If you don’t want to have the WordStar Emulator running at all times – perhaps you share your computer with a non-WordStar user, or you want to use Word commands sometimes and WordStar commands at other times – you can switch the WordStar Emulator On or Off. There are two ways to do this without needing to un-install the program:

If you only do this occasionally you can use the method described in Use Templates and Add-Ins to turn the WordStar Emulator On or Off. However, if you need to do this frequently you can add another small program to give you a WordStar Emulator ON and OFF toolbar with buttons you can click to switch the WordStar Emulator functions On and Off, as described in Use a program to turn the WordStar Emulator On or Off.

Use Templates and Add-Ins to turn the WordStar Emulator On or Off

To turn Off the WordStar Emulator if it is turned On:

In Word, in the toolbar, click Utilities, then click Templates and Add-Ins, and then deselect the checkbox next to WordStar.dot and then click  OK.

To turn On the WordStar Emulator if it is turned Off:

In Word, in the toolbar, click Tools, then click Templates and Add-Ins and then select the checkbox next to WordStar.dot and then click  OK.

Use a program to turn the WordStar Emulator On or Off

  1. Download WordStarOnOff.dot (approximately 30Kb)
  2. Copy the downloaded WordStarOnOff.dot into your Word STARTUP folder. When you next start Word you should have a small toolbar with two buttons - one turns the WordStar Command Emulator On, and the other turns it Off.

Note: There is no error checking in this program so if the WordStar Command Emulator isn't found you'll get an error. This can occur if you've renamed the WordStar Emulator, or obtained it from a download source that has renamed it.

The requested member of the collection does not exist

Ensure that your WordStar Emulator program is named WordStar.dot. You will need to move it out of the Word STARTUP before you can do this.

Why isn't the WordStar Command Emulator ON/OFF function built in?

The function to turn On or Off the WordStar Command Emulator needs to be in a separate program because if it wasn't, when you turned the Emulator off, the buttons to control these functions would disappear!