WD: How to Convert Asian Word Documents in Word

This article describes which versions of English-language Asian Word documents can be opened in the versions of Word listed at the beginning of this article.

For information about how to do this in Word 97, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Word 6.x for Windows

The U.S. release of Word 6.0c for Windows, has the ability to open the following English-language Asian Word documents using the Word for Windows 6.0 Converter (Msword6.cnv): Word 6.0 and 6.0a users can obtain this capability by upgrading to Word 6.0c or Word 7.0.

Word 6.0 for Windows NT

A 32-bit version of the Word 6.0 converter (Mswrd632.cnv) is available for use with Word 6.0 for Windows NT to enable import of English-language, Asian Word documents. The converter supports import from the following Asian versions of Word: For information on how to obtain this converter, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Word 7.0 for Windows 95

The U.S. release of Word 7.0 for Windows 95, includes the ability to open the following English-language Asian Word documents using the Word 6.0-7.0 Windows/Macintosh Converter (Mswrd632.cnv): Support for import of the following Asian versions of Word is available by obtaining an updated MSWRD632.CNV converter: For information on how to obtain this converter, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Word 6.x for Macintosh

The U.S. release of Word 6.x for the Macintosh does not have the ability to open Asian Word documents

Earlier versions of the U.S. release of Word do not recognize Asian Word files as Word documents. If you try to open a Japanese Word document into one of these earlier Word releases, the following error message results: U.S. Word may still fail to open an Asian Word document if the converter file has not been installed. For Word 6.0 for Windows, the converter is only installed if you run Custom/Complete setup. For Word 7.0 for Windows 95, the converter is installed with both Typical and Custom setups.

In addition, Word will fail to open a Japanese Word document if the converter has not been properly registered. For Word 6.0 for Windows, the following entry must be present in the [MSWord Text Converters] section of the Winword6.ini file beginning with the classname "MSWORDJ6." This entry is similar to the following: Neither Word nor Office Setup registers the converter with this Winword6.ini entry. Therefore, you must autoinstall the converter. To autoinstall the converter, complete the following steps:

1. Verify that Msword6.cnv is installed in thE <Windows>\Msapps\Textconv subdirectory. If not, rerun Setup to install it.
2. Quit and restart U.S. Word 6.0.
3. On the File menu, click Open, and select the Confirm Conversions check box.
4. Select to open either a Japanese Word 6.0 document or any other file that Word normally cannot recognize (for example, Autoexec.bat).
   
   Word will now automatically register the Msword6.cnv converter in Winword6.ini. If you choose to open a Japanese document as a "Word/J for Windows 6.0" file, Word will recognize and successfully open the file.
   
   To verify that the converter has been registered, you can open the Winword6.ini file in Notepad and verify that the line referenced above exists. If not, exit Word and repeat steps 2 through 4, choosing to open the Autoexec.bat file.

NOTE: An erroneous "Word for the Macintosh 6.0" file type option may be selected in Word when you try to open Japanese Word 6.0 documents for the first time with Confirm Conversions active. If this occurs, select the "Word/J for Windows 6.0" file type option and choose OK to open the file.

For Word 7.0 for Windows 95, the converter must be installed through setup and then at that time can be replaced by the updated converter. This is so that the following registry information can be recorded for the converter in KEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Word\7.0\Text Converters\Import\MSWordJ6: If this information is not present in the registry, rerun Setup, choose to remove the Word 6.0-7.0 Windows/Macintosh Converter, and then reinstall that converter. The registry entry above should now be present.