There are five standard conversion formats provided by Microsoft for reports/letters. In addition to these standards, reports/letters can also be converted to PDF format if you have the full version of Abode Acrobat or Win2PDF installed. Both of which are able to create PDF format files.

Microsoft Standards

The process for converting a report into any of the 5 Microsoft Standard formats is:

1. Open the report
2. Click on the File menu (top left of screen)
3. Select the desired 'Output to...' option
4. Name and save the converted report /letter

To enable you to determine which conversion format is best for you to use, the strengths and weaknesses of each format are covered below.

Text
Easily viewable by users on either PCs or Macs using a variety of applications such as notepad but has poor formatting capabilities. Any graphics such as lines, rectangles or pictures in the original document are not displayed.

RTF (Rich Text Format)
Easily viewable by users on either PCs or Macs in Microsoft Word but has poor formatting capabilities. Any graphics in the original document are not displayed. Can leave large areas of white space embedded in the document.

Excel
Easily viewable by users on either PCs or Macs in Microsoft Excel but has poor formatting capabilities. Any graphics in the original document are not displayed. Columnar data is frequently positioned incorrectly.

HTML
Easily viewable by users on either PCs or Macs using Internet Explorer or other Internet browsers but has poor formatting capabilities. Any graphics in the original document are not displayed.

Important: HTML is not suitable for correspondence that exceeds one page in length as multiple files are created by the conversion process (one file for each page), but only the first file (page 1) is e-mailed.

Snapshot
Snapshot is Microsoft's equivalent of Adobe Acrobat and is a feature of Microsoft Office 2000 or higher. Snapshot documents have all the colours, lines, rectangles, images and exact two-dimensional layout of the original document however the Snapshot Viewer is required to view the document and not all recipients will have this installed. While the Snapshot Viewer is available from the Microsoft Office CD or as a free download, it is not as widely recognised as the Adobe Acrobat Reader. Also, Snapshot documents can not be viewed on a Macintosh computer unless it has Windows emulation software such as Virtual PC loaded.

PDF Format

The process for converting a report into a PDF file is:

1. Open the report
2. Click on the File menu (top left of screen)
3. Select the Print option
4. Change your printer to:
   • 'Adobe PDF' or similar if you have the full version of Abode Acrobat installed
     or
   • 'Win2PDF' a software program to convert reports/letters to PDF format
     Please note - You will require the Abode Acrobat Reader to view the PDF file created.
5. Name and save the converted report/letter

This process can be utilised not only on Summit generated reports/letters but also on other documents.

PDF documents have all the colours, graphics and exact two-dimensional layout of the original document and the Adobe Acrobat Reader software is widely recognised and distributed.

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