It is frustrating to download a document but you don’t have the software on your computer to open it. There are two sorts of files where this is likely to happen:
- Microsoft Word Documents
- Adobe Reader (sometimes called PDF files)
The most frustrating of these two is Word Documents because Microsoft charge you to use the Word software. Never fear. There is a piece of free (open source) software that allows you to open, read and edit Word documents (such as the CVs on this site). It is called OpenOffice and it is well worth getting it. If you need to open PDF files you will need to download Adobe Reader. Google Documents is also free (if you already have a Gmail account this is the easiest route).
When you open a document you may want to save it if you have made changes or if you simply need to keep it to open it another time.
Normally, in the document you would like to save, go to File in the top left hand corner and then choose Save As.
Give the document a name that relates to the content and tell your computer where you would like to save it (usually in your Documents folder).