Microsoft KB Archive/125420

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Last reviewed: January 30, 1998

Article ID: Q125420 The information in this article applies to:
 * Microsoft Word Viewer for Windows, version 6.0

SUMMARY
Word Viewer is a freeware program that allows people who do not own Microsoft Word to view and print documents that were created in Word. Word Viewer allows you to read and print Word documents, but it does not allow you to edit them, although you can copy information from the document and activate OLE objects. People who already own Microsoft Word can now share their documents with users who do not own Word by giving them the documents and Word Viewer. Word Viewer can read files created with Word for Windows, versions 1.0 and later, as well as files created with Word for the Macintosh, versions 4.0 and later.

The text of WORDVU.TXT, the text file which accompanies WORDVU.EXE, is included at the end of this article.

Support
To obtain help with Microsoft Word Viewer, please see the following resources:

- Microsoft's World Wide Web Site on the Internet:

http://www.microsoft.com/word/internet/viewer/default.htm

- Refer to the accompanying Readme.doc file for product information and support options.

- Microsoft offers Word Viewer support on the standard Microsoft Word for Windows Technical Support phone line, at (425) 462-9673.

MORE INFORMATION
The following files are available for download from the Microsoft Software Library:

~ WORDVU.EXE

~ WORDVU.TXT For more information about downloading files from the Microsoft Software Library, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: ARTICLE-ID: Q119591 TITLE    : How to Obtain Microsoft Support Files from Online Services

Microsoft Word Viewer Version 6.0 for Windows
Microsoft(R) proudly announces the release of Microsoft Word Viewer, a small application that enables users who do not own Microsoft Word for Windows(R) to view and print Word documents exactly as they appear in Word. Word Viewer gives users the flexibility to view page layout, zoom, outline, headers/footers, footnotes, and annotations. Word Viewer allows you to read and print Word documents, but it does not allow you to edit them, although you can copy information from the document and activate OLE objects.

Thanks to Word Viewer, people who own any version of Microsoft Word for Windows, or Word for the Macintosh(R) versions 4.0 and later, can now share their documents with users who do not own Microsoft Word. Compressed, Word Viewer fits onto one 3.5" 1.44 MB floppy disk. We encourage users to copy Word Viewer freely and distribute it to friends and co-workers along with documents they have created in Word format.

Use Word Viewer to view Word documents posted on the Internet
This product also allows users who wish to post richly formatted Word documents on the Internet to share such documents with people who might not own Microsoft Word. In order to use this product for viewing Word documents on the Internet, you must configure your Internet browsing tool to recognize Word Viewer as a helper application. Please consult the owner's manual of your browsing software in order to learn how to achieve this. Documents with the suffix ".doc" will be recognized by Word Viewer as Word files.

Microsoft Word Viewer is Freeware!
This product is "freeware". Users are encouraged to copy and distribute Word Viewer to friends and co-workers, or post it onto public electronic bulletin boards.

While Word Viewer allows you to view and print Word documents using the look and feel of Microsoft Word, the retail version of Microsoft Word contains all the award winning document creation and editing features that make everyday word processing tasks easier. If you do not own Microsoft Word and would like to join the 21 million users who have made it the world's best selling word processor, please contact Microsoft Sales Information Center at 1-800-426-9400 for pre-sales information in the US, or contact your local Microsoft subsidiary.

Obtaining and Installing Microsoft Word Viewer
Word Viewer is available from any of the sources listed below in the "Sources for Word Viewer" section. To obtain Word Viewer, download WORDVU.EXE into an empty directory. WORDVU.EXE is a compressed, self- extracting file. After you download WORDVU.EXE, run it to extract the files it contains. Read the INSTALL.TXT, then run WV.EXE to decompress and setup Word Viewer files.

For additional help on using Word Viewer, further information can be found in the accompanying file README.DOC, located in the same directory as Word Viewer. To view this file after installation, run Word Viewer, click on the file README.DOC in the File Open dialog, and then click on the OK button.

Distributing Word Viewer
If you are posting Word Viewer to a WWW home page please post both the WORDVU.EXE and this file, WORDVU.HTM. (If you are posting to a non-Web electronic service, please use the equivalent WORDVU.TXT file available from any of the non-Web sites referenced below.)

If you choose to give Word Viewer to anyone on a floppy disk, copy WV.EXE and INSTALL.TXT, rather than copying each of the individual files that appear after Word Viewer decompresses. Word Viewer's self-extracting archive achieves both decompression and installation. Simply copying the product files to another computer may not install Word Viewer properly. Also, you will find that WV.EXE and INSTALL.TXT will fit onto an empty formatted 3.5" HD Disk, while all the decompressed product files will not.

System Requirements for using Word Viewer
*   A personal computer with an 80386 or higher microprocessor *   4 MB of memory (6 MB recommended) *   3 MB of hard disk space (6 MB free for installation only) *   MS-DOS operating system version 3.0 or later *   Microsoft Windows operating system version 3.1 or later *   Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device Technical support for Word viewer is limited to a technical white paper which is available via FastTips, on Microsoft World Wide Web server.

Sources for Word Viewer
The Microsoft Software Library:

The following file is available for download from the Microsoft Software Library:

~ Wordvu.exe For more information about downloading files from the Microsoft Software Library, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: ARTICLE-ID: Q119591 TITLE    : How to Obtain Microsoft Support Files from Online Services Microsoft Order Desk: To obtain Word Viewer by mail, call Microsoft Order Desk at (800) 360-7561. There is a shipping and handling charge for the product. If you are outside the United States, contact your local subsidiary. To locate your subsidiary, see the Microsoft World Wide Offices Web site at:

http://www.microsoft.com/worldwide/default.htm If you obtain Word Viewer on disk, the Wv.exe and Install.txt files are available directly, rather than compressed in the downloadable Wordvu.exe file.
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