DOC (computing) - Definition

In computing, DOC (short for 'document') is a common file extension, traditionally used for documentation in plain-text format, particularly of programs or computer hardware, on a wide range of operating systems. During the 1990s, Microsoft appropriated the popular DOC extension for their Microsoft Word wordprocessing formats. In consequence, the former uses for the extension have largely disappeared from the PC world.

On the Palm OS, DOC is shorthand for PalmDoc, a different format used to encode ebooks.

Programs/Converters

• Microsoft Word
• OpenOffice.org or StarOffice
• Wordperfect
• Abiword
• KOffice

Alternatives

• RTF - Microsoft Rich Text Format
• OASIS Open Office XML (also known as OpenDocument)
• PDF - Adobe Portable Document Format

External links

• MS-Word (DOC) is Not a document exchange format (http://www.goldmark.org/netrants/no-word/attach.html)
• No Word Attachments (http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html) - the GNU project's thoughts regarding the use of Word's .DOC format to distribute text