# Electronic document

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> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_document
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{{Short description|Electronic media formatted as a document}}
{{more citations needed|date=May 2024}}
<span lang="Português " dir="ltr">An</span> '''electronic document''' is a [document](/source/document) that can be sent through non-physical means, such as [telex](/source/telex), [email](/source/email), and the [internet](/source/internet).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Definition: electronic document from 7 USC § 241(4) {{!}} LII / Legal Information Institute |url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/definitions/uscode.php?def_id=7-USC-1805969983-1954462902&term_src=title:7:chapter:10:section:242 |access-date=2024-05-12 |website=www.law.cornell.edu}}</ref> Originally, any [computer data](/source/data_(computing)) were considered as something internal&mdash;the final data output was always on paper. However, the development of [computer network](/source/computer_network)s has made it so that in most cases it is much more convenient to distribute electronic documents than printed ones. The improvements in [electronic visual display](/source/electronic_visual_display) technologies 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|date=May 2020}} However, using electronic documents for the final presentation instead of paper has created the problem of multiple incompatible [file format](/source/file_format)s. Even [plain text](/source/plain_text) computer files are not free from this problem&mdash;e.g. under [MS-DOS](/source/MS-DOS), most programs could not work correctly with [UNIX](/source/UNIX)-style text files (see [newline](/source/newline)), and for non-English speakers, the different [code page](/source/code_page)s always have been a source of trouble.

Even more problems are connected with complex file formats of various [word processor](/source/word_processor)s, [spreadsheet](/source/spreadsheet)s, and [graphics software](/source/graphics_software). To alleviate the problem, many software companies distribute free [file viewer](/source/file_viewer)s for their proprietary file formats (one example is [Adobe](/source/Adobe_Inc.)'s [Acrobat Reader](/source/PDF)). The other solution is the development of standardized non-[proprietary](/source/Proprietary_software) file formats (such as [HTML](/source/HTML) and [OpenDocument](/source/OpenDocument)), and electronic documents for specialized uses have specialized formats&mdash;the specialized [electronic article](/source/electronic_article)s in physics use [TeX](/source/TeX) or [PostScript](/source/PostScript).

==See also==
*[Digital era governance](/source/Digital_era_governance)
*[Digital library](/source/Digital_library)
*[Digital media](/source/Digital_media)
*[E-government](/source/E-government)
*[Ebook](/source/Ebook)
*[Electronic paper](/source/Electronic_paper)
*[Electronic publishing](/source/Electronic_publishing)
*[Paperless office](/source/Paperless_office)

==References==
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Category:Electronic documents

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Electronic document](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_document) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_document?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.