Using and Customizing WordStar for DOS by Robert J. Sawyer sawyer@sfwriter.com August 2024 ================================================================= This document is provided in both a plain-text version as -README.TXT and as a WordStar document named -README.WS It is also available online at: https://sfwriter.com/ws7.htm#readme ================================================================= VIEWING THIS FILE When viewing this (or any) WordStar document, you can toggle the display of print controls and command tags on and off using the command ^OD -- hold down Ctrl, hit the letter "o," then hit the letter "d." As with all two-letter WordStar commands, you can continue to hold down the Ctrl key when issuing the second letter, but you don't have to. (If you're viewing -README.TXT instead of -README.WS, there are no control codes or command tags to display.) ================================================================= WORDSTAR IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY WordStar for DOS is abandonware. The company that made it is long defunct, and the software hasn't been updated since December 1992. The version provided here -- WordStar for DOS 7.0 Rev. D -- is the final one ever produced. Why might you want to use such old software? See my essay "WordStar: A Writer's Word Processor" in the file WORDSTAR.WS, or read the online version here: https://sfwriter.com/wordstar.htm Also see my summary of WordStar's strengths in the file STRENGTH.WS or STRENGTH.TXT. The file OLDTIMES.WS is a sample WordStar document you can play around with. ================================================================= DOCUMENTATION I've provided all the documentation that came with WordStar 7.0 as full-text-searchable Adobe Acrobat PDF files. They are in the folder C:\WS\MANUALS. See also all the *.WS or *.TXT files in C:\WS and various subfolders. If a file has both a .WS and .TXT version, the former is in WordStar format and the latter is in plain text format. (From WordStar's opening screen, you can select then H to set WordStar to temporarily only show *.WS or *.TXT files in its directory display, making them easier to find.) README.TXT is the actual WordStar README file that came with WordStar. PATCH.LST (which I'm also providing as PATCH.TXT so that it can be opened with Windows text editors) contains extensive information on customizing WordStar. If you've used WordStar 6.0 but not WordStar 7.0 this manual in C:\WS\MANUALS will be helpful: Upgrading from a Previous Release (WordStar 7).pdf And if you've used WordStar 4.0 or below, but never a later version, this manual in "C:\WS\Manuals\WordStar 5" is a very useful guide to the many new features; it's much more comprehensive that the "Upgrading from a Previous Release (WordStar 7).pdf" manual: "WordStar Professional Release 5 -- What's New.pdf" ================================================================= RUNNING WORDSTAR ON MODERN OPERATING SYSTEMS SHORT VERSION: if you're using Windows, create a shortcut on your desktop to this program provided as part of this archive: C:\WS\DOSBox-X\DOSBox-X.exe Double-click on that shortcut, and WordStar for DOS 7.0 should run. (Note that unless you set "Run as Administrator," under "Advanced" in the Shortcut, you will not be able to open or edit files in the root directory of Drive C.) LONG VERSION: To run WordStar under Windows, Linux, or Mac operating systems, use the free and open source MS-DOS emulator DOSBox-X (not plain old DOSBox): https://dosbox-x.com DOSBox-X has a huge configuration file. It is located here: C:\WS\DOSBOX-X\dosbox-x.conf The final lines in that file establish legal drive letters and also set what program will run upon booting DOSBox-X. Since WordStar (by default) and many of its ancillary programs expect an 80-column by 25-line screen, in the [ttf] section of dosbox-x.conf, I've set these values: lins=25 cols=80 (Alternatively, you can use the DOSBox-X utility 80X25.COM, located in C:\WS, to change your screen to 80 rows by 25 columns prior to invoking programs that require that screen size.) In the [ttf] section of dosbox-x.conf, I've also set this value: WP = WS (for "word processor equals WordStar) to enable actual boldface and italics under WordStar. I've set DOSBox-X to use the Iosevka Fixed typeface family, but you can use any monospaced font that supports the PC-8 character set; I've provided these alternatives typeface families in the C:\WS\DOSBox-X folder: Liberation Mono, DejaVu Sans, and Free Mono; you can also use Consolas, which comes with most versions of Windows. You can specify the fonts of your choice (separate regular, bold, italic, and bold-italic versions) in the [ttf] of dosbox-x.conf. * Iosevka Fixed and Consolas both have a good period, a good comma, a good hyphen, a normal lower-case "L," and a slashed zero. They shows multiple underscores (____) as discrete characters. * Liberation Mono has a good period, a good comma, a narrow hyphen, a normal lower-case "L," and a dotted zero. It shows multiple underscores as discrete characters. * DejaVu Sans Mono has a good period, a good comma, a narrow hyphen, a weird lower-case "L", and a faintly dotted zero. It shows multiple underscores as one continuous line. * Free Mono, which is a Courier typeface, has a good period, a good comma, a wide hyphen, a normal lower-case "L," and an undotted/unslashed zero. It shows multiple underscores as discrete characters. * * * If for some reason DOSBox-X doesn't meet your needs, alternatives are vDosPlus (http://www.vdosplus.org) or the less-robust vDos (https://www.vdos.info). Development on vDosPlus has been discontinued, but vDos is still maintained. This page by me is devoted to using WordStar under vDosPlus: https://sfwriter.com/ws-vdos.htm I have provided a complete installation of vDosPlus. To use it, create a shortcut on your desktop to this program: C:\WS\vDosPlus\vDosPlus.exe Double click on that shortcut, and WordStar for DOS 7.0 should run. (Note that unless you set "Run as Administrator," under "Advanced" in the Shortcut, you may not be able to open or edit files in the root directory of Drive C.) If the text isn't razor sharp, edit the properties for the shortcut. On the "Compatibility" tab select "Change high DPI settings," then select "Program DPI" and choose "I signed into Windows" from the dropdown list. On that same screen, select "High DPI scaling override," and choose "Application" from the dropdown list. Configuration options for vDosPlus are set in these two files: C:\WS\vDosPlus\autoexec.txt C:\WS\vDosPlus\config.txt ================================================================= If you've been reading the file -README.TXT and you've now got WordStar up and running, switch over to -README.WS to continue; it's a WordStar document version of the same file. Not only does it look prettier, you'll be able to try out the things discussed below if you're reading from within WordStar. ================================================================= ISSUING WORDSTAR COMMANDS Classic WordStar commands are issued by holding down the Ctrl key while simultaneously pressing another key. WordStar indicates the Ctrl key on its menus and in its manuals with the caret symbol: ^V (the command for toggling between insert and overtype modes) means hold down both Ctrl and V. ^KB (the command for marking the beginning of a block of text) means hold down Ctrl and K simultaneously and then press B; for the second key in a two-key command, you can keep the Ctrl key down or not, whichever you prefer. For the elegant logic behind the classic WordStar interface, see my explanation in the file WORDSTAR.WS or the online version at my website: https://sfwriter.com/wordstar.htm ================================================================= DIFFERENT VERSIONS OF WORDSTAR See the file C:\WS\VERSIONS.WS (or C:\WS\VERSIONS.TXT) for information on all the many different versions of WordStar 7 I've provided in this archive. The versions principally differ in the amount of on-screen help WordStar gives you and in their color schemes: * WS.EXE is pretty much a default version of WordStar, including the new pulldown menus added in WordStar 7. * WS2.EXE exclusively uses the classic WordStar interface; if you've used any previous version of WordStar, the look-and-feel of this version will be very familiar. * WSRJS.EXE and WS2RJS.EXE are counterparts of the above but with less-harsh color schemes. * SAWYER.EXE is my heavily customized installation, with minimal screen clutter and numerous other tweaks. There are many other version here, too, all described in VERSIONS.TXT. ================================================================= EDITING TWO DOCUMENTS AT ONCE You can open a second WordStar or text file from within WordStar's editing window with the ^OK command. When prompted, select D for "document" (a WordStar file) or N for "nondocument" (a text file that you want to keep free of WordStar formatting codes). To make each editing window full screen (instead of each one taking up half the screen), issue ^OM and select F. To change that to the default, go to WSCHANGE menu D (WordStar), C (Other features), G (Miscellaneous), H (Size of other window), and set the value to 255. (If you accidentally open a plain text file in "document" mode and find that it's got WordStar codes in it after you save it, reopen the file in "nondocument" mode and issue ^QU to strip out those code and then save the file again.) ================================================================= SWAPPING CAPSLOCK AND CTRL The classic WordStar interface was designed so that users never have to take their hands off the home typing row; this makes WordStar much more efficient for use by touch typists than either Microsoft Word or WordPerfect. (WordStar supports a mouse, function keys, and cursor keys, but they are not required for any operation.) As noted above, the classic WordStar interface is based on holding down the Ctrl key while issuing commands. The original IBM PC keyboard had the Ctrl key just to the left of the letter A. Later keyboards moved Ctrl to a pinkie-stretching position below the left Shift key and put CapsLock next to A. It's a lot easier to use WordStar if you swap the functions of Ctrl and CapsLock -- and the included utility program SWAP.COM will do just that. You can run it at the command prompt, but if you want it to run automatically each time you use WordStar, uncomment the line calling SWAP near the end of the file C:\WS\DOSBox-X\dosbox-x.conf (or, if you're using vDosPlus, in the file C:\WS\vDosPlus\autoexec.txt). SWAP.COM only affects your WordStar session; it doesn't change the keyboard mapping for Windows. (SWITCH.COM is identical to SWAP.COM; that was the original name WordStar gave to this utility, but if you're using the 4DOS command processor -- optional under DOSBox-X; the default under vDosPlus -- SWAP is an internal command and so a program with that name can't be called from the command line.) I've also provided an alternative program that does the same thing called IBMFIX.COM. ================================================================= SPELLCHECKING A FILE Under both DOSBox-X and vDosPlus, there's a small problem with the cursor when spellchecking a file: if you invoke the spellchecker in "Insert" (as opposed to "Ins-off") mode, the cursor will only appear as a line at the top of the first character in a word that's not in the dictionary. (When running natively under MS-DOS, WordStar did not have this problem.) You can workaround this by using the ^V toggle, if necessary, to switch to "Ins-off" mode before invoking the spellchecker with the usual ^QL command. Alternatively, you can call the spellchecker via the included WordStar macro SPL-ALL, which, by default, is assigned to the hotkey . I have modified this macro to set "Ins-off" mode before it starts a global spellcheck. I've also provided a new macro, SPL-REST, that checks spelling starting at the current cursor position. I've assigned this macro to the hotkey , but you can use the ^ME command to assign it (or any macro) to any hotkey your wish. If you find the "Words Checked" dialog that displays a wordcount at the end of each spellcheck annoying, you can turn it off at WSCHANGE menu D (WordStar), C (Other features), A (Spelling check), L (Turn "Words checked" message on or off). You can always get a count of the words in your file with the ^K? command. ================================================================= COPYING TO AND FROM THE WINDOWS CLIPBOARD WordStar's ^K[ command reads in the text contents of the Windows clipboard at the cursor position. WordStar's ^K] command copies the currently marked block to the Windows clipboard in plain-text ASCII format -- but there's a bug: the final character isn't copied, so make sure to mark one more character than you actually want copied to the clipboard. If you find the copy-from or copy-to clipboard commands aren't working, issue ^KP, which loads and abandons WordStar's printer routines and has the side-effect of clearing WordStar's memory. ================================================================= CUSTOMIZING WORDSTAR To use WordStar for DOS with its default settings, just type WS (or WS and a filename) at the command prompt. But you don't have to live with those defaults; one of WordStar's great strengths is that it's hugely customizable. Run the program WSCHANGE to modify WordStar to your heart's content. The WS.EXE provided here has been installed assuming its files will be in folder C:\WS (and a variety of subfolders below that), all of which will have been created for you if you unzipped WORDSTAR.ZIP properly. If you want to change the drive letter or folders used by WordStar, run WSCHANGE and go to menu C (Computer), D (WordStar files), and either A (Define search paths) or B (Assign primary and secondary paths for all WordStar files). And if you want to simply install an all-new copy of WordStar on whatever drive and in whichever folder(s) you wish, go to the C:\WS\INSTALL folder and run the program WSSETUP there, using this serial number: 33787979. I've also provided a complete, pristine, unmodified-in-any-way WordStar installation in C:\WS\DEFAULT. See the -README.TXT file in that folder for more information. Screen colors can be modified at WSCHANGE menu A (Monitor), B Video Attributes Menu), A (Select colors individually). If you go to WSCHANGE menu A (Console Menu), A (Monitor), C (Screen sizing) and set both "Height" and "Width" to zero, the main WordStar program will auto-adapt to your screen size. This change has already been made to all the WordStar executables in C:\WS except for PRISTINE.EXE. See "Installing and Customizing (WordStar 7).pdf" in C:\WS\MANUALS. Full customization details are in the file PATCH.TXT. For information on the customizations I've already made to the versions of WordStar in this archive, see VERSIONS.WS (or VERSIONS.TXT). To customize WordStar's screen layout while you work, issue ^OB. To make permanent changes in the screen layout go to WSCHANGE menu D (WordStar), B (Editing settings), A (Edit screen, help level). You can change also WordStar's default help level here. Personally, I like to use help level 2, have the ruler line off by default, an (on Edit Screen Menu #2) both the "Style bar" and the "Status line" at the top of the screen. You can also change WordStar's screen colors. You do that at WSCHANGE menu A (Console), B (Video attributes), A (Select colors individually). Note that both DOSBox-X and vDosPlus use oddball color combinations to achieve effects that WordStar natively doesn't support; these are the settings used for DOSBox-X: Italics: set Character to "blink" [F10] and Background to "green" Underline: set Character to "blink" and Background to "blue" Strike-out: set Character to "blink" and Background to "red" I personally like WordStar to ignore case by default when doing searches. You can set WordStar's default "Find" and "Find and replace" options at WSCHANGE menu B (Editing Settings), G (Find and replace), A (Default rind a replace options). NOTE: If you like the WordStar interface and approach to wordprocessing but would prefer a Windows program, give WordTsar by Gerald Brandt a try: http://wordtsar.ca ================================================================= MY PREFERRED WORDSTAR SETUP SAWYER.EXE is a version of WordStar using science-fiction writer has Robert J. Sawyer's customizations -- try it and see if you like them. They can be changed by running "WSCHANGE SAWYER" at the command line. If you are using SAWYER.EXE instead of the default WS.EXE, you will notice that WordStar dot commands display in a different color from regular text. This is accomplished by having the default WordStar Paragraph Style in SAWYER.EXE set to "Sawyer Defaults," and having the strikeout character set to a blank space at WSCHANGE menu B (Printer), C (Printing Defaults), I (Strikeout Character). A useful side-effect of this is that document and nondocument files now display text in different colors (cyan for documents and green for nondocuments). "Documents" are WordStar files; "Nondocuments" are plain-text ASCII files. Unlike the default WS.EXE, SAWYER.EXE has WordStar set to always display dot commands. You can change this on the fly by issuing ^OB within a document or change it permanently at WSCHANGE menu D (WordStar), B (Edit screen, help level), A (Menu #1), Note that SAWYER.EXE has autosave turned on; it will save your document automatically after ten minutes of keyboard inactivity. You can turn this off, if you wish, by running "WSCHANGE SAWYER" at the command line, and then selecting menu D (WordStar), C (Miscellaneous), I (Auto-backup), and changing the value from 10 (i.e., ten minutes) to 0 (zero, which disables automatic backup). SAWYER.EXE also has WordStar's backup files (which are given the extension .BAK) hidden from its directory display, but they're still there. You can customize which file types are hidden at WSCHANGE menu C (Computer), E (Directory Display), C (File types excluded from directory). To easily compare PRISTINE.EXE -- an unmodified version of WordStar -- and SAWYER.EXE, run the file DEMO.BAT. ================================================================= See VERSIONS.WS or VERSIONS.TXT for information about all the different versions of WordStar I've provided here. Those files also describe the ways in which the WordStar executables in C:\WS have been modified from the standard defaults. ================================================================= PRINTING For printing, I simply have WordStar "print to disk" with the output going to the folder C:\WS\TEMP. I have the free utility PrintFilePrinter watch that folder. It automatically produces an Acrobat PDF file whenever WordStar "prints" a file to that folder; that PDF file can then be printed on any modern printer. I've provided PrintFilePrinter as part of this archive; see C:\WS\PrinFilePrinter for more information (and make sure to set C:\WS\TEMP as the watched folder). Among the WordStar printer definition files included in this version of WordStar (you can see them all by issuing ^P?) are these: LASERJET.PDF: a LaserJet print driver that sends its output to the temporary file C:\WS\TEMP\WORDSTAR.PCL. LJ6DTP.PDF: same as above, but with enhanced typography for desktop publishing; see LJ6DTP.WS for details HP4.PDF: same as LASERJET.PDF except that it sends its output to the physical LPT1: printer port on your computer PS: a generic PostScript driver (Yes, it's awkward that WordStar's "printer definition files" and Adobe's "portable document format" files both use the same file extension, .PDF. For what it's worth, WordStar starting using that extension in 1988; Adobe didn't start using it until 1992.) Again, note that LASERJET.PDF, LJ6DTP.PDF, and PS.PDF have all been modified (with WordStar's PDFEDIT utility) to send their output to C:\WS\TEMP rather than to a printer port so that PrintFilePrinter can produce Adobe PDF files from their output, as discussed above. Also note that ASCII.PDF and ASC256.PDF have had their default print-to-disk output file names changed from ASCII.WS and ASC256.WS to the more-appropriate ASCII.TXT and ASC256.TXT, allowing their output to be opened with Windows text editors. ================================================================= THE EURO CURRENCY SYMBOL WordStar was last updated in 1992, seven years before the euro currency symbol was adopted in 1999. I've modified three WordStar Printer Definition Files ("PDFs") to nonetheless support the euro symbol: LASERJET.PDF, LJ6DTP.PDF, and HP4.PDF. This was done by patching these PDFs to replace character 9E from the PC8 symbol set, which was the peseta symbol, with character BA from the Roman 9 symbol set, released in 1999, which is the euro character. (The peseta was the Spanish unit of currency before Spain switched to using the euro.) If you see the euro character right here P, then you're all set to go (even if you don't see it, the above-named PDFs will still print it). If you don't see it and you are running WordStar under DOSBox-X, edit the dosbox-X.conf configuration file and under the [render] section set "euro=158" and WordStar (and all other programs) will show the euro instead of the peseta symbol. To insert the euro symbol in a WordStar document, access the ^P0 (^P-zero) "Extended Character" menu and either type the code for it (158) or just click on the euro symbol with your mouse. ================================================================= CONVERTING FROM WORDSTAR TO WORD To convert files from WordStar format to something a modern word processor can read, use the provided Star Exchange program (a rebranded version of Software Bridge). You can either run it from WordStar's opening menu (press A then S to activate it) or as a standalone program: C:\WS\CONVERT\CONVERT.EXE Alternatively, you can use the program Word for Word, also abandonware. It's in C:\WS\WFW. If you'd like Windows wrapper for it, so that you can run it directly under Windows, run this file provided by Edward Mendelson: "C:\WS\LegacyFileConverter\LegacyFileConverter Installer.exe" Documentation for LegacyFileConverter is here: https://mendelson.org/legacyfileconverter.html You may find that converting from WordStar to RTF (rich text format) works better for import into modern word processors than does the ancient version of the Microsoft Word DOC format these programs support. You can also try the old ConvertPerfect utility from WordPerfect; it's in C:\WS\CVWP. And another conversion utility, WS-CON, is in C:\WS\WS-CON. Finally, my own very elaborate, very sophisticated, and very idiosyncratic system for converting WordStar documents to RTF can be found in C:\WS\RTF-RJS. This system may or may not work for you and may or may not require customization. ================================================================= USING BATCH FILES DOSBox-X doesn't like the way WordStar terminates after it has edited a file, so in batch files, follow each instance of calling WS.EXE with theses two lines: on break goto AfterWS1 :AfterWS1 (Increment the number for successive invocations of WordStar later in the same batch file.) This will bypass the "Cancel batch job?" error DOSBox-X throws. Neither vDosPlus nor vDos have this problem. See the file DEMO.BAT for an example of this workaround. ================================================================= THERE'S LOTS MORE HERE! Have a look in each folder in this archive; in many of them, you'll find a -README.TXT or -README.WS file giving further information. WordStar came with a number of "Companion Programs," all of which I've provided (including PC-Outline, which came with WordStar 5.0, 5.5, and 6.0, but was dropped in 7.0; it's in C:\WS\PCO). See the Companion Programs manual in C:\WS\MANUALS. I find ProFinder (in C:\WS\PF) particularly useful; just type PF at the command prompt to give it a try. You'll find a bunch of useful utility programs in C:\WS\UTIL. And there are lots of other goodies, too! ================================================================= FOR MORE INFORMATION I've provided all the documentation that came with WordStar 7.0 as full-text-searchable Adobe Acrobat PDF files. They are in the folder C:\WS\MANUALS. See also the various *.WS and *.TXT files in C:\WS and its subfolders. See my page about WordStar here: https://sfwriter.com/wordstar.htm And see my page about using WordStar under vDosPlus, which has a lot of technical information about WordStar, here: https://sfwriter.com/ws-vdos.htm Finally, if you need any help, feel free to email me -- Robert J. Sawyer -- at: sawyer@sfwriter.com ================================================================= WORDSTAR CREDITS WordStar was originally released in 1978. The program was entirely coded and the interface designed by Rob Barnaby. Seymour Rubinstein had hired him to do that, and Seymour marketed the program. Rob Barnaby's original codebase was built upon until WordStar 3.3. Starting with WordStar 4.0, an all-new codebase was written by Peter Mierau. John Morris was the lead programmer on WordStar 6.0. Joe Masters and John Nolan were the lead programmers on WordStar 7.0. Hidden in WS.EXE, only visible with a hex editor, are the credits for WordStar for DOS 7.0. Here they are; sadly, most of the full names or last names are lost to history -- but they all have my thanks for creating the best wordprocessing program the world has ever seen: Programming: corbett, jims, joem, johna, johnn, laurieo, markh, myles, timl, tomp, victoriaa. Printers: charles, markhen. Testing: adriano, chrism, donc, hunterm, jimsu, johnt, karenp, kimp, lisav, mardi, maryv, normm, pattia, rick, sandram. Writers: harrieto, rachels, trudyf, carolinem, debbieg, kathya. Editors: beverlyj, sande, frankc. Production: shauneyl, mikef, janeg. Design: melanie, marylld, susans. Support: james, kevinb, richz. Thanks to: bobbie, bradyb, charlotte, helen, royk, WABbits, beta testers. Managers: alexh, lisal, dani, davidp, georgia, tanas "WABits" were the members of the WordStar Advisory Board, a power-users panel convened by me (Robert J. Sawyer) and reporting directly to the CEO of WordStar International (formerly MicroPro), the company that published WordStar. ================================================================= Who the heck is Robert J. Sawyer? He's a former sysop of the WordStar Forum on the CompuServe Information Service and, as noted above, he was the convenor of the WordStar Advisory Board, a panel of power users that reported directly to the CEO of WordStar International. A member of the Order of Canada, Rob is a Hugo and Nebula Award-winning science-fiction writer. He has written every one of his twenty-five novels with WordStar, which he has been using since 1983, starting with WordStar version 2.26 on an Osborne 1 CP/M computer. You can read one of his short stories in the file OLDTIMES.WS. His massive website -- all hand-coded in HTML in WordStar's nondocument mode -- is at: https://sfwriter.com