Buzzword lets you import Microsoft Word (DOC, DOCX), plain text (TXT), Rich Text Format (RTF), Word 2003 XML, and Open Document Format (.odt) files. Font substitution and other formatting changes sometimes occur on import, depending on the content of the document. (For more information, see the font substitution table in Will my document look the same when I save it to my desktop?) Also, some limitations apply to any conversion from one document format to another:

• If you are importing a Word document with revisions (Track Changes is on), accept or reject revisions before you import. Buzzword does not preserve revision markings.

• Comments are not imported.

• Since lists in Word include auto-numbered headings that sometimes include ordinary paragraphs, Buzzword does not import lists with unnumbered or unbulleted items as true Buzzword lists. Buzzword does retain the numbering and indenting.

• Section breaks are treated as page breaks. If headers and footers are based on sections, this link is lost; the first header and footer that appear are used throughout the document.

• Font size, color, and styles such as bold, italic, underline, and strike-through are retained. All other variations, such as superscript, subscript, and small caps, are not supported in this release.

• Not every bullet symbol is supported in Buzzword; Buzzword uses its default symbol at each level.

• Footnotes are converted into endnotes.

• For imported images, the following wrapping and alignment are supported in this release: inline with no wrapping; relative horizontal alignment to a character; and left, right, or center alignment. All other types of alignment are converted to floating left, with an offset that corresponds to the position in the original document.

• Tables follow these rules:

  • All cells have the same borders.

  • Spanners—single cells that extend over several columns or rows—expand to match the maximum number of cells in that row or column.

  • Nested tables are preserved, but with a blank line preceding and following.

• Buzzword supports five fields in headers and footers: document name, owner, most recent date saved, page number, and total pages. Fields other than the five that Buzzword supports are converted to text strings.

• Headers and footers aligned left for even-numbered pages are converted to right-aligned format.

The Cut, Copy, and Paste commands function the same as any word processor. Inside Buzzword they work with all text, tables, or images, or all three in one selection.

You can paste text or tables from other documents outside Buzzword. However, you can paste images only from websites. You cannot copy images from desktop applications, such as Microsoft® Word, or copy images from Adobe PDF files. You can import Word documents in their entirety into Buzzword.

If you or a collaborator change a document, you can use the history feature to compare differences between two versions of the document. You can also revert to an earlier version of the document.

Two modes are available for viewing changes. Interactive markers mode is the default and shows only added content, with markers that show deletions when the mouse hovers over them. Redlines mode shows both the added content (underlined in blue) and deleted content (in red strike-through text). When you select two versions to compare, the differences reflect the sum of the changes made between the times those versions were saved.

You can’t edit a document with the History bar open but you can print the document with the differences displayed.

1. Click the History icon in the lower-right part of the window.

2. At the bottom of the history bar, select Show Changes Using, and choose a mode for displaying the comparison document.

3. Select a black circle in the top row (the leftmost circle represents the most recent version) and a red circle in the bottom row. The comparison document shows the additions and deletions between the two selected versions (not text that was added or deleted in intermediate versions).

4. Click Jump To Next Change to move from one difference to the next.

5. To revert to a previous document version, select the circle in the top row and click Revert To Shown Version. Click OK.

Buzzword checks spelling as you type. Misspelled words are flagged with dotted red underlining in the document. A spell-check counter to the right of the History icon shows the number of flagged words in the document. (The counter appears only if you have misspelled words in your document.)

• To restart checking at a specific place in the document, click where you want to begin and click the spell-check counter.

• To skip a flagged word, move the pointer over the spell-check counter. Then click Jump to Next Flagged Word. The word remains flagged, and the next misspelled word is selected.

• To correct a flagged word, click the dotted red line beneath the word and make a selection. If you specify that your original spelling is correct, the word is added to your custom word list and accepted in every document you create. You can also correct the text manually.

• To stop the spell-check, choose Document > Spell Check Settings, then deselect Spell Check This Document. To turn off the red underlining of misspelled words in the document, click the Buzzword menu, select Settings & Preferences, and deselect Flag Misspelled Words. (The spell-check counter still keeps count of misspelled words.)

• To remove words from your word list, click Buzzword > Settings & Preferences > Edit Word List. You can edit only your current word list, not the Buzzword common word list or a document dictionary. The document dictionary is a word list that "travels" with the document. It is different from your custom word list.

• To change the spell-check language, move the pointer over the spell-check counter. Click the link for the current spell-check language, select a different language, and click OK. You can also make the new language the default spell-check language for any new documents. (This option is different than the user interface language setting. For more information, see Setting preferences.)

  Note: If the flagged word count does not appear, choose Document > Spell Check Settings to change the spell-check language.