Psion 3a Series - Functions in formulae

Plain text editing
If you do need to keep documents in plain text format all the time, you can use the
Word Processor as a plain text editor. (Don't worry if you don't understand some of the
temis mentioned in this procedure.)
1. Move the highlight in the System screen to the Word icon. Select the 'Create new list'
option on the 'Special' menu.
2. On the 'Directory for files' line, enter a name of up to 8 letters for the directory to
keep text files in. For example, enter text.
[Eg
3
If you know about directories, note that this will be a subdirectory of \WRD . For a
directory off the root directory, you might for example type \text . There is more
information about directories in the 'Files and disks' chapter later on in this manual.
3. On the 'Extension for files' line you can enter a different file extension for your text
files, if you wish. It should be from one to three characters; txt or doc are
commonly used for text files.
4. Make sure the 'Type' line is set to 'Text editor'.
5. On the 'Save list as: Name' line, enter a name to save this information as —
textedit, perhaps.
6. Press Enter. A dialog is shown, listing your choices; press Enter again to confirm
them.
A new Word icon is shown in the System screen. All files you create with it will be
plain text files. It does not have the menu options for features (eg styles, emphases and
passwords) which require non-textual information to be saved in files. There are a few
other differences:
• There is an 'Indentation' option, for setting the tab width and turning
auto-indentation on and off.
• There is no outlining facility.
• The 'New file' option will only ever use a default template (stored as
default. $). When you select 'Save as template', you are given the option of
replacing this template. Do not try to swap templates between the Word
Processor and the Text editor.
• 'Set preferences' has settings for bold/normal and mono/proportional text.
Ug
3
Use the Program editor icon in the System screen if you want to edit OPL programs,
Bg= The Text editor, like the Program editor, does not save the status window or "Zoom"
settings to file, as its files only contain the plain text you type.
Editing Rich Text Format (RTF) files
A small software add-on to the Word Processor allows it to save and load Rich Text
Format (RTF) files, compatible with Microsoft Word and other word processors. The
Psion serial 3 Link is supplied with this add-on. The serial 3 Link allows you to transfer
RTF files, like other files, to and from a desktop computer. Documentation for the RTF
software is on the serial 3 Link disk.
126 7: The Word Processor