These can be confusing for the non-technical. I hope that this page will help to clarify this area - please email the Web Editor if you end up more confused than you were!

What is a File Format?

Can some Files be read on any computer?

I have heard that Microsoft use a new format in MS Word 2007

What is XPS Format?

What formats do you use on the SRP web site?

What is a file format?
When you have produced some work with the computer, such as a letter, report, spreadsheet or poster, it needs to be saved in a permanent form.

Different software uses different ways of organising the information that needs to be included in the file (the text itself, paragraphing, layout, fonts used, images etc). Usually, anyone wishing to view the file must have the same software installed on their computer. Other software may well not be able to read the file, or will produce gobbledygook.

It is rather like several different people developing their own, distinct, methods of musical notation. If you haven't learned how to read one, you may well produce gobbledymusic when attempting to read it.

Some software is able to read files created by other software (eg Open Office can read and write MS word format), but the results are not always perfect.

The most widespread and well-known format is Microsoft Word (MS Word, or just Word). Microsoft used to change the format in new versions of Word, but this has been stable since Word '97, until recently, see below. Many  people have MS Word installed on their computers (there is a version for the Mac too), but if you produced something using MS Publisher, others may well not have this installed and so wouldn't be able to read the document (and the format has changed so earlier versions cannot read files created by later versions).

Cross-Platform File Formats
 These are file formats that can be produced by any software, and are readable (using a special, free, reader program) on any computer.

The common, well-known, example of this is Adobe Acrobat Format (also, confusingly, known as Portable Document Format). The software to create these files used to be very expensive, but is now available quite cheaply, and is useful if you need to distribute documents but are not sure the recipients have the original software installed.

The Acrobat Reader program is available free from the Adobe web site, and versions are available for a wide range of computers - I believe you can even have one on your mobile phone! You may already have it installed on your computer as it has been distributed with software for such things as scanners and digital cameras, as the documentation is often in the form of a PDF.

If you can print it, you can convert it to Adobe Acrobat format, and the results are excellent - it will look the same on any computer that has the Adobe Reader installed.

The free Acrobat reader is available from:

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

Microsoft have recently brought out a new cross-platform format, see below.

Open Office (which can be downloaded and used free of charge) will also save documents in as PDF

Microsoft Word 2007
 A new file format has been introduced in the 2007 Office Suite of programs (which includes Word). The intention is that they will become cross-platform, ie all software will use these (or similar) formats, but as is so common with computers, this is not as simple as it seems. Although a step in the right direction, this new format is not the same as a cross-platform one under development called Open Document Format.

Over time this situation will be simplified, but at the moment, MS Word 2007 will save in a format that can't (but see the paragraph below) be read by earlier versions of Word, so if you have Word 2007 and wish to distribute documents, it is wise to save them in the earlier version (available from File -> Save As ...).

There is a free add-on for Word 2000 and later which will read and write this new format, but it isn't wise to assume that others will have this installed. It is available from:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=941B3470-3AE9-4AEE-8F43-C6BB74CD1466&displaylang=en

XPS Format
Microsoft have recently (2007) introduced a new cross-platform file format, (XML Paper Specification) - this is in direct competition with Adobe of course, but it does provide some advantages.

It consists of a reader and a printer (with cross platform formats, the conversion is done by "printing" the document to a special "printer"). So it isn't necessary to pay for expensive and complex software to produce the XPS format.

XPS comes as standard with Windows Vista, but it can also be downloaded and installed free of charge on computers running Windows XP (though you must have installed Service Pack 2). The simplest way to get is is as part of Windows .NET version 3.0:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=10cc340b-f857-4a14-83f5-25634c3bf043&DisplayLang=en

You will need a reasonably up-to-date computer (last 3 - 4 years) to be sure of running this OK.

Microsoft say that they intend the XPS format to be cross-platform and that viewers for other platforms (such as the MAC) will be produced, but none are available as far as I can see at the time of writing (May 2007).

It is implied that third-parties may write viewers for other platforms, but there are no signs that this is happening yet.

What formats are used on the SRP web site?
 This has varied over time - some old documents may only be in MS Word format, some were converted (usually by a laborious manual process) to ordinary web page format, and some were in Adobe Acrobat Format.

New documents are now being made available in the following formats, though there will be exceptions depending on the origin of a document.