WordStar 5 introduced a document-mode " print preview " feature, allowing the user to inspect a WYSIWYG version of text, complete with inserted graphics, as it would appear on the printed page.

Although no current version of WordStar is available for modern operating systems, some former WordStar users still prefer WordStar's interface, especially the cursor diamond commands described earlier in this article.

Designed to work in conjunction with CtrlPlus, the Command Emulator adds many more WordStar commands to MS Word than CtrlPlus by itself, and also changes Word 97-XP's menus to be more like those of WordStar 7. 0 for DOS, the last DOS version of WordStar.

An agreement was made with MicroPro to develop a version of WordStar that supported both English and Hebrew input.

* DOS WordStar files by default have no extension ; some users adopted their own conventions, such as the letters WS followed by the version number ( for example, WS3 ), or just plain WS.

XOOM also released a version of WordStar for Windows 2. 0 called Xoom Word Pro.

For example, early WordStar files used or, where n was the program's version number.

Because FCB compatibility has not been maintained, WordStar 3. x will not function properly on modern versions of Windows.

In particular, WordStar 3. x cannot save files.

Compared to other word processors of the day such as Micropro WordStar 3. 3, WordPerfect 4. 2, and Microsoft Word 2. 0, Symphony's word processing environment was simple, but effective and uncomplicated.

Some editors, such as WordStar, have dual operating modes allowing them to be either a text editor or a word processor.

WordStar is a word processor application, published by MicroPro International, originally written for the CP / M operating system but later ported to DOS, that enjoyed a dominant market share during the early-to mid-1980s.

Although Seymour I. Rubinstein was the principal owner of the company, Rob Barnaby was the sole author of the early versions of the program ; starting with WordStar 4. 0, the program was built on new code written principally by Peter Mierau.

WordStar was deliberately written to make as few assumptions about the underlying system as possible, allowing it to be easily ported across the many platforms that proliferated in the early 1980s.

MicroPro began selling the product, now renamed WordStar, in June 1979.

MailMerge was an add-on program ( becoming integrated from WordStar 4 onwards ) which facilitated the merge printing of bulk mailings, such as business letters to clients.

Other add-on programs included SpellStar, a spell checker program, later incorporated as a direct part of the WordStar program ; and DataStar, a program whose purpose was specifically to expedite creating of the data files used for merge printing.

A companion spreadsheet, CalcStar, was also produced using a somewhat WordStar-like interface ; collectively, WordStar ( word processing ), DataStar / ReportStar ( database management, a. k. a. InfoStar ), and CalcStar ( spreadsheet ) composed the first-ever office suite of personal computer programs.

As a product enhancement, in the late 1980s WordStar 5 came bundled with PC-Outline, a popular DOS outliner then available from Brown Bag Software, Inc. in California.

WordStar identified files as either " document " or " nondocument ," which led to some confusion among users.

" Document " referred to WordStar word processing files containing embedded and hidden word processing and formatting commands.

Using WordStar in " Nondocument Mode " was essentially the same as using a traditional text editor, but with more advanced text editing features than found in some mainframe-based editors.

Installation of early versions of WordStar, especially for CP / M, was very different from the approach of modern programs.

Occasionally short machine-language programs had to be entered in a patch area in WordStar, to provide particular screen effects or cope with particular printers.

Researching, testing, and proving out such installations was a time-consuming and knowledge-intensive process, making WordStar installation and customization a staple discussion of CP / M users ' groups during that time.

DOS versions of WordStar at least had standardized the screen display, but still had to be customized for different printers.

While many potential customers believed that the smaller computer could run most IBM PC software and an important market for the PCjr was executives who took data home to work on, in practice it proved incompatible with about 60 % of PC applications including WordStar and two programs often used to test PC clones ' compatibility, Lotus 1-2-3 and Microsoft Flight Simulator.

" So while WordMaster, SuperSort, and WordStar were developed on IMSAIs ( I used mine til I got an IBM PC ), few customers used them.

The ESDX keys ( known as the " cursor movement diamond ") were used in the WordStar word processor and related applications, in combination with the Control key.

) WordStar 4. 0 does not have this problem because it uses the newer MS-DOS interface for input / output.

In 1982, WordStar was ported to MS-DOS.

WordStar for Word also adds WordStar's block commands, namely Ctrl + KB to mark the beginning of a block, Ctrl + KK to mark the end, and Ctrl + KV to move it.

MicroPro was weakening with old Wordstar products and still-new WordStar 2000 ; WordPerfect was having problems with the translation and the user interface ; and MS-Word was a decent but less polished or powerful product, and was also DOS and text-based.

It was also bundled with a number of software packages: WordStar, the popular word processing package ; SuperCalc, a spreadsheet ; MBASIC, a programming language ; Osboard, a graphics and drawing program ; TurnKey, a system utility ; MediaMaster, a data interchange program that allowed compatibility with over " 200 other computers "; and Desolation, a game.

The other WordStar emulation utility created was the WordStar Command Emulator for Microsoft Word, also known as " WordStar for Word ," by Mike Petrie.

WordStar for Word works on all versions of Word from Word 97 through 2010.

The WordStar Command Emulator is written in Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications, a macro programming language based on Visual Basic built into Microsoft Word to allow for a high level of customization.

* WordStar for Windows files use the extension WSD

* WordStar for Windows templates use the extension WST

* WordStar for Windows macros use the extension WMC

On start-up LocoScript displayed a file management menu, like WordStar but unlike WordPerfect, Microsoft Word and other modern word processors, which start with an empty document.