How to Exchange Data with Other Software

Using Cut and Paste

The text boxes in TIP can communicate with any word processor (or other program that handles text, such as a web browser, spreadsheet, or e-mail program). This is done through the Windows Clipboard.

To copy material to the clipboard, mark it (by holding the mouse button down while moving the mouse pointer across the text) and then right-click and choose Copy, or hold down Ctrl and hit C.

You can then paste it into other programs.

To paste material from another program into a text area in TIP, right-click and choose Paste, or hold down Ctrl and hit V.

Note: You can paste text from other programs, but you can’t paste everything. You can’t paste pictures or non-European writing (e.g., Chinese or Arabic) into TIP. Also, elaborate structures such as tables and bulleted lists will be simplified when they are pasted into TIP. If you have something complex to express, we recommend that you make additional branches in the tree rather than trying to put a long document in one branch.

Exporting RTF Files

Besides printing directly from TIP, you can also output any TIP printout as an RTF (Rich Text Format) file that you can open with Microsoft Word, Windows WordPad, or any major word processor.

To create an RTF file, choose File, Export to Word Processor:

The resulting file will normally open with Microsoft Word (if you have it installed) and can be opened with other word processors. Here’s an example of what you’ll get:

If this isn't the layout you want, don't worry. It's easy to change in your word processing program.

Notice that the RTF file does not contain page numbers and does not place the TIP logo at the top of every page. That's up to you and your word processor.