KB165237 - FIX: Word 97 Document Added to Visual SourceSafe as Text File

Article ID: 165237

Article Last Modified on 2/16/2005

Microsoft Visual SourceSafe 5.0 Standard Edition
Microsoft Visual SourceSafe 4.0 Standard Edition
Microsoft Visual SourceSafe 4.0 Standard Edition

This article was previously published under Q165237

SYMPTOMS

Visual SourceSafe might interpret Word Documents as Text format when you add them to your database, potentially corrupting the files. The conversion process of Word 97 to Word 6.0/95 format apparently converts the file into text format.

Note: To verify the format type Visual SourceSafe stored, highlight the file, then from the File menu in the Visual SourceSafe Explorer, choose Properties. The file type is displayed on the General tab.

CAUSE

When you save a file in Word 6.0/95 format, it generates a file in Rich Text Format (RTF), which is text representation of a Binary file. SourceSafe detects this and stores the file as Text. The corruption occurs when the format of the file is converted back to Word 97 Binary format while Visual SourceSafe has the file registered as Text.

RESOLUTION

Any of the following three methods can be used to avoid this problem:

Don't save files created in Word 97 as Word 6.0/95 format. Instead, have users of Word 6.0 or Word 95 get the Microsoft Word 97 Converter. For additional information about the Microsoft Word 97 Converter, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
162602 WD 97: Questions About Saving in the Word 6.0/95 File Format
When adding a file, you see a Comment dialog box with an Advanced>> button at the bottom. Click this button and change the File Type drop-down box to Binary.
Add the following to your Srcsafe.ini file before any section headers:
Binary_Masks = *.doc

If you find a .doc file (that it is not damaged) stored incorrectly as Text type, you can store it correctly without damaging the file, but you will lose the History. Perform a Get Latest Version, destroy (delete permanently) the file in SourceSafe, then add back the local file using one of the three methods described above.

STATUS

This behavior is by design. Visual SourceSafe correctly identifies the .rtf file as being a text file. This problem was corrected in Visual SourceSafe version 6.0.

MORE INFORMATION

Steps to Reproduce the Problem

Open a new document in Word 97, save it as Word 6.0/95 type and close.
Add the file to Visual SourceSafe.
Check out the file and edit it in Word 97.
Choose File, then save as a Word Document(*.doc) file type.
Close the file.
Check the file back into Visual SourceSafe.
Now highlight the file, choose Edit, View File, and you will see corrupted characters.

Keywords: kbbug kbfix kbssafe600fix KB165237