After you download a file from another student, you may get a surprise when you try to open it. You may not see it listed in your folder or directory, and when you find it, it may come up on your screen with a jumble of messy symbols. This happens because each word processing program (and even different versions of the same program!) creates formatting in a different way, and like languages between cultures, each needs to be translated to be understood by the other. The actual text of the file consists of alphabetical characters and numerals and can be saved in a form that every computer understands, known as ASCII text, plain text, or DOS text. Formatting is much more complex and is recorded in digital codes. Any file that contains such information is known as a binary file -- and that's where the mess begins.
Your individual program will tell you how to convert files from the major kinds that you will encounter. If you experience difficulty with any particular file, e-mail the instructor or the author of the file to find out what kind of program created it and what steps you need to take. As a last resort, the essential part of your writing -- the words -- can be sent as simple plain text without any formatting.
To make file-sharing work smoothly, do these steps for each file you intend to transfer to others, unless you already know what programs they are using. "Rich Text Format" (RTF) is understood by most programs, and can be used as a common "language" to share files with everyone. If in doubt, do the following:
1. Save your file just as you always do, but then, in addition:
2. Use your "Save As" command to convert your file to two
common formats. "Save As" will have a box that lets you change
the type of file that is saved. Click on the arrow to open a list of choices
and select Rich Text Format (RTF) --- this will add ".RTF"
to the filename to identify the kind of file
3. Repeat the "Save As" command and select Plain Text (TXT), not MS-DOS text and not "with Line Breaks" --- this will add ".TXT" to the filename
4. You can send your assignment files as attachments in the email message.
Do the following steps until you have a workable version of the original file:
1. Try opening the file by double-clicking on the attachment icon (or whatever method your regular email uses)
2. If that doesn't work, start your word-processing program, select
"File ... Open," then navigate to the directory that stores your
attachments (this will vary according to your own system).
3. If the file you are looking for isn't listed when you reach the correct directory, change the file listing to include files of all types. Your word processor may show only its own kind until you tell it to show more; in Microsoft Word, you'd select "List Files of Type ... All Files"
4. Try opening the Rich Text Format version first, since most programs will automatically convert that format
5. If necessary, open the DOS text version
You may have to delete some minor garbage to leave the words uncluttered. A common problem is extra paragraph marks at the end of each line, especially in text that has become DOS text. You can clean those up by hand or read the next set of instructions.
For experienced users only: If each line ends with a paragraph
mark (also known as a carriage return), you can clean up the text using
a feature in your word-processing program known as Replace, or Global Search
and Replace: 
1. make sure paragraphs have two paragraph marks between them
2. using Replace at the start of the document, answer "Find What" with two paragraph marks and for "Replace With," enter a temporary symbol, e.g. ##
3. using Replace at the start of the document, answer "Find What" with one paragraph mark and for "Replace With," enter a single space
4. using Replace at the start of the document, answer "Find What" with your temporary symbol, e.g. ##, and for "Replace With," enter two paragraph marks
5. voila! ... the text is normal again, though some headings may need tinkering to correct the line spacing.
You may find that long series of extra spaces between words can also be cleaned up semi-automatically, using a similar method. Try replacing sets of three spaces with a single space until all the multiple spaces are reduced to no more than two spaces together (if this doesn't make sense to you, you wouldn't want to try it anyway ... just edit the worst by hand).
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