Downloading resources from this web site

General information

In addition to the web pages on this site, which can be read online using your normal web browser, we may occasionally put up resources in other file formats, which require the use of additional software. Information on how to use these file types, together with links to sites where you can download the software, is provided on this page. The presence of information about a file type on this page does not mean that it is neccessarily in use on the site at the present time.

PDF files | Zip files | RTF files | DOC files (Word)

PDF files

PDF files are used on this site for documents that you are likely to want to print out to read off-line, and those where the formatting of the document is important. Unlike web pages, which may display differently on different computers according to the users' exact system and settings, PDF files retain their original formatting across a range of platforms, ensuring that every copy of the document is the same. This means, for example, that we can ensure that page breaks appear at sensible points, and that the documents will print out on A4.

To use PDF files you will need version 4.0 of Adobe Acrobat Reader, which can be downloaded free of charge from Adobe's web site. Follow the image link or the text link to download Acrobat Reader.

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

It is a useful program to have on your computer, as many web sites, including that of the DfEE, use PDF files as the media for distributing important documents.

To save PDF documents to your computer, either:

• open the document by clicking on the link to it, and then use the 'Save' command on the Acrobat Reader toolbar (not the one on the web browser toolbar or menu); or
• right click on the download link and choose 'Save Target As...' (in Internet Explorer) or 'Save Link As...' (in Netscape). This will not work for links that are part of a drop-down menu, only for links from the text, or from an image.

Note: PDF forms, which are PDF documents with added data fields that the user can fill in, can also be read and filled in with the Reader program. However, the Reader does not allow you to save PDF forms, only static PDF documents.

To print PDF files:
Print the file using the 'Print' option from the Acrobat Reader toolbar, not from the web browser menu or toolbar. Consult the Acrobat Reader help file for further information on what settings to choose for the best results.

If you're printing off a form, any information you have entered into the form should be printed along with the document.

ZIP files

ZIP files (also known as compressed folders or archives) are files that have been shrunk in size to help to decrease download times. A ZIP file may comprise anything from a single file, a folder containing a number of files, or even a huge batch of folders and subfolders, each having many files inside.

To open ZIP files so that you can extract the files within them, you will need a zip utility program, such as pkunzip or WinZip. An evaluation version of WinZip can be downloaded free of charge from www.winzip.com, but be aware that you should license it if you want to continue using it after the evaluation period has run out, or you will be infringing copyright restrictions!

Windows ME users only: Windows ME can create and open ZIP files (which it calls compressed folders) without the need for a separate program. Look up 'compressed' in the Windows ME help files for further information.

RTF files

RTF (Rich Text Format) files are word processing files that can be read by most word processing packages. They do not always retain all the formatting of the original document, but they do retain some. When you open up an RTF document you may be prompted to 'convert from RTF', or some such option. Just say OK or YES to the conversion process, and the file should open up okay. Sometimes the conversion process will take a minute or two, so if this is the case, be patient, it doesn't meant anything is going wrong.

If you have difficulty using RTF files, please consult the documentation or help files that came with your word processing package for further information. A small number of programs require additional filters to enable them to read RTF files, and normally these are provided on the program's installation disk, so that you can add them in later if they were not included when the program was first installed.

DOC files (Word)

Microsoft Word files normally have the file extension .doc, and they can be read by other more recent versions of Word, and by some other current word processors. In general, .doc files that appear on this site will have been saved using either Word 97 or Word 2000, on a PC. If your software is of the same age or more recent, you should be able to use them. If you have older software, you might have some difficulty with any .doc files that we provide. For this reason, we tend to avoid the use of this file format where possible. If you have trouble opening .doc files, we suggest that you use alternative file formats where available, in particular RTF files, which are similar, but can be read by a wider range of programs. See above for more information on RTF files.

When opening .doc files from any site, if you receive a message asking whether you would like to enable or disable macros, you should choose to disable macros. This will help to protect your system from macro viruses.