Creating SignText documents in Microsoft Word

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
April 15, 2006

Dear Anny, Steve and Everyone!

Here is how I create a document from SignText right now, that I can  
print, and copy into Microsoft Word. This is a temporary method until  
Steve can build in these features.

Mac OS X
Placing a SignText sentence into Microsoft Word.

1. Create the sentence in Firefox in SignText.
2. Click on the Options Button in SignText and bookmark the sentence.
3. Click on SignMail icon. Email the sentence to yourself.

4. If you use the Mail program built into the operating system of Mac  
OS X, you can then save the emailed SignText sentence into a format  
called .rtfd. It is like the standard RTF but the added letter D at  
the end means that Mac has built in the ability to read visual  
diagrams and movies inside an RTF...so you save your SignText email  
in SignWriting as an rtfd.

5. Then, the .rtfd SignWriting file opens beautifully in several word  
processors on the Mac, with complete beautiful SignWriting, including  
the Lanes information, and then you can add English or French or  
whatever you want to it...I use a program called Pages on the Mac. I  
open Pages, and then open the .rtfd file in Pages, and then you can  
save to a Microsoft Word file from Pages, and presto, you have your  
SignText sentence in its entirety, as a .doc file, that opens in  
Microsoft Word.

I haven't tried this technique in Windows XP yet. There has to be an  
equivalent in the Windows world to an .rtfd file, then it will work  
there too...

If not, then you will need to wait for Steve to build in printing to  
SignText, which I am sure will happen someday!

Or I could start a service helping others create Word files from  
SignText - ha!

Val ;-)

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On Apr 14, 2006, at 2:36 PM, Anne-Claude Prélaz Girod wrote:

> Dear Val, & Steve
>
> I was working with a friend  on sign text yesterday... and we have a
> question.... we'd like to know whether it is possible to paste a sign
> directly from SignText into another document?!?!?
>
> I know I can paste signs from SignPuddle... but, as a sign language
> interpreter... I would like to write some private signs into  
> SignText so
> that it's not accessible from everyone on the net.... (lists of  
> peoples
> name, which I wouldn't be able to put on a public SignPuddle!
>
> Is there a way I can work on Sign Text and then (like in  
> SignPuddle) drag
> and drop a whole sign (or save a sign as a picture) in another  
> document (for
> exemple Word) or on my hard disk ??
>
> If I book mark the page I work on in SignText... I can't write  
> words for
> comment beside the signs ... so concretely I need to be able to  
> paste a sign
> in another doc (or save each sign as a picture....)
>
> Is there a way for me to do that ?!?!