Plug-ins and file formats

Adobe Portable document format (PDF) files

Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to view or print PDF documents and can be downloaded free of charge. Download Acrobat Adobe Reader

Adobe also provides tools to help blind and visually impaired users to access PDF documents. These tools are available at http://access.adobe.com

Changing the font size in a PDF file

There are several ways to increase the font size in a PDF document:

You can use the + icon found at the top of the Adobe Acrobat toolbar
You can click on the magnifying glass, then click the main window content
You can hold the CTRL key on your keyboard down while you press the + key

Rich text format (RTF) files

Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, AppleWorks and Star Office are just a few word processing applications which can view RTF files. These applications cover across Windows, Macintosh and Linux platform.

Microsoft Word (DOC), Powerpoint (PPT) and Excel (XLS) documents

If you do not have Microsoft Office installed on your computer, you can still view and print these files. Microsoft provides free viewers for all of their Office software. Download Word, Powerpoint and Excel viewers from Microsoft

Windows Media Video (WMV) files

Windows Media Player is required to access some of the video and sound clips contained on this site. You can download this free of charge. Download Windows Media Player

QuickTime (QT) files

QuickTime Player is required to access some of the video and sound clips contained on this site. You can download this free of charge from the Apple website. Download Quicktime Player

Real Media (RM) files

RealPlayer is required to access some of the video and sound clips contained on this site. You can download this free of charge from the Real website. Download RealPlayer

Flash (SWF) files

Flash Player is required to view some of the rich media interactive content contained in this site. You can download this free of charge from the Adobe website. Download Adobe Flash Player

Shockwave (DCR) files

Shockwave Player is required to view some of the rich media interactive content contained in this site. You can download this free of charge from the Adobe website. Download Adobe Shockwave Player

Superscape Viscape (SVR) files

Supercape Viscape 3D viewer player is required to view some of the interactive 3D content contained in this site. You can download this free of charge from The National Archives website. Download Viscape 3D viewer player