Rich Text Format Directory
Encyclopedia
Rich Text Format Directory, also known as RTFD (due to its extension
Filename extension
A filename extension is a suffix to the name of a computer file applied to indicate the encoding of its contents or usage....

 .rtfd), or Rich Text Format with Attachments, is a primary document format of TextEdit
TextEdit
TextEdit is a simple, open source word processor and text editor, first featured in NeXT's NEXTSTEP and OPENSTEP. It is now distributed with Mac OS X since Apple Inc.'s acquisition of NeXT, and available as a GNUstep application for other Unix-compatible operating systems such as Linux...

, an application
Application software
Application software, also known as an application or an "app", is computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks. Examples include enterprise software, accounting software, office suites, graphics software and media players. Many application programs deal principally with...

 native to NeXTSTEP
NEXTSTEP
NeXTSTEP was the object-oriented, multitasking operating system developed by NeXT Computer to run on its range of proprietary workstation computers, such as the NeXTcube...

 and Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...

 which has also been port
Port
A port is a location on a coast or shore containing one or more harbors where ships can dock and transfer people or cargo to or from land....

ed to other versions of Unix
Unix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...

. The file format is based on the Rich Text Format
Rich Text Format
The Rich Text Format is a proprietary document file format with published specification developed by Microsoft Corporation since 1987 for Microsoft products and for cross-platform document interchange....

, but can also include "attachments" such as images.

An RTFD file is a bundle, a folder
Directory (file systems)
In computing, a folder, directory, catalog, or drawer, is a virtual container originally derived from an earlier Object-oriented programming concept by the same name within a digital file system, in which groups of computer files and other folders can be kept and organized.A typical file system may...

 containing files. It contains a Rich Text file called TXT.rtf that contains Rich Text formatting commands, as well as commands for including images or other attachments contained within the bundle. Images used in the document are stored in the bundle in their native formats.

One big advantage with RTFD is that it supports scalable high quality image formats like PDF, so an RTFD file can print with no information loss at large paper sizes. The standard RTF format also supports a number of scalable image meta file formats, but they are not as versatile as PDF.

Mac OS X

Like RTF, RTFD files can be opened on Mac OS X operating system which support bundles. Mac applications that support RTF and RTFD include Apple's TextEdit
TextEdit
TextEdit is a simple, open source word processor and text editor, first featured in NeXT's NEXTSTEP and OPENSTEP. It is now distributed with Mac OS X since Apple Inc.'s acquisition of NeXT, and available as a GNUstep application for other Unix-compatible operating systems such as Linux...

 and Pages
Pages
Pages is a word processor and page layout application developed by Apple. It is part of the iWork productivity suite and runs on the Mac OS X & iOS operating systems. The first version of Pages was announced on January 11, 2005, and was released one month later. The most recent Macintosh version,...

, and a third-party free program called Bean. However, Office for Mac and most other document applications on the platform do not support RTFD.

Microsoft Windows

In contrast to RTF, RTFD files cannot be opened properly by applications on Windows, or other non-Mac OS X operating systems, as bundles are currently only supported on Mac OS X.

In Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...

, RTFD files are displayed as folders. Editing these folders destroys the data inside the RTFD. This may be fixed in a future release of Microsoft Word, but the status is unknown at this time, and Microsoft has a commercial disincentive to make these files readable in Windows.

However, RTFD files can be "opened" on Windows using WinZip 8.1 as well as WinRar 3.7.1, meaning the user can extract the contents of the .rtfd file (.pdf, .rtf, .txt, etc.) and then look at each extracted file using its native application (Acrobat, WordPad, Notepad, etc.).

Linux

In contrast to RTF, RTFD files cannot be opened properly by applications on non-Mac OS X operating systems, as bundles are currently only supported on Mac OS X.
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