Help with our files
There are a number of different file formats used in this website, these include:
Adobe Portable Document Format (.pdf) Files
Design Web Format (.dwf) Files
Adobe Portable Document Format (.pdf) Files
PDF files are used for viewing, printing and presenting scanned information, images and forms.
To view a PDF file, you will need to have either Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader installed on your computer. If you do not have the necessary software installed, you can download Adobe Reader free of charge from the Adobe website.
You can get Adobe Reader here (external link)
Rich Text Format (.rtf) Files
Rich Text Formats are an alternative to Microsoft Word documents and PDF files for displaying textual information.
To view an RTF file you can use any textual viewer including, Microsoft Word, Wordpad or Notepad. If you do not have the necessary software installed, visit the Microsoft Website for more information.
Advice on viewing Microsoft Word documents (external link)
Word (.doc) Documents
Word documents are used for displaying textual information, pictures, tables, graphs, mail merges, and HTML..
To view a Microsoft Word file, you need to have Microsoft Word or Word Viewer installed on the computer. If you do not have the necessary software installed, visit the Microsoft Website for more information.
Advice on viewing Microsoft Word documents (external link)
Excel (.xls) Files
Excel files are used for displaying data in workbooks, worksheets, tables, forms, maps, lists, charts/graphs and statistical data.
To view a Microsoft Excel file, you need to have Microsoft Excel or Excel Viewer installed on the computer. If you do not have the necessary software installed, visit the Microsoft Website for more information.
Advice on viewing Microsoft Excel documents (external link)
PowerPoint (.ppt) Files
PowerPoint files are used for displaying slides, note pages, handouts, presentations and electronic slideshows.
To view a PowerPoint file you must have Microsoft PowerPoint installed on your computer. If you do not have the necessary software installed, visit the Microsoft Website for more information on how to view Microsoft PowerPoint presentations.
Advice on viewing Microsoft PowerPoint presentations (external link)
Design Web Format (.dwf) Files
Autodesk Design Web Format files are used for communicating design information to anyone needing to view, review, or print designs.
To view a DWF File, you need to have the Autodesk software or Viewer installed on the computer. If you do not have the necessary software installed, you can download Autodesk DWF Viewer free of charge from the Autodesk website.
Get Autodesk DWF Viewer (external link)
Zip (.zip) Files
Zip files are used to store files together as well as compressing the size of the files.
To extract files from a Zip file you need to have a copy of WinZip. To download a free copy of WinZip please use the link below.
Shockwave Flash (.swf) Files
Shockwave Flash files are used to deliver graphics, animation and sound over the Internet.
To be able to play a .swf file you may need to download the Macromedia Flash player.
Macromedia Flash Player is pre-installed in most Web browsers and on most computers, e.g. Windows 98, Windows XP and Netscape Navigator.