Although Notepad does not offer paragraph formatting, you can use spaces and the TAB key to mimic paragraphs, indents, lists, and simple columns. In this example, we pressed TAB once to indent the lists. Each time you press the TAB key, Notepad moves the cursor eight spaces to the right.

WordPad supports a variety of file formats. The version included with Windows XP defaults to opening and saving files in RTF (Rich Text Format; a universal word processing format), and it also supports TXT files. You can open a DOC (Microsoft Word) file in the WinXP version of WordPad, but you must save the file as an RTF to make modifications to it. With Windows 98, WordPad opens and saves files in the Word 6.0 DOC format by default, and it also supports RTF and TXT files. In addition, both versions can open (but cannot save) WRI (Write; a predecessor of WordPad) files.

Another difference between Win98 and WinXP is Notepad's file-size limitation. In Win98, you cannot open a file larger than 64KB in Notepad. The version of Notepad in WinXP does not have this limitation.

If you want to include a graphic or image file in your document, WordPad is the tool to use. In WordPad, you can paste an image you've copied from another application. You can also insert a link to an existing graphics file or create new graphics from within WordPad.



Similarities

Despite the differences between Notepad and WordPad, the applications do share some common features. You'll find some of these features in most Windows-based programs, although some of these features are unique.

The Edit menu in both programs includes Undo, Cut, Copy, Paste, Delete, and Select All. You can also use standard text selection actions, such as double-clicking to select a word, pressing CTRL-A to select the entire document, or pressing the SHIFT key while holding down one of the four arrow keys to select portions of text. In WinXP, the apps offer Find and Replace features. In Win98, WordPad offers Find and Replace, while Notepad includes only the Find feature.

Both applications include a word wrap feature. Word wrap controls how the program automatically moves text to the following line once you've reached the right margin. This prevents text from running off the right side of the application window. Notepad lets you turn word wrap on and off, whereas WordPad lets you define a wrapping method for each file type it supports. We will explain later how to adjust word wrap in both apps.

Options in the Page Setup dialog box (open the File menu and click Page Setup) in Notepad and WordPad are similar. Both offer options for paper size, landscape or portrait orientation, and margin settings. Notepad provides an additional feature that lets you include a header at the top of the printed document and footer at the bottom of the printed document. Special codes let you insert variable information. For example, type &d in the Header box and click OK. When you print your Notepad document the date appears at the top of the page.

Both applications lack the ability to create tables, columns, page breaks, section breaks, and automatically numbered lists. Neither program includes spelling or grammar checking features. And you can only open one file at a time in Notepad and WordPad. However, you can work around this inconvenience and open an additional copy of the program when you want to load another document.



Create A Notepad Document

To open Notepad in Win98, click Start, select Programs, Accessories, and click Notepad. For WinXP, click Start, select All Programs, Accessories, and click Notepad. To make sure text wraps to your screen, activate the Word Wrap feature. In Win98, open the Edit menu and select Word Wrap if it is not selected. In WinXP, open the Format menu and click Word Wrap. (A check mark will appear next to Word Wrap if the feature is active.)

To define the font for viewing and printing text in Notepad for Win98, open the Edit menu and click Set Font. In WinXP, open the Format menu and click Font. In the Font dialog box, select the font type, style, and size you prefer. Click OK when you are finished. Notice that the entire document changes.

To see how Word Wrap works, type enough text so Notepad automatically wraps the text from the first line to the line below. Next, deactivate the Word Wrap feature. The wrapped text should move up to the first line, with the end going beyond the right side of the Notepad window. A scroll bar at the bottom of the window lets you scroll to the left and right as needed to view the text.

Because the Word Wrap feature affects the display only, leaving it turned off shows you how the document will print. It also illustrates how the file may display in text-editing software that does not have a Word Wrap feature. If you know others will view the file in a context other than Notepad, leave Word Wrap turned off. When you do this, you can make the document readable by pressing ENTER to start new lines. The line breaks will remain even if the file is loaded in a different text-editing program.

Although it is a no-frills text editor, Notepad does offer a handy logging feature. If you need to record notes, telephone conversations, or projects by time and date, Notepad can generate this information for you. To log the date and time, position the cursor in the document where you want the information to appear and press F5. You can have Notepad insert the time and date automatically every time you open the file by positioning your cursor at the beginning of the first line of the file and typing .LOG. Be sure to include the period and use all uppercase letters. Each time you open the document with this entry on the first line, Notepad automatically inserts the time and date at the end of the document.

If you open a TXT (text) file in WordPad and you want to convert the file to a document you can format, click File and Save As. Select Rich Text Format (RTF) in the Save As Type drop-down menu and click the Save button.

To try out a log file, open Notepad, type .LOG at the beginning of the first line of your file, click File, and click Save. In the Save As dialog box, type Log.txt in the File Name field and click Save. Close the file, open Notepad, click File, click Open, select Log.txt, and click Open. The current time and date should display at the end of the file.

To see how you can control print aspects of a Notepad document, click File and Page Setup. In the Margins area, you can adjust the top, bottom, left, and right margins. Notepad also includes Header and Footer boxes where you can place a special code so information prints at the top or bottom of your document. By default, the Header contains &f, which prints the name of the document file at the top of the document. The Footer contains Page &p, which prints the word Page and the page number at the bottom of the document. For a complete list of codes, click the Help icon (the question mark) in the upper right of the Page Setup dialog box and click in the Header or Footer field. Note that any changes you make in the Page Setup dialog box apply to all Notepad documents. To print your document, click File and Print. To save your file, click File and Save. To exit Notepad, click File and Exit.

Create A WordPad Document

To open WordPad in Win98, click Start, select Programs, Accessories, and click WordPad. In WinXP, click Start, select All Programs, Accessories, and click WordPad. To ensure the printed output matches what you see on-screen, you should set each of WordPad's word wrap options to wrap to the ruler. Open the View menu and click Options. Click the Text tab and select the Wrap To Ruler radio button. Repeat this step for the Rich Text, Word, Write, and Embedded tabs. Click OK when you are finished.

To experiment with formatting text, type a few sentences. Select a portion of the text you typed; place the cursor at the beginning of the text you want to select and click and drag to highlight the portion you want to format. Click the Font Type drop-down menu and select a font. To set the Font Size, type the size you want or select it from the Font drop-down menu next to the Font Type field. If you prefer to preview font changes prior to applying them, open the Format menu and click Font. The Font dialog box includes a Sample area that displays how your font selections will look. Select a Font, Font Style, Size, Effects, and click OK to apply the changes to your font.

After you change the font, the text remains selected. You can change how your font appears using the buttons on the Format bar instead of changing things in the Font dialog box. To change the font style to Bold, click the B button on the Format bar. Click the I button to italicize text and the U button to underline it. Change text color using the Color button to the right of the underline button.

In Windows XP, Notepad includes a View menu with Status Bar as the single option. Activating this option is useful if you plan to print or share your text file. The Status Bar displays the line and column position of the cursor in the lower-right corner of Notepad. By limiting line length to 80 columns, the file contents should display and print on most systems without cutting off on the right.

To format paragraphs, select consecutive paragraphs that you want to look the same. Next use the ruler to adjust the indents. To change the left indent of the first line of the paragraphs, drag the top triangle in the top left of the ruler to the desired location. To change the left indent for the remainder of the paragraph, drag the triangle and small box on the bottom of the ruler to the desired location. Drag the triangle on the far right of the ruler to change the right indent.

To create bulleted lists, type a separate paragraph for each bullet item, select the paragraphs, and click the Bullets button (it appears as three bulleted lines) on the Format bar. You can also adjust the indents within bulleted paragraphs using the markers on the ruler. To move down a single line within a bulleted or nonbulleted paragraph, press CTRL-ENTER.

As noted previously, WordPad also includes image-handling capabilities. The easiest way to insert an image or graphic is to open it in the application you normally use to view it, such as Paint or Microsoft Photo Editor. Press CTRL-A to select the image and then press CTRL-C to place a copy in the Windows Clipboard. In WordPad, move your cursor to the location you want to insert the image and press CTRL-V to paste. If the image is not the size you want, use a resize handle in one of the corners of the image to adjust the size. Using a resize handle in the corner helps you adjust the image horizontally and vertically, without distortion. If you make a mistake, click Edit, Undo, and try again.

Although WordPad does not include a positioning tool for graphics, you can adjust the image's location to some extent. Select the image and try manipulating the indent markers on the ruler or clicking the Align Right, Center, or Align Left alignment options on the Format bar.

For printing options, WordPad offers a Page Setup dialog box similar to Notepad's. To access Page Setup, click File and Page Setup. Here you can define paper size, orientation, and document margins. Note that when you adjust the left and right margins, the ruler automatically adjusts to reflect the change. WordPad applies these settings to all documents.

To see how your document will look prior to printing it, click File and Print Preview. Unlike Notepad, WordPad's Print Preview accurately depicts the printed document. Print Preview lets you identify pagination issues, such as a paragraph that splits between two pages of a document. When you are ready to print your document, click Print from Print Preview or click Print from the File menu. To save your file, click File and Save. To exit WordPad, click File and Exit.



Know Your Tools

Now that you are familiar with the capabilities of Notepad and WordPad, you can put these free applications to good use. As you have discovered, Notepad is a tool for viewing and editing text-only files. If you need to open a README file, create a telephone log, or edit the contents of an HTML file, Notepad is the tool to use. If you want to control the appearance of your document's content and you don't have a full-service word processor such as Word, WordPad is a capable substitute.

by Carmen Carmack