August 2025 mailing – Scientific Word Ltd.

Tracking changes: In the course of buying a licence, a new user wanted to know whether it was possible to track changes made to a v5.5 document when working with co-authors. As an immediate response we said:

I’ve spent a bit of time playing around with Scientific Word v5.5 and the changes package (see our July 2014 mailing Item 2 for an early response to this question).

followed later by:

Yes, it’s certainly possible to track changes in a Scientific Word/WorkPlace v5.5 document, using the changes.sty package: see the document attached:

The PDF file will show you the output

The .tex file will open in Scientific Word/WorkPlace but will not compile in your system as currently set up using the TrueTeX pdfTeX (or TrueTeX pdfTeX Multilingual) formatter: see Typeset – Expert Settings – PDF Format Settings

You will need to use another TeX Formatter/Compiler. If you have either MiKTeX or TeXLive installed on your computer, then hook that up to use with Scientific Word/WorkPlace v5.5 as follows:

TeXLive 2025 (tested): follow the instructions in our May 2022 mailing Item 4 (fifth option), making the necessary changes for the year to 2025. This will involve installing TeXLive 2025 from our v6 installation instructions Step 3; at Step 3A(iv) choose the Full Scheme if hard disk space allows, to ensure you have all the packages you might need

MiKTeX (not tested):

Locate your MiKTeX’s file pdflatex.exe in File Explorer. On two machines running MiKTeX here, it is at:
c:/Users/Christopher/AppData/Local/Programs/MiKTeX/miktex/bin/x64/pdflatex.exe
although your installation may well be different. Note that the folder AppData is a hidden folder, so you may need to tell File Explorer to show ‘Hidden items’ and ‘File name extensions’ (using the checkboxes on the View tab).

Once you have found this file pdflatex.tex, open Scientific Word/WorkPlace, go to Typeset – Expert Settings – PDF Format Settings and select MiKTeX pdfTeX from the dropdown. Then click on Add/Modify, and for the Executable filename browse to the file pdflatex.exe you found; then click OK – OK.

You will also need to make the amendment to your MiKTeX’s file pdftex.def discussed in our August 2021 mailing Item 3 Solution 3 – otherwise you will get the height and width of graphics added as text alongside the graphics. Specifically, this means editing (for example, with WordPad) your MiKTeX file pdftex.def in the
c:/Users/Christopher/AppData/Local/Programs/MiKTeX/tex/latex/graphics-def/
folder, and adding the green text from our August 2021 mailing Item 3 before the final
\endinput
command. The resulting pdftex.def is here.

One other small issue is that TeXLive/MiKTeX will not handle the \input{tcilatex} that occurs in many version 5.5 document shells; see our October 2022 mailing Item 3. The easiest solution is just to save your document as File – SaveAs – SaveAsType – Portable LaTeX, which strips out all the proprietary information like tcilatex.tex by incorporating it into the document itself.

Don’t forget your co-authors will also need to be able to compile your shared document, and will therefore also need to use the MiKTeX or TeXLive formatter.

For further reading I’m attaching changes.zip which you can unzip to C:\sw[p]55\TCITeX\TeX\LaTeX\contrib\changes [this is where you would put the package changes.sty for your pdfTeX formatter; in fact you don’t need changes.sty there because you’ll be using MiKTeX or TeXLive formatter which should already have the changes package installed – but the .zip file contains several other .tex files and PDFs].

Installing the changes package to work in Scientific Word/WorkPlace is non-trivial; but examining the document changes.example.simple-final.tex in Scientific Word/WorkPlace and looking at the resulting PDF changes.example.simple-final.pdf will give you a sense of whether it would be worth the effort for you.

Latest Build of v5.5: Sometimes users (and their IT Support) need help determining what they're asking for. One such support agent Emailed saying:

...we have a license for your softwares <snip>. I need to move it another device and need information on the licensing process

and provided a Scientific WorkPlace v5.5 serial number. He then asked:

Will the Mac version open files written in the Windows version?

We replied:

To move Scientific WorkPlace to another computer, please see our Leap Year’s Day 2020 mailing Item 7; you probably only need Item 7(1).
The version 5.5 installation checklist is in our January 2024 mailing Item 8.

The Mac version only applies to Scientific Word/WorkPlace version 6 – not version 5.5 which you have. Version 5.5 will only run on Windows.
In addition to the Windows/Mac difference, there is a significant difference between version 5.5 and version 6: see our August 2022 mailing Item 3. Many long-term users of Scientific Word/WorkPlace v5.5 who ‘upgraded’ to v6 didn’t like it and went back to v5.5
Our recommendation is to keep using Scientific WorkPlace v5.5 on Windows

and we pointed him to:

...our download page at https://www.sciword.co.uk/download.htm (step 1): version 5.5 section (95Mb). That will give you the latest Build 2960.
Be sure to follow the installation instructions precisely (step 3).

Definitions: A user in Germany wrote to say:

I reinstalled SWP deleting the old version and everything worked fine. I used the program in a practical calculation. Everything worked sofar except

control + = for new definition

<snip>

We replied giving the following information:

To create a New Definition you need the cursor still in the expression (the red M will show you’re in Maths mode). Then either:

Ctrl and = (touched together) or click on

Compute – Definitions – New Definition.

You can check your Definitions (to see whether it worked) from Compute – Definitions – Show Definitions.
I think you’re saying Method 1 above does not work. Does Method 2 work? Please see our document attached, and try adding new definitions to it.
The online Help is at Help – Search – definitions – definitions – defining variables and functions.

We didn't hear back, so we assume it solved the problem.

Second document: One of our users raised this question:

When I use S.W. for a first work already saved by S.W. and I want to go to another work alreaday saved by S.W., I am obliged to close S.W. for the first work? Right?
Thank you very much in advance for your kind answer.

We responded, giving...

...two options for keeping Scientific WorkPlace open:

You can close the Scientific WorkPlace document without closing the program by clicking on File – Close (Ctrl – F4) rather than File – Exit (Alt – F4)

Alternatively, you can open the second document (File – Open) while the first document is still open. You can then choose between the two document from the Scientific WorkPlace – Window menu.

Overleaf: A couple of variations on this question have come up recently:

I need to incorporate the file needed to generate the publication style for the Journal of Chemical Physics, which is part of the American Institute of Physics (AIP) family of journals.
Is this something that you can help me with?

to which we've replied along the lines of:

Our standard response to your question says:

Using external typesetting specifications is easier to achieve using version 5.5 of Scientific WorkPlace than version 6

To use external typesetting specifications (a journal’s template) with Scientific WorkPlace v5.5, please first see our May 2011 mailing Item 1, which directs you to Scientific WorkPlace’s online Help – Search – typesetting specifications – typesetting specifications – typesetting specifications from outside sources. It's non-trivial, but the instructions are comprehensive; in theory, this is all you should need

We’ve also dealt with this issue several times over the years in our bi-monthly mailings. You may find the following mailings useful (if you're using Scientific WorkPlace rather than Scientific Word, replace c:\sw55 with c:\swp55):

December 2014 mailing Item 3 [for the Springer Verlag journal using the class file svjour3.cls]

Midsummer’s Day 2020 mailing Item 3 [using generalised classname.cls]

November 2023 mailing Item 3 [NZJM, using the class file nzjm.cls] Note that b and c are duplicates to a large extent

Midsummer’s Day 2025 mailing Item 4B. This mailing item recognises that in some instances it is not realistically possible to use an arbitrary Journal’s typesetting specifications with Scientific Word/WorkPlace.

If you are unable (or cannot be bothered) to work through the above, an alternative solution would be to use Scientific WorkPlace’s default shell documents for the appropriate family of journals (eg. American Institute of Physics (AIP)), and leave the particular journal (eg. Journal of Chemical Physics) to make the final adjustments. To use one of these shell documents, start with File – New – Articles – AIP (Similar), or File – New – Articles – AIP (Similar) Modified.

To answer your specific need (‘a few editorial boards have become too picky and arrogant, demanding that my Latex source submission be made exactly to their own class and template’):
Such journals usually expect their authors to produce work using Overleaf (free sign up) and they provide their template in Overleaf (eg. to use the AIP example referred to above, click on https://www.overleaf.com/latex/templates/template-for-submission-to-aip-journals/wdmsvzfjgvyj ). It is possible for you to write your document using Scientific WorkPlace's WYSIWYG interface, and then copy the LaTeX contents of your document into the Overleaf template. Here is a simple proof-of-concept:

In Scientific WorkPlace we opened the sample document File – Open – SWSamples – checkout.tex

We saved it as Portable LaTeX (File – SaveAs – Files of Type Portable LaTeX) called SampleOverleafcheckout.tex

We opened this document in WordPad, and copied to the clipboard the LaTeX code from
\section{Integrating Term by Term}
to
\end{proof}
This represents the content of your article

We pasted that LaTeX code into the Overleaf template-for-submission linked above (see Overleaf screenshot)

We renamed this as ‘SampleOverleaf1’, compiled it in Overleaf and downloaded the .tex file and PDF from Overleaf. That included the text and maths of our checkout document as intended – but did not correctly label the Theorem and Proof (ringed in Overleaf screenshot)

So we opened SampleOverleafcheckout.tex again in WordPad, and copied to the clipboard the LaTeX code from the Preamble which define the Theorem and Proof:
\newtheorem{theorem}{Theorem}
\newenvironment{proof}[1][Proof]{\textbf{#1.} }{\ \rule{0.5em}{0.5em}}
and pasted these two lines into our Overleaf document beneath the \usepackage lines

We renamed the document as ‘SampleOverleaf2’, compiled it in Overleaf and again downloaded the .tex file and PDF from Overleaf

For clarity: this produces the content of checkout.tex (representing your article, written in Scientific Word/WorkPlace) using the typesetting specifications of the AIP template provided by Overleaf.

This procedure enables you to use Scientific Word/WorkPlace v5.5 as a WYSIWYG front-end to Overleaf.
Please note that we do not provide Tech Support for Overleaf.

Out of sync? A user who had, with some difficulty, upgraded from Scientific Word v4.0 to v5.5 Emailed to say:

...it's registered and giving me all kind of features! So I thought all was well. But unexpectedly, the SW icon does not give me the nely installed SW 5.5 but reverts to what I've always had before with no useful features.
I've tried to remove the old SW4.0 but it seems to be difficult or takes an excessive amount of time.

So now my question is how we tie the SW icon to the installed SW5.5? Right now I do not get SW5.5. despite the fact it is clearly installed. The short-cut does not work.
<snip>
But we can't access the program it appears. Can we bypass the short cut? Or is the existence of SW4.0 among our apps prohibiting that?

We suggested:

Why not delete the old shortcut on the desktop, and then re-create it from either:

Start – Scientific Word 5.5 (dropdown) – right-click on Scientific Word – Pin to Start. You can then open Scientific Word v5.5 from the Windows – Start page; or

Start – Scientific Word 5.5 (dropdown) – right-click on Scientific Word – More – Pin to taskbar. You can then open Scientific Word v5.5 from the taskbar.

He kindly confirmed that everything then worked.

Merging files: Someone in Turkey trying the free 30-day demo of Scientific WorkPlace v5.5 wrote to ask:

I'm writing a thesis for a homework assignment with this application.
<snip>
...how can I merge multiple separate tex files?

This is fairly straight-forward:

First, make sure you've got both .tex files saved as Scientific Word/WorkPlace documents (using File – Open if the .tex file was created in Scientific Word/WorkPlace, or using File – Import Non-SWP/SW LaTeX otherwise).
Second, on the File menu there is an option called Import Contents. So from within one of the documents, put your cursor where you want the other file to appear when it's merged, and select that file using the File – Import Contents option.

Graphics: Here are two recent questions we've received about graphics:

Someone with our Individual Annual Maintenance Emailed about the placement of graphics:

...when I insert images, they don't go where I inserted them. They go to another part of the document. Attached in the tex file. How can I force these images to go where I want them to go?

We Emailed back saying:

I can’t compile your document because you didn’t send me the graphics...
<snip>
Nevertheless, I think I can see the problem: you have inadvertently given the document permission to put each graphic wherever it wants. This issue is documented in our August 2024 mailing Item 6(2): read from “We replied”; and, in particular, click through to see Graphics1a.png and Graphics1b.png.

and followed up with:
1. ...right-click each graphic – Properties – Layout – Placement – Floating and uncheck all the options, and check Here. Then click OK
2. This will put the graphic where you want, with this proviso: LaTeX hates white space on a page. So if your graphic is near the bottom of a page and there isn’t room for it, LaTeX will put the graphic at the top of the next page. But then it will look at the empty space at the bottom of the page and promote the text (which you want after the graphic) so as to go at the bottom of the previous page before the graphic <snip>
3. Our recommendation is that you leave LaTeX alone to do what it knows best. If you really want to stop the text being promoted, add the placeins package (Typeset – Options and Packages – Add – placeins – OK) and put a TeXField \FloatBarrier below (or above) your graphic.

More recently, another user's question led to a discussion about the format of graphics:

...back in the early 1990's my textbook <snip> was published from Scientific Word but with diagrams hand crafted by an AMStex expert.
He is long retired, and my current work requires again such diagrams.

We replied:

We offer Scientific Word version 5.5 (which you already have) and Scientific Word version 6. Neither of these includes a drawing facility.
In the absence of your AMSTeX expert you would need to generate the drawings in some other way, save them in a standard graphics format and then import them into Scientific Word v5.5 from File – Import Picture. You can see the long list of supported graphics formats from the Scientific Word v5.5 – File – Import Picture – Files of Type dropdown (see the screenshots SupportedGraphicsFormat1 and SupportedGraphicsFormat2).

Please also see our January 2022 mailing Item 5.

Beamer: We recently converted a Scientific WorkPlace document into a Beamer presentation for one of our 5 Hour Support Package users (for more information about Beamer, go to our Past Mailings page and search [Ctrl-F] for 'Beamer'). That's when we discovered that there's no Claim environment in Beamer.
We forwarded the resulting Beamer presentation with the following general points:

For the avoidance of doubt: to present with a Beamer PDF

Open the PDF in the Acrobat Reader

Press Ctrl-L (or View – Full Screen mode) to go to full screen mode

Navigate through the presentation with PgDn (or left-click) and PgUp (or right-click) to go backwards.

You must be in full-screen mode for this to work.
To end the presentation, press Esc to exit full-screen mode.

and saying:

Beamer does not support the Claim environment, which you’d wanted <snip>. The Beamer User Guide section 12.4 (p117) says:
The beamer class predefines several environments, like theorem or definition or proof, that you can use to typeset things like, well, theorems, definitions, or proofs. The complete list is the following: theorem, Theorem, corollary, Corollary, definition, Definition, definitions, fact, example, Example, examples, Examples, lemma, Lemma, problem, Problem, proof, Proof, and solution.
So I’ve used a Custom lemma, giving the result Lemma (Claim) [in] the PDF.

Please let us know if you'd like us to undertake such conversion work on any of your documents. Our Support options are outlined here, based on our 35-year expertise in this family of software.