TWS Extra Text Area

by Dick Estel

One useful, but often overlooked feature of The Write Stuff is the "extra text area." This permits you to
have two documents in memory at once (or more in the 128 version). You can then switch between
them.

The most obvious use is for transferring portions of one document into another. You can "eat" sections
of text from one document, and restore them in the other. Another use would be to compare two
versions of the same document. I also use this feature when working with very long files, to transfer a
small part of the file to the second area for previewing, etc, without having to wait for many pages of
text to scroll by.

To set up an additional text area, press [CONTROL] [SHIFT] +. In the 64 version, this immediately
splits the text memory area into two equal parts (about 10,000 bytes each).

In the 128 version you will see a horizontal bar with the numbers 1 through 9 across it. Pressing a
number will divide the text memory area into two sections. The numbers represent the approximate
percentage allotted to the original area. Pressing 3 would give you two areas, of about 19,000 bytes
and 43,000 bytes respectively. Pressing 5 would give you two equal areas, about 31,000 bytes each.

Pressing additional numbers creates additional text areas, so you could have up to 10 separate areas,
but they would be limited to about 6,000 bytes each.

You switch between areas by pressing [CONTROL] q. If you have more than two areas, pressing
[CONTROL] [SHIFT] Q switches to the previous area, while [CONTROL] q moves to the next one.

I have had one problem with this feature, which I have been unable to resolve. Whatever I did in one
area happened to the other area also. If I cleared the text in area 2, the text disappeared in area 1 also.
If I loaded a new document, it loaded into both areas. I would suggest saving the document in each
area before loading a file or clearing text in another area.

Overall this is a very useful feature which I use regularly--just another benefit of the world's greatest
cheap word processor.

(From The Interface, newsletter of Fresno Commodore User Group, via the Commodore Information
Center, http://home.att.net/~rmestel/commodore.html)