Word File Format

Hi, Herr Doktor:

I'm brand new in the Microsoft Developer Network, rather new in programming, brand new in obtaining information from Microsoft. So, I need to get complete info on Word file format. How and where can I get this?

Please tell me. I've spent hours looking for this everywhere. Perhaps you're not the right guy for this—please tell me who should I ask.

Thanks,

Fred Thu

Dr. GUI replies:

This one is a little hard to find, but some exploratory surgery on the Microsoft Developer Network Library CD reveals that there's a document entitled "Rich Text Format (RTF) Specification and Sample RTF Reader Program." As the title implies, it includes a sample program that reads RTF. This RTF specification is for Microsoft Word 7.0 (for Windows 95 and Windows NT), as well as for Word 6.0.

You'll need to save your files in .RTF format in order to read .RTF files. We don't document Word's .DOC format, but it's simple to save in RTF—an easy macro can make it trivial for your users.