Microsoft Word for MS-DOS Printer Description File

Summary

Name

Microsoft Word for MS-DOS Printer Description File

Version

Generic

Identifiers

• MIME: application/msword
• Apple Uniform Type Identifier: com.microsoft.word.doc
• PUID: fmt/1691

Format type

Word Processor

Description

Microsoft Word for MS-DOS Printer Description File is proprietary format of Microsoft Word application used on MS-DOS operating system. The Microsoft Word, word processing application for MS-DOS, was first released in 1983. Microsoft Word for MS-DOS application featured graphics video mode and mouse support in WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) interface. The application could run in text mode or graphics mode with little visual difference between the two modes. There were several versions of Microsoft Word for MS-DOS from version 1 in 1983 to last version released in 1993. Each of these versions included support for printers by using the Printer Description File. These files were to be copied from Word Utilities disk to the Word Program disk which correspond to the printer being used. Additionally, Microsoft Word for MS-DOS included TTY Printer Description File, labelled as TTY.PRD, which supported teletype printing, and teletype printing with backspace files labelled as TTYBS.PRD. The header for each version is similar to the .doc file format header but with one byte (3) difference. This is a generic entry for this format however, other versions respond to the same byte pattern in different versions as .doc formats for MS-DOS. Please see the full list of versions in PRONOM and using the links provided in the Notes section as well as, the manual for MS-DOS versions 1x which can be downloaded from WinWorld.

Note

https://web.archive.org/web/20220513091703/https://winworldpc.com/product/microsoft-word/1x-dos https://winworldpc.com/download/0b7555c5-bd3b-c3b2-11c3-a4c2a83d7054 https://winworldpc.com/download/07c3ae55-133b-c3b2-11c3-a4c2a83d7054 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doc_(computing)#Microsoft_Word_Binary_File_Format https://web.archive.org/web/20220517101947/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Microsoft_Word https://www.docfly.com/blog/2020/a-brief-history-of-microsoft-word

File extensions

prd

Source

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints / The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Developed by

Microsoft Corporation

Internal signatures

Changelog

• Added in V105

  Release date

  29 June 2022

  Microsoft Word for MS-DOS Printer Description File (Generic): Signature researched and samples provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

  Microsoft Word for MS-DOS Printer Description File (Generic): Full entry added. Submitted by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.