Format

Microsoft Word for MS-DOS Document

Summary

Name

Microsoft Word for MS-DOS Document

Version

5.0 - 5.4

Identifiers

• MIME: application/msword
• Apple Uniform Type Identifier: com.microsoft.word.doc
• PUID: x-fmt/275

Format type

Word Processor

Description

Microsoft Word for MS-DOS Document is a proprietary binary format of Microsoft Word, word processing application, for MS-DOS first released in 1983. The first version was released on IBM PC DOS, developed by Microsoft, which Microsoft then re-branded as MS-DOS. The version was developed by Charles Simonyi and Richard Brodie firstly for Xenix in February 1983 (titled as "Multi-Tool Word") and in October 1983 for MS-DOS operating systems. The application featured graphics video mode, mouse and printer support (printer support was added in version 2) in WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) interface and could run in text mode or graphics mode, with bold, italics, and underline features only available in the text mode. The version 5 of the format was released in 1989, with the release of Word for MS-MOS, which included added support for bookmarks, cross-references and conditions and loops in macros, remaining backwards compatible with Word 3.0 macros. Please see the full list of versions using the links provided in the Notes section.

Note

https://web.archive.org/web/20211222235433/https://winworldpc.com/product/microsoft-word/5x-dos 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

doc

Source

Digital Preservation Department / The National Archives

Developed by

Microsoft Corporation

Relationships

Is previous version of

• Microsoft Word for MS-DOS Document 5.5

Is subsequent version of

• Microsoft Word for MS-DOS Document 1.x - 4.0

Internal signatures

Changelog

• Updated in V112

  Release date

  10 May 2023

  Microsoft Access Database File 2007: Updated Wikidata QID, description, reference links and developer. Submitted by Digital Preservation Department, The National Archives (UK).

• Updated in V107

  Release date

  21 July 2022

  Microsoft Word for MS-DOS Document (v5): Amended signature to include variation of 05 at the 116th byte. Updated version number to 5.0-5.4 to incorporate versions 5 to 5.4. Submitted by University of Saskatchewan.

• Updated in V105

  Release date

  29 June 2022

  Microsoft Word for MS-DOS Document (v5): Updated description and notes section; added developer. Submitted by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

• Updated in V58

  Release date

  21 March 2012

  Microsoft Word for DOS 5.0: existing Signature refined by submission from Georgia Tech Research Institute, USA.

• Added in V51

  Release date

  15 July 2011

  Microsoft Word for MS-DOS Document 5.0: Signature submitted by Georgia Tech Research Institute, USA.