Gary Wessle <phddas@yahoo.com> writes:
can a microsoft .doc file be viewed/edited/converted/whatever by
emacs? if not, how do you people handle this file?
As others on this thread have pointed out, there are various utilities
that will convert a .doc file to a text file. However, Word itself
will do that for you (File -> Save as -> Text). Such a file can of
course be edited in Emacs, and that is useful as far as it goes.
But AFAIK there is no way to edit a .doc file in Emacs in such a way
that it remains a .doc file usable in Word. I have tried it, and
often it has seemed to work for minor changes, but I gave up after
other users found that it corrupted the file in obscure ways. I dare
say that Microsoft would be horrified at the thought, but such a
routine would improve my quality of life, as I am often called on to
edit .doc files, and do not enjoy doing so in Word.
Is a Word-to-TeX conversion program conceivable?