easier file sharing I – about file formats

When you send a file to someone else via email, you want to make sure that person can open the file without any problems…right? But not everyone uses the same software, so the documents (‘files’) that you produce on your computer aren’t necessarily readable by others. What controls the readability of documents/files is something called the ‘file format’. It is identified by the ‘dot’ plus three or four letters at the end of a file name, e.g. “.doc” or .wp6″ or “.ppsx”. You can look up file formats and the programs they are created and read by on the internet.

There are a few ‘file formats’ that are more universal than others, i.e. most people have software on their computer allowing these files to automatically open. Some such file formats are

• .html (your web browser opens these as web pages)
• .jpg or .jpeg (photos are often saved and shared in this compressed image format)
• .mp3 (compressed music files…thus the now eponymous ‘mp3 player’)
• .txt (basic “text” files that anyone can read…but with no pretty formatting such as bold, etc.)
• .rtf (“rich text format” — a universal word processing file format with pretty formatting capabilities such as ‘bold’ etc, that can be created from any word processing program, even Microsoft’s Word)
• .pdf (opened by Acrobat Reader, or by Preview on Mac) …read how to generate your own PDF files for easier file sharing
• .zip (Zip files are compressed files used primarily to store and distribute large files. On Mac OSX and Windows XP and later, .zip decompression happens by default (and .zip creation is also easy with Mac OSX) and there are also free .zip decompressors and creators available for PC such as AlZip).

These are some file formats that are less universal and that my clients often receive, without the means to open them:

• .ppt or .pps (opens with the free Microsoft Power Point Viewer for PC; there are also a few limited, free Power Point readers for older operating systems, Mac and others)
• .pptx or .ppsx (this is Microsoft’s newer Power Point presentation software file format, and won’t open in older versions of Power Point Reader!!!!! Microsoft has suggestions on how to open such a file, including asking the sender to please re-save it as an earlier version, e.g. .ppt or .pps)
• .doc (this is Microsoft’s ‘Word’ traditional word-processing file format. Some other programs will open it, such as Open Office for PC or NeoOffice for Mac (free, open-source software which is very similar to Microsoft’s Office proprietary software)
• .docx (Microsoft’s newer file format, misleadingly named ‘open’ as it isn’t, quite. The Microsoft ‘Compatibility Pack’ might make this kind of document available on your system (depending on the software you already own and your operating system. I tried an online, free converter–”docx-converter”–and did not receive the promised conversion file but they now have the email address that I entered…beware of online converters for anything!!!!).

The less universal file formats are truly annoying for some of us. And the most pervasive and important problem I see is with word-processing files, created by software that generates (by default) a file format that is proprietary, that is, closed and locked down so that only that same program which created the document can open it. If I don’t have Word Perfect (.wpd) or Microsoft Word (.doc), or just the most recent version of Microsoft Office (.docx), or even OpenOffice (.odf), I can’t necessarily read the document someone sends to me (it depends on what I use for word processing). And I have to write back to that person, asking them to ‘Save As’ in another format, e.g. .rtf or .pdf or perhaps an earlier .doc format that corresponds to what I have.

If authors wish to share their documents with others, it’s most efficient (and friendly) to send a file format that is automatically and easily readable by the recipient. Anything that can be printed can be easily (and for free) saved in the format PDF for such ease of file sharing…here’s how to save in PDF format.