Information presented below applies to files moved via floppy disks, zip disks, network file transfers, sharednetwork files and/or e-mail attachments. E-mail attachments are often one of easiest ways to transfer files from one computer to another and completely avoid the hassle of media (disk) compatibility.

Platform (Macintosh / Windows)-

First make sure your diskette will be readable on both platforms. To do this always use Windows or DOS formatted diskettes (either purchased this way or formatted by you on a Windows computer). This is necessary because the Macintosh will read PC disks but the PC will not read Mac formatted (initialized) diskettes.

Word Processing Documents-

By utilizing one of two "universal formats", you can share a word processing document created with one word processing program with almost any other word processing program. These two formats are called Rich Text Format (RTF) and ASCII (Plain Text). Whenever possible it is preferable to use Rich Text Format because it will retain more of the document layout (line spacing, paragraphs, numbered lists, outlining, etc.) and text attributes (font type and size, bold, underline, etc.). ASCII (Plain Text) will retain the correct words but loses all document layout and text attributes.

Depending on the specific program, these instructions may vary slightly but the general concept will remain the same:

1. Create your new document or open an existing document in your originating word processing program.

2. Choose "Save As" option form File menu

3. Change information under "Save As Type", "File Format" or "File Type" to Rich Text Format (*.RTF) or if RTF is not available, use second choice of "Text", "Text Only", "*.txt" "ASCII" or "Plain Text".

4. Give your file a name then click save. Additionally if your source program is on a Macintosh add the following 3 letter abbreviation preceded by a "." to the end of your file name (Rich Text Format- ".rtf" , Plain Text (ASCII)- ".txt").

Another quick way to transfer text only:

1. Create your new document or open an existing document in your originating word processing program.

2. Highlight all text using mouse or "Select All" command.

3. Choose Copy form Edit menu.

4. Create a new e-mail message (using your usual e-mail program).

5. Click mouse in body of e-mail message and Paste copied information as plain text into e-mail (Edit menu... Paste).

Spread Sheet Documents-

First choice should be a spreadsheet format such as Lotus 123 (*.wks) which will retain all or almost all of spreadsheet functionality. If not available you can next choose one of three "universal formats", These formats are called Data Interchange (DIF), Comma Separated Values (CSV or Comma Delimited) and ASCII (Plain Text). Whenever possible it is preferable to use DIF or CSV because it will retain more of the spreadsheet functionality (formulas & functions plus text attributes.). ASCII (Plain Text) will retain the numbers but loses all spreadsheet functionality and text attributes.

Depending on the specific program these instructions may vary slightly but the general concept will remain the same:

1. Create your new document or open an existing document in your originating spreadsheet program.

2. Choose "Save As" option form File menu.

3. Change information under "Save As Type", "File Format" or "File Type" to Lotus 123 (*.wks), Data Interchange (DIF), Comma Separated Values (CSV or Comma Delimited).

4. Give your file a name then click save. Additionally if your source program is on a Macintosh, add the following 3 letter abbreviation preceded by a "." to the end of your file name (Lotus 123 (*.wks), Data Interchange "*.dif", CSV "*.csv").

Database Documents-

First choice should be a database format such as d-base (*.dbf) which will retain all or almost all of spreadsheet functionality. If not available, you can next choose one of three "universal formats". These formats are called Data Interchange (DIF), Comma Separated Values (CSV or Comma Delimited) and ASCII (Plain Text). Whenever possible it is preferable to use DIF or CSV because it will retain more of the database functionality (forms & views plus text attributes.). ASCII (Plain Text) will retain the names but loses all database functionality and text attributes.

Depending on the specific program these instructions may vary slightly but the general concept will remain the same:

1. Create your new document or open an existing document in your originating database program.

2. Choose "Save As" option form File menu.

3. Change information under "Save As Type", "File Format" or "File Type" to d-Base (*.DBF), Data Interchange (DIF), Comma Separated Values (CSV or Comma Delimited)

4. Give your file a name then click save. Additionally if your source program is on a Macintosh, add the following 3 letter abbreviation preceded by a "." to the end of your file name (d-Base (*.dbf), Data Interchange "*.dif", Comma Separated Values "*.csv").

Pictures & Graphics

First choice should be a graphics format such as JPEG (*.jpg) which will which will be readable by any machine having an Internet browser. If graphic will be used by only on Windows computers Windows Bitmap (*.bmp) can also be a good choice although files are usually larger in size than JPEG format files.

Depending on the specific program these instructions may vary slightly but the general concept will remain the same:

1. Create your new document or open an existing document in your originating spreadsheet program.

2. Choose "Save As" option form File menu.

3. Change information under "Save As Type", "File Format" or "File Type" to JPEG (*.jpg) or Windows Bitmap (*.bmp).

4. Give your file a name then click save. Additionally if your source program is on a Macintosh, add the following 3 letter abbreviation preceded by a "." to the end of your file name (JPEG ".jpg" or Windows Bitmap ".bmp").

Someone Already Gave You a File and You Don't Have the Software-

This is probably the most difficult scenario. Your best bet is to ask the other party to save it for you again using one of the above methods, but if that is not possible here are some workarounds.

The New Universal Formats?-

There are two formats that almost any computer less than 4 or 5 years old can read.
The first example is the document you are reading now. This document was saved as an html document and can be read by any computer which has an Internet browser installed. Because both Windows (since Windoew 95 second edition) and Macintosh (since OS 9) install a browser by default, html has became an almost universally readable format for documents. Html is not perfect though, when html documents are created by doing a save as of a word processing document much of the formatting is lost or changed (especially embedded graphics.)
The second format that most computers can read is PDF (Adobe's Portable Document Format). Although a separate download and installation of the free PDF viewing software may be required first, most computers already have the viewer installed. The viewer is called Acrobat Reader and here in lies the drawback. Although the documents maintain their formatting very well, they can only be read or printed and cannot be edited. In order to produce or edit PDFs the user needs to buy the relatively expensive full version of Acrobat (not Acrobat Reader.)