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DOC
What is a DOC file?
The old binary Word format. Still turns up in archives and government downloads.
What DOC is
DOC is a binary format, meaningful only to a program that knows it. It is used for editing.
The extension is .doc, and the full name is Word 97-2003 Document. Both matter less than what the file can hold, which is what the rest of this page is about.
Where DOC came from
Microsoft published it in 1987.
A format that has been readable for that long is a format worth trusting with something you want back in ten years.
The specification is published, but by its owner
It is written down and implementable, though the vendor decides what the next version looks like. In practice that is enough for the file to keep opening; it is not enough to be sure of it.
It is a legacy format
It still opens everywhere and is still written by older tools, but nothing new is being built around it. Convert what you mean to keep, and do not choose it for something starting today.
It can hold several pages in one file
A DOC file is not limited to one page, which matters when converting to something that is: a target that holds one image produces one file per page, and the numbering it chooses is worth checking before you send it on.
What kind of document it is
DOC holds a text document: paragraphs that reflow to fit whatever page they land on.
That is what decides how it converts: the text reflows, so page numbers are a property of the output rather than of the file.
What opens DOC
Microsoft Word and LibreOffice Writer read it, and so do most programs of the same kind.
If a file will not open, the format is rarely the problem — it is more often that the program predates it. Converting to something older is the reliable way past that, and it is what the rest of this site is for.
Opening it in a browser
No browser reads it.
That is the single most common reason to convert it: not that the format is bad, but that the place you want to show the file cannot read it.
It is a working format
DOC is meant to be opened and changed. Keep the file in this format for as long as the work is going on, and export from it whenever a finished copy is needed.
What goes wrong with it
The recurring complaints: the layout is reconstructed rather than reproduced exactly.
None of these is a reason to avoid the format. They are the things worth knowing before you are surprised by one, which is a different claim and a more useful one.
The facts, in one place
| Extension | .doc |
|---|---|
| Media type | application/msword |
| Published by | Microsoft |
| First published | 1987 |