Using Blackboard-Helpful Hints

Managing Content in Blackboard™

File Types

There are many different files types for documents commonly used in a Blackboard™ course. You can determine what type of document the file is by looking at the extension abbreviation at the end of the file name. (For example, the .doc part of the file shown below.)

The main two types of documents you might see are Microsoft Word documents (.doc) and Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (.pdf). If you don't have these two software programs installed on your computer there are free viewers you can download and use on your own. Free viewers can be found at:

Acrobat Reader:

www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readermain.html

Microsoft Products (free viewer only)

www.microsoft.com/office/000/viewers.asp

Other Common Document File Types you might see in Blackboard™ are:

1. Rich Text Format text documents (.rtf)
2. Plain text documents (.txt)
3. Microsoft Exel Spreadsheets or Charts (.xls)
4. Microsoft Powerpoint Presentations (.ppt or .pps)
5. Microsoft Access Databbase (.mdb)
6. Graphics or pictures (.jpg or .gif)
7. Video Clips (.mov or .swf)
8. Audio Clips (.wav, mp3)
9. HTML or Web files (.htm or .html)
10. Zip-compressed files (multiple files packaged together) (.zip)