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Anelectronic documentis adocumentthat can be sent in non-physical means, such astelex,email,and theinternet.[1]Originally, anycomputer datawere considered as something internal—the final data output was always on paper. However, the development ofcomputer networkshas made it so that in most cases it is much more convenient to distribute electronic documents than printed ones. The improvements inelectronic visual displaytechnologies made it possible to view documents on a screen instead of printing them (thus saving paper and the space required to store the printed copies).[citation needed] However, using electronic documents for the final presentation instead of paper has created the problem of multiple incompatiblefile formats.Evenplain textcomputer files are not free from this problem—e.g. underMS-DOS,most programs could not work correctly withUNIX-style text files (seenewline), and for non-English speakers, the differentcode pagesalways have been a source of trouble.
Even more problems are connected with complex file formats of variousword processors,spreadsheets,andgraphics software.To alleviate the problem, many software companies distribute freefile viewersfor their proprietary file formats (one example isAdobe'sAcrobat Reader). The other solution is the development of standardized non-proprietaryfile formats (such asHTMLandOpenDocument), and electronic documents for specialized uses have specialized formats—the specializedelectronic articlesin physics useTeXorPostScript.
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edit- ^"Definition: electronic document from 7 USC § 241(4) | LII / Legal Information Institute".www.law.cornell.edu.Retrieved2024-05-12.
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