Download Assistance

In addition to the web page material which can be read using your browser, we occasionally post resources in other file formats which require the use of additional software. This page will help you understand what you need to use and/or view each of these file formats.

Adobe Acrobat PDF Files

• PDF files are used on this site for documents that you are likely to want to print out to read offline, and those in which retaining the formatting of the document is important.
• To use PDF files you will need a version of Adobe Acrobat Reader, which can be downloaded free of charge from Adobe's web site.
• 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.

Microsoft Office Files

• Microsoft Access
  Microsoft Access files normally have the file extension .mdb. To view these files you will need Microsoft Access, which is a part of Microsoft Office. If you do not have Microsoft Access, then you can view these files using Microsoft's free Access Viewer.

  If you are having trouble downloading Access files in your Web browser, right-click on the link, and save the file to your hard drive. Then open the Access file from your hard drive by double-clicking it.

• Microsoft Excel
  Microsoft Excel files normally have the file extension .xls. To view these files you will need Microsoft Excel, which is a part of Microsoft Office. If you do not have Microsoft Excel, then you can view these files using Microsoft's free Excel Viewer.

  If you are having trouble downloading Excel files in your Web browser, right-click on the link, and save the file to your hard drive. Then open the Excel file from your hard drive by double-clicking it.

• Microsoft PowerPoint
  PowerPoint files are used for presentations. To view these files you will need Microsoft PowerPoint, which is a part of Microsoft Office. If you do not have Microsoft PowerPoint, then you can view these files using Microsoft's free PowerPoint Viewer.

  If you are having trouble downloading PowerPoint files in your Web browser, right-click on the link, and save the file to your hard drive. Then open the PowerPoint file from your hard drive by double-clicking it.

• Microsoft Word
  Microsoft Word files normally have the file extension .doc and can be read by recent versions of Word and by some other current word processors. To view these files you will need Microsoft Word, which is a part of Microsoft Office. If you do not have Microsoft Word, then you can view these files using Microsoft's free Word Viewer.

  If you are having trouble downloading Word files in your Web browser, right-click on the link, and save the file to your hard drive. Then open the Word file from your hard drive by double-clicking it.

Zipped 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.

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