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Advice on Downloading Files

Some documents on the AEShareNet website are made available as files for downloading instead of (or as well as) being made available as webpages. This page explains the reasons for the various formats and provides advice and links to free software for viewing the various file formats.

File formats used

The following formats are used on this site:

Microsoft Word: This format is useful if you want to edit files after downloading them. Word files typically have the extension .DOC.
Rich Text Format (RTF): Like Word files, RTF files are used where you may want to edit the document. Most wordprocessing programs can open RTF files, however if necessary you can use the free Word Viewer program to view these files. RTF files are typically larger than the same file in Word format.
Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). This format is used where it is desirable to preserve the formatting and pagination of a document, eg for legal documents.
Zip files. Zip format is used to decrease the filesize and hence download times for some large document and program files on this site.
Microsoft PowePoint: This format is used where the document is a slide presentation.
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Tips on downloading files

The exact procedure for downloading a file will depend on what browser you are using and what add-in programs are already installed with your browser. Try just clicking on the download link first and if a dialogue box is displayed choose the Save option.

If clicking on a link starts a process which displays the file in your browser rather than download it, try holding down the {Shift} or {Ctrl} key while clicking on the link, or try using the right mouse button when selecting the link.
In Internet Explorer try clicking on the link with the right mouse button and selecting "Save Target As".

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Programs for viewing downloaded files

If your computer does not already support viewing of the above file types use the following links to download and install free viewing software. You should only need to do this once.

To view PDF files, download and install the free Acrobat Reader program from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html

To view Word or RTF files, get the free Word Viewer program from http://www.microsoft.com/office/000/viewers.asp

To view PowerPoint files, get the free PowerPoint Viewer program from http://www.microsoft.com/office/000/viewers.asp

If you do not already have software for extracting Zip files on your computer you can download an evaluation copy of either:

PKZip for Windows (http://www.pkware.com/) or
Winzip (http://www.winzip.com/).

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Other relevant pages

the AEShareNet Copyright Statement - downloaded files are generally copyright by TVET Australia Limited.
our Accessibility Statement explains the standards we adhere to in order to make our site (including downloaded files) as accessible as possible to all users.

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