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Downloading files


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By default, AustlII splits each piece of legislation into sections. This is done to facilitate searching and to make access to individual sections easier. The problem with this approach is that it makes printing out entire acts difficult. AustLII therefore has started to provide both plain-text and "RTF" versions of entire acts available for download.

For cases, users sometimes find that their browser does not print very well, or cannot handle very large files. The best solution is to download an RTF or plain text version to their hard drive, and then load the file into their word processor for printing.

Available file Formats

Plain text (ASCII) contains the entire act, however all formatting and structure is lost. It is the "lowest common denominator" approach. The best idea is to save the file to your disk, and then load it into your word processor and format the document manually before printing.

Rich Text Format (RTF) is the preferred method of downloading and printing a document. Save this file to disk, then load it into your word processor to print the document. RTF files are often the original files as provided by the government agency that originally supplied the data (otherwise they may have been converted from the original file format). RTF files retain all formatting and structure, and are readable by nearly all word processors.

How to Save the File

To save a file to disk, click on the link with the right mouse button (on a Mac, click and hold the mouse button). Your browser will ask you where you want to save the file. Once downloading is complete, open the file in your word processor.

Alternatively, you can have the document opened in your word processor automatically. Consult your browsers documentation on how to configure your browser to do this.


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