In an era in which digitization is the main protagonist, knowing what a text is means the same as having total freedom when reading on our deviceswhether mobile such as smartphones, ereaders or tablets, or, in fact, our conventional equipment such as desktops or laptops.
These are not present in the contents of the websites, but they are in any text file that we downloadfor example, a simple note document in which we are given instructions to make an installation, an application to fill out or the subtitles to add to a film that is not dubbed.
As you can see, these are present in a number of moments in which we use digital devices and, therefore, it is essential that you know what are they, what are their uses, which ones can we find and where each one is reproducedwhich is essentially what we are going to see next.
What is the extension of a file or text file and what is it really for?
A file extension is a nomenclature given to all digital files to provide more information about them. Obviously, text file extensions are those that refer to files thatas the concept indicates, they are text.
Visually, they are a set of two, three or four letters and/or numbers that are placed after a period, at the end of the name of the text file in question.
With this, what we do is is the one we are finding, although, more than for us to know (which is important to avoid viruses), it is essential for the device to interact with the information.
A) Yes, your operating system will recognize the file format and figure out how to run it making use of the most appropriate software for it from among those you have installed or, if none is compatible, it will recommend that you connect to the internet to be able to carry out the execution, that is, to read the content.
We see then that the extension is used to know which applications will be able to handle the information that we want to see, in this case, of type text.
For example, we have the file “letter16062019.doc”:
“letter16062019” is the name someone gave that file when they finished writing and saved it. “.doc” would be the text extensionwhich tells us, in this case, that is a text document own created by the well-known Microsoft Office suite when we use its text editor.
The filein addition to the content and length, will have some encodings, which are the elements that enable its digitization and reduction. In order to interpret the information, you need to have a program that is compatible with the codecs or encodings of this.
In the past, the encodings were downloaded separately, generally in packs for installation, especially for , but today it is common for each program to have a number of these and be able to open the corresponding files with their extension without having to. of external facilities.
Types of text file extensions and their associated programs to open them
Knowing the above, Surely you are interested in knowing which are the most commonboth for the cases in which you create the texts and to be able to read all those that you download.
In the following table we are going to tell you which are the most used, we will give you some characteristics of them, we will name, of course, many others, and we will tell you what type of program or software you can run them with.
Extension Features Program
- It is the extension created automatically by the Word program from the Microsoft suite.
- It began to be used with WordPerfect.
- It currently offers rich text, including both formatting (bold, indentation, etc) and images added to the document, scripts, tables…
- Microsoft Word
- freeoffice
- WPSOffice
- AbiWord
- Other alternative office suites
- Apple Pages
- Google Docs
- Chrome Office Viewer
- It is the XML-based version of the .doc that was released in 2007.
- The document is more compressed.
.txt
- It is a plain ASCII text file. The text is flat, without italics, without margins, without anything, not even pages.
- Its complexity is, logically, nil.
- It is used in registrations and in download instructions.
- Notes blog
- note pad
- Microsoft Word
- Apple TextEdit
- This is a hypertext markup file.
- They only contain text and/or references to external files of another type (images, videos, JS…).
- It is used in conventional web pages.
- Browsers
- Editing and creation programs (Komodo, Eclipse, Bluefish, Adobe Dreamweaver…).
- memo pad
.nfo
- Small plain text, generally of a descriptive nature.
- Very useful for compressed files, accompanying warez.
- All text editors
.rtf
- Rich Text Format or rich text.
- It allows the exchange of content between word processors and systems, that is, multiplatform.
- It works with codes to define characteristics of the text, which is encoded with ASCII limits.
- All word processors.
.wri
- A file that has style.
- It is specifically generated by Windows Microsoft Write.
- Windows Microsoft Write
- other processors
- Free standard encoding file.
- Rich text identical to .docx.
- Generated by OpenOffice.
- open office
- Other office suite word processors (Libre Office, Microsoft Office…)
- Extension to indicate that this content is an electronic publication of content with rights.
- It includes text with all kinds of decorations both in format and in accessories.
- ereader devices
- ereader emulators
- epub readers: (Caliber, Stanza, FBReaderJ, IceCream Ebook Reader…)
.log
- Simple activity log format for a team.
- Not advisable to work by the user.
- Notebooks: (Notebook, Microsoft NotePad…)
- Text editors: (Microsoft Office, LibreOffice, OpenOffice…)
- It is a portable document storage format.
- It generalizes information of all kinds to make it interpretable by different software and hardware; quite a standard.
- They do not lose the format.
- The specification is open and can be encrypted.
- Adobe Acrobat Reader
- Foxit PDF Reader
- Samatra PDF
- PDF XChange Viewer
- STDU Viewer
.dec
- Dictionary extension.
- Short texts.
- OpenOffice
- LibreOffice
- Canvas
.notebook
- It incorporates, in addition to text, diagrams, audio, flash animation…
- Generally used as teaching material
- Associated with SMART Notebook software: (Notebook Interactive Viewer, SMART Notebook SE)
- It is used in spreadsheets and to manage contacts.
- To save information in list format.
- MS Excel
- Google Drive
- gmail
- OpenOffice
- LibreOffice
*If you are viewing the web from your smartphone, slide the table to the right to see all the data
Do you know of other extensions to open and edit text documents? Leave them in the comments and we will add them to the list, it will surely be of great value to other readers!
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