How to save computer-generated text in “rich text format”

Step One: In your word processing program, click “Save As” in the “File” menu.

Step Two: At the bottom of the dialogue box, you’ll see a box with a down arrow next to it, saying something like “Save as type.” Click the down arrow to the write of the box.

Step Three: You’ll get a drop down menu, with a scroll bar beside it that will let you see all the options. Scroll down until you see “Rich Text Format.”

Step Four: Click on “Rich Text Format,” and then click “Save” or “Save As” in the original dialogue box.

It’s that easy! Any word processing program, even the difficult and dreadful Microsoft Works, will open a .rtf file, so when you save a file in Rich Text Format, you can open it anywhere, on any machine, without formatting conflicts.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Remember to save your work every two or three sentences. (We save ours about every other sentence.) If you do this, you won’t lose your whole paper if the power suddenly goes off, or something else weird happens. Never, never, never write the whole paper and THEN save it. You run a horrible risk of losing the whole thing.