> Microsoft Office Viewers

The Microsoft Office Viewers are simple (and free) software applications which allow you to view (but not create) documents in the Word, Excel, and Powerpoint formats.

Materials Needed

If you have recent versions of Microsoft Word, Excel, or PowerPoint installed on your computer, you can simply download any required documents and open them in their respective programs. However, if you do not have access to any or all of the aforementioned applications, you'll need an external viewer.

Check it Out!

The Microsoft Office Viewers are available from www.microsoft.com. Current technical requirements are listed on the Microsoft site, with download instructions for each viewer. Links to the Word, Excel, and PowerPoint viewers are found below. Simply use the back arrow on your browser to return to this page once the software has been installed.

Word: For Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows NT, click here for the Word 97 viewer (a Macintosh-compatible version does not exist at this time.) Follow the instructions on Microsoft's website to download and install the requested file (generally by clicking the blue "Download Now!" link on the left of the page from this link.)

Excel: For Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows NT, click here for the Excel 97 viewer (a Macintosh-compatible version does not exist at this time.) Follow the instructions on Microsoft's website to download and install the requested file (generally by, you guessed it, clicking the blue "Download Now!" link on the left of the page from this link.)

PowerPoint: For Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows NT, click here for the Powerpoint 97 viewer (also works for PowerPoint 2000 files.) The Macintosh PowerPoint 98 viewer is available from the Microsoft MacTopia site. Follow the instructions on Microsoft's website to download and install the requested file (generally by clicking the blue "Download Now!" link on the left of the page from links going to the Windows version of the Office Viewers.)

Try it!

Use the above procedure on these links to download example document types you may use in this class:

• download.doc (a Word document; note the doc extension that indicates to the computer the document type)
• download.xls (an Excel spreadsheet; note the xls extension that indicates to the computer the document type)
• download.ppt (a PowerPoint presentation; note the ppt extension that indicates to the computer the document type)