you to convert all pictures stored as file references to pictures stored in the document itself. This is especially useful for documents that you wish to distribute (to make sure that the pictures are always transferred with the document).
11. Default storage for imported pictures

There is now a document setting for whether pictures should be stored in the document, or as a file reference (under Document / Document Properties / Imported pictures). If "Ask" is selected, a dialog will appear for each newly imported picture, asking whether to store it in the document, or as a file reference. This dialog also offers buttons for "Always in document" or "Always as file reference", when then sets the document setting to the appropriate value.
12. Running Papyrus from USB memory sticks

A number of small changes have been made to permit Papyrus to operate without problems from USB drives and other removable media. All paths which are located on the drive where Papyrus is running from, are now stored internally without a drive letter in the Papyrus settings (Windows: options, or Mac: preferences). This means that when the reference letter for a USB stick or other removable drive changes (such as from "E:" to "G:", or even becomes a network reference such as "//server.usb-drive/"), all (relative) paths that refer to files on the USB stick will still work properly.

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4. New features in "Papyrus BASE"

1. New "changed" fields, including "User" and "Computer"

This information is very useful (especially for large databases) when tracking down whether someone has made changes to the data (including who made the changes, and to which data records).
Each of these fields is automatically set when a record is created or changed (assuming that the fields have been defined in the database table).
To create one of these fields, open the Field Properties dialog, create a new field, and under "Name/Type", for "Auto / Standard-Field" select "Changed", "User", or "Computer". The field name may then be changed, if desired. These fields have the following functions:
• "Changed": may be of type "date", "time", or "timestamp", and is automatically set to the current time (or date) when a record is created or changed.
• "User" is set to the system login name, when a record is changed.
• "Computer" is set to the system's network name, when a record is changed.

By default, non-editable (write protected) fields are created for these fields in the table's data entry form, but you may also delete the fields from the form, if you only need the information in the table view. It is also possible (by selecting "overwrite field" in the context menu) to manually replace the automatic data with any text desired.
2. Adjusting database forms to conform to field changes

After database fields have been added, renamed, or deleted, the corresponding database forms are now automatically changed to match. If fields have been added, new fields will be created (following the template Modules/Template.SYS/_dbform.pap), and added to the end of the form.
When a form is opened for the first time (with Papyrus 12.5), and it is discovered that needed entry fields are missing, or that existing fields are superfluous (including for existing databases that were created with Papyrus versions earlier than version 12), these fields may be automatically created and eliminated, respectively.
It is usually a good idea to review (and edit) the data entry form (use "edit entry form" from the context menu of the data entry window in Papyrus BASE), a customized data entry form often provides better results than any "automatic" field generation.
3. Sorting report templates

The order of the report templates in the Report dialog can now be changed manually, by using the "Move up" and "Move down" buttons in the dialog.
4. Data record number in the data entry window

The ordinal number of the current record and the number of records currently visible in the table view now appears in the status bar of the data entry window (such as "No. 3 / 8").
This can be useful when reviewing data record for record, because it shows you where you are in the list directly in the data entry form.
5. Names for stored queries

The "Edit stored queries" (available from the query popup in the Papyrus BASE table view window, or from the menu "Database" -> "Properties" -> "Queries") now allows each query expression to be given a descriptive title, which is then displayed in the query popup to the left of the actual query text.
6. Selected data records remain when editing data

The set of selected data records (in the table view) is no longer changed (cleared) when a data record is changed in the data entry form, but instead remains as it was.
7. Each record on a new page of tabular reports

The setting "generate a new page for each record" was previously ignored for reports with a selected data range (such as for table reports). Since many users have requested this capability for table reports as well, it is now permitted (since Papyrus allows tables to contain hard page breaks). If this causes undesired page breaks in your report, simply deactivate the checkbox "generate a new page for each record" in the report dialog.
8. Papyrus BASE: Date export for ASCII and CSV files

Dates were previously exported in an internal format (YYYYMMDD), for instance, "July 30th, 2005" (or "30.07.2005") appeared as "20050730" in the exported ASCII file. Papyrus now exports dates in a more legible format, depending on the language selected in the database properties:
English: 2006-06-30 (Y-M-D)
German: 30.06.2006 (D.M.Y)
French: 30/06/2006 (D/M/Y)
Note that the format used for English purposely does NOT use the traditional "M-D-Y" format, precisely because this order does not allow date order sorting of the raw ASCII text.
9. Just for fun (and as an example): Sudoku Database

To demonstrate some of the abilities that Papyrus BASE offers, and also just to provide a pleasant diversion, we have included a Sudoku database with Papyrus.
The database includes puzzles created especially for this release, which can be printed (using the database report templates, also included), or solved "online" using the data entry form. If you want to check your results, or if you get stuck on one of the harder puzzles, just refer to the answers, which are included in a second table within the database (use a right-click of the puzzle title in the data entry form, and follow the "answers" link).
A brief set of directions with an introduction to Sudoku is also included (see "Directions.PAP" in the Example_DB / Sudoku folder).

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5. Minor changes and enhancements

1. Tip-Dialog

The startup tips dialog now offers a button to jump back to the "Previous Tip", to permit paging back and forth through all the tips. The Tip-Dialog can also be reached from the Help menu, so that they can be read right while working, if desired.
2. Improved support for Dual Displays

In some cases using dual displays, dialogs were opened onto a different monitor instead of where the document window was located. Now each (new) dialog is opened (for the first time) centered over the document window, later uses of each dialog then use the selected dialog position.
3. Papyrus WORD: Edit / Special Menu

The "Special" menu offers a number of functions that were previously only available through hidden keyboard shortcuts.
4. Papyrus Word: Improvement in the Paragraph and Text Style dialogs

A button is now provided to create a "New ... Style" (in both the text and the paragraph style dialogs).
5. Papyrus Word: File extension "*.pav" for templates

Papyrus templates now may use a separate *.pav extension (instead of *.pap). Saving a document with the *.pav extension automatically gives it the document type "Template".
Old document templates with the *.pap extension still work as templates (the template status is saved in the Papyrus document independently of the filename extension).
In addition, all files located in the special "Templates" folder are also automatically treated as templates.
6. Papyrus Word: Ruler marks for drag operations

When moving object handles, dragging table borders, and when creating graphic objects (by dragging) with the mouse, the shifting position is now shown by the bar indicators in the ruler(s) - when the option "show mouse position in ruler" is active.

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6. Differences in Papyrus 12.5 (from V.11)

1. Hyphenation after slashes "/" and backslashes "\"

When hyphenation is active, words (or "paths") will also be separated after slashes and backslashes (for instance, to divide terms such as "Search/Replace", or "C:\Papyrus\Modules\Template.SYS"); when this occurs, no hyphen will be added after the slash, of course.
2. Line breaks now with Shift+Return

The keyboard shortcut for line breaks (start a new line, without ending the current paragraph) used to be Alt+Return, this has now been changed to the more commonly known Shift+Return key combination. Shift+Return was previously used to split tables, this has been exchanged, and can now be performed with Alt+Return.
3. Papyrus WORD/BASE: Results of division operations

If the target field or cell is of type floating point, then division will be performed as a floating point operation, regardless of what numeric type the source arguments or fields are.
4. Standard font for databases now has Unicode characters

The default system font "MS Sans Serif" that was previously used under Windows for the database table window did not contain Unicode special characters. Instead of this font, the Unicode font "Microsoft Sans Serif" will be used (if it is available). If not, you may change the default font (under Options, Table Display) to another appropriate font on your system.

5. Deleting and inserting lines in (report) tables with cell references

For certain cases involving column sums such as A3=SUM(A2..A2), when deleting row 2 or inserting between row 2 and 3, the references are now adjusted more intelligently. This is especially important for column sums used in database table reports.

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For a list of features that were added to Papyrus Version 11 (and are still available in Version 12.5, of course), please read Papyrus OFFICE XI.