How to Convert your old RISC Form Letters to MS-Word
With the release of RISC v6, the customised word processor developed for the Form Letters Module from RISC version 2 through v5 was discontinued and removed, replaced by Microsoft Word. There were many reasons for making this change, most related to the vast difference in functionality between these two word processors and the desire for better quality form letters in RISC. RISC v7 has further extended on the integration with MS Word.
Unfortunately, the native (custom) file format for RISC Form Letter files up to and including v5 (.HED) is vastly different to the format used by MS Word (.DOC). We'll take this opportunity to apologise up front. There is no automatic procedure to convert .HED files to .DOC files. MS Word will not open the .HED files.
Although it is possible, our recommendation is NOT to try and convert them. If you have a printed copy of your previous form letter masks, it would be much simpler to have a secretary retype them into MS-Word by creating new templates through transcribing the old ones.
To allow for this, the upgrade of RISC to v7 did not remove any of your past form letters and also did not remove the RISC 5 program itself. In the RISC folder is RISC5.EXE, the old version of the program. Follow these steps:
- Open the RISC folder in My Computer and run RISC5.EXE by double-clicking it
- Choose Form Letters...Create/Modify a Form Letter
- Select the first form letter (or one you wish to keep a copy of)
- When the form letter mask is displayed, print it. Write down the description title and number of the form letter mask on the printed page
- Close the Form Letters Module
- Repeat steps 2 through 5 until you have copies of all of your desired form letters
- Close RISC5 and run RISC v7 (RISC.exe)
- Choose Form Letters...Create/Modify a Form Letter
- Select the first form letter number and enter its description title.
- When MS Word starts, type in the content of the form letter and reinsert the appropriate RISC data fields where required.
- Save the form letter (Save Doc button) and Close Word.
- Repeat steps 8 through 11 until you have created all of your desired form letter masks for RISC v7.
NOTE: For those who hate re-typing, instead of printing the form letter at step 4, you could Select the whole document (Ctrl-A), then Copy it to the clipboard (Ctrl-C) and then Paste it into a temporary document in Word (Ctrl-V). You can paste all of the form letters into one temporary document. From there, start at step 7, but in step 10, instead of typing, select the appropriate letter out of the temporary Word doc, copy it and paste it into the form letter mask, then continue with Step 11.
When you have completed the conversion of all old RISC form letters, it is recommended that you delete all files with an extension of .HED from the FORMLTRS folder. This should probably be performed by a system administrator. You should also then delete the RISC5.exe file from the RISC folder to complete the transition to RISC v7.
If you follow these steps, your RISC v7 upgrade for form letters will be completed smoothly and your school can start to fully enjoy the benefits of the latest release of RISC. If you have any problems that haven't been addressed in the user manual or on these Help Desk pages, please contact the RISC e-mail Support Line (marillion_designs@yahoo.com) providing full details of the problem.
The Register of
Individual Student Contact (RISC) is developed & distributed
by Marillion Designs.
Copyright © 1995-2006 Marillion Designs. All rights reserved.
Information in this document is subject to change without notice.
Other products and companies referred to herein are trademarks
or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
