Windows XP in a Nutshell, Second Edition

Name

WordPad — \program files\windows nt\wordpad.exe

Synopsis

A simple word processor.

To Open

Start → Programs → Accessories → WordPad

Command Prompt → wordpad

Description

Although WordPad lacks many of the features that come with full-blown word processors such as Wordperfect or Microsoft Word, it has enough features to create and edit rich-text documents. WordPad is the default editor for .rtf, .doc, and .wri files (unless Microsoft Word is installed). WordPad can also be used to edit plain text files (.txt), although Notepad (discussed earlier this chapter) is the default and is more appropriate for this task (see Figure 4-120).

Figure 4-120. Wordpad is the rudimentary word processor that comes with Windows XP

Depending on the type of file opened, WordPad may or may not display its formatting toolbar and ruler. When you use File → New, WordPad prompts you to choose a document type, including “Rich Text Document” (formatted text, such as word processor documents), “Text Document” document (plain ASCII text), and “Unicode Text Document” (plain text using the Unicode character set). Once a file is open, however, you can turn on or off the formatting bar and ruler and even apply formatting to plain text documents. If you try to save a text document with formatting, though, WordPad will warn you that your formatting will be lost (since text files don’t support formatting).

WordPad has several ...