Title: 1.3.6 Piles and Miles of Files
Course: Technology Applications

When you create something on a computer and save it, you are creating a file. The computer's software will help you
- name the creation/file, and
- decide on a place to save the file.

Most file names are given an extension to the name that creates a little note for the user and computer. This file exension is unique to the software that created it. This unique file type is called the native file type. Most software is built to open "generic" types of common files, too. Let's look at some examples.

If you are using a PC and working in Microsoft Word, then you are probably typing words to create a letter or finish an assignment. Let's say that you name your work "Types of Computers", and then save it.

Microsoft Word helped you by giving the file an extension of .doc or .docx, and it placed the document in a folder called My Documents. If you were to open that folder and look in it, you would find a file called types of computers.doc .

Microsoft Word will also open and save files with extensions of .txt (for plain text) and .rtf (rich text format). It will also open and save other types of word-based files.

Software | What It Does | Native File Format | Common Type
Microsoft Word | text processing | .docx, .doc | .txt, .rtf
Microsoft Excel | organize numbers & letters (data) | .xls | .cvs