Which Document Is Superior?

[Guest]

Greetings,

I'm wondering, when I want to create a document, should I use the Microsoft
Word Processor or WordPad? The former has more features (spellcheck,
wordcount, etc.), but when I e-mail a Word Processor document, I'm told it
cannot be opened. When I e-mail a WordPad document, it can be opened (as a
Word document) with no problem.

What's the difference in these documents?

 

[Shenan Stanley]

I'm wondering, when I want to create a document, should I use the
Microsoft Word Processor or WordPad? The former has more features
(spellcheck, wordcount, etc.), but when I e-mail a Word Processor
document, I'm told it cannot be opened. When I e-mail a WordPad
document, it can be opened (as a Word document) with no problem.

What's the difference in these documents?

One is created with a pay product (Microsoft Office - Word) and the other is
created with a component that comes with Windows XP (Microsoft WordPad.)
Wordpad is creating an RTF(Rich Text Format) file (or simple text, depending
on how you save it, I suppose.)

If I were you, I would find out what the people I am sending it to have, in
terms of applications, and decide how to send to them that way. Not
everyone has Microsoft Word, and those that do may not have a version as new
as yours. Not everyone will even have the capability (without additional
installation) to view RTFs - but that would assume they didn't have Windows.
PDFs are a decent choice, but also require 3rd party applications.

The simple answer to your question is "When you want to create a document,
you use the format that can be read by your intended audience."

 

[Richard Goh]

When you write a document in Word, that you want to send to others, change
the file-type in the save-as window, to "Rich Text File (RTF)" and anyone
with a computer can read the file.