PDF and Word Formats

PDF (for Portable Document Format) is a standard developed by Adobe for the distribution of electronic documents. It is a universal file format that preserves all the fonts, formatting, graphics, and color of any source document, regardless of the application and platform used to create it. Files can be viewed, navigated, and printed by anyone with free Adobe Acrobat® Reader® software. To download the software, click on the image above.

Word is the word processing program generally distributed as part of the Microsoft Office suite of applications. For those who don't have the software, or the correct version of the software to read a particular document, there is a free Word reader available from Microsoft. For more information, go to this page on the Microsoft site and use the "Word" link. (You may have to scroll down the page to find it.)

RTF (for Rich Text Format) is a method of encoding text and graphis so they can be transferred easily among applications on a variety of platforms. Almost any word processing programs can read an RTF files. RTF is generally easily convertible to other formats, as well.

Note: If you have the correct software, you can normally view a PDF or Word file on line by simply clicking on the link, as you would with an HTML file. You can also download the file for later viewing off-line. For Windows, right-click on the link and choose "Save Target" from the pop-up menu. On a Mac, click and hold, then choose "Download Link to Disc."