Editing Rich Text Format (section)

==History==
[[Richard Brodie (programmer)|Richard Brodie]], [[Charles Simonyi]], and David Luebbert, members of the [[Microsoft Word]] development team, developed the original RTF in the middle to late 1980s. The first RTF reader and writer shipped in 1987 as part of Microsoft Word 3.0 for [[classic Mac OS|Macintosh]], which implemented the RTF version 1.0 specification. All subsequent releases of Microsoft Word for Macintosh, as well as all Windows versions, can read and write in RTF format.

Microsoft maintains RTF. The final version was 1.9.1 in 2008, which implemented features of [[Office 2007]]. Microsoft has discontinued enhancements to the RTF specification, so features new to Word 2010 or a later version will not save properly to RTF.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/office/office-2010/cc179199(v%3doffice.14)|title=Changes in Word 2010 (for IT pros|first=Niveditha Narva (Beyondsoft Consulting|last=Inc)|website=docs.microsoft.com}}</ref> Microsoft anticipates no further updates to RTF, but has stated willingness to consider editorial and other non-substantive modifications of the RTF Specification during an associated [[ISO/IEC 29500]] balloting period.<ref>{{citation |url=http://kikaku.itscj.ipsj.or.jp/sc34/wg4/archive/sc34-wg4-2011-0184.zip |title=GS26 RS Referencing Explanatory Report (RER) for DR 10-0017, General: missing normative reference, for RTF |author=Microsoft |format=PDF |date=2011-03-17 |access-date=2011-04-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140512231641/http://kikaku.itscj.ipsj.or.jp/sc34/wg4/archive/sc34-wg4-2011-0184.zip |archive-date=2014-05-12 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

RTF files were used to produce [[Windows Help]] files, though these have since been superseded by [[Microsoft Compiled HTML Help]] files.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+RTF specifications for Microsoft Word<ref>{{cite web |url=http://support.microsoft.com/kb/924944 |title=Information about the Rich Text Format (RTF) version specifications for various versions of Word |date=2007-02-21 |access-date=2010-03-13}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.robweir.com/blog/2007/12/those-who-forget-santayana.html |title=Those who forget Santayana… |publisher=Rob Weir |date=2007-12-20 |access-date=2010-03-13}}</ref>
|-
! | RTF version
! | Publication date
! | Microsoft Word version
! | MS Word release date
! Notes
|-
! 1.0
| 1987
| Microsoft Word 3
| 1987
| The latest revision came in June 1992.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.snake.net/software/RTF/Old/RTF-Spec-1.0.rtf |format=RTF |title=Rich-Text Format (RTF) Specification&nbsp;– RTF Version 1.0 |author=Microsoft Corporation |access-date=2010-03-13}}</ref><ref name="rtf10-txt">{{citation |url=http://latex2rtf.sourceforge.net/RTF-Spec-1.0.txt |format=TXT |title=Microsoft Product Support Services Application Note (Text File)&nbsp;– GC0165: Rich-Text Format (RTF) Specification |author=Microsoft Corporation |date=June 1992 |access-date=2010-03-13}}</ref> The 1992 revision defined support for Microsoft [[Object Linking and Embedding]] (OLE) objects and Macintosh Edition Manager subscriber objects. It also supported inclusion of the [[Windows Metafile]], [[PICT]], Windows device-dependent bitmap, Windows device-independent bitmap and [[OS/2]] Metafile image types in RTF.
|-
! 1.1
|
| Microsoft Word 4
| 1989
| Allowed for [[font embedding]], which lets font data to be located inside the file.
|-
! 1.2
| 1993
| Microsoft Word 5
| 1991
|<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.snake.net/software/RTF/Old/RTF-Spec-1.2.rtf |format=RTF |title=Rich Text Format Specification v. 1.2 |author=Microsoft Corporation |access-date=2010-03-13}}</ref><ref>{{citation |url=http://latex2rtf.sourceforge.net/RTF-Spec-1.2.pdf |title=Rich Text Format Specification v. 1.2 |access-date=2010-03-13}}</ref>
|-
! 1.3
| January 1994
| Microsoft Word 6
| 1993
| 1/94 GC0165; for device-independence and interoperability, encouraged embedding bitmaps within [[Windows Metafile]]s,<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.snake.net/software/RTF/RTF-Spec-1.3.rtf |format=RTF |title=Rich Text Format (RTF) Specification&nbsp;– RTF Version 1.3 |author=Microsoft Corporation |date=January 1994 |access-date=2010-03-13}}</ref><ref>{{citation |url=http://latex2rtf.sourceforge.net/RTF-Spec-1.3.txt |format=TXT |title=Rich Text Format (RTF) Specification&nbsp;– RTF Version 1.3 |author=Microsoft Corporation |date=January 1994 |access-date=2010-03-13}}</ref> instead of using Windows device-independent [[bitmap]]s or Windows device-dependent bitmaps. 
|-
! 1.4
| September 1995
| Microsoft Word 95/Word 7
| 1995
|<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.faqs.org/faqs/graphics/fileformats-faq/part3/section-127.html |title=RTF&nbsp;– Rich Text Format |author=Microsoft Corporation |access-date=2010-03-13}}</ref>
|-
! 1.5
| April 1997
| Microsoft Word 97/Word 8
| 1997
| Introduced [[Unicode]] RTF, which supports 16-bit Unicode character encoding scheme; defined inclusion of [[Portable Network Graphics|PNG]], [[JPEG]] and [[Enhanced Metafile|EMF]] picture types in hexadecimal (the default) or binary format in a RTF file.<ref name="rtf15" /> Also contained a Japanese local RTF specification called RTF-J for the Japanese version of Word; RTF-J is somewhat different from the standard RTF specification.<ref name="rtf15">{{cite web |url=https://www.biblioscape.com/rtf15_spec.htm |title=Rich Text Format (RTF) Version 1.5 Specification |author=Microsoft Corporation |access-date=2010-03-13}}</ref>
|-
! 1.6
| May 1999
| Microsoft Word 2000/Word 9
| 1999
| Included Pocket Word and Exchange (used in RTF-HTML conversions).<ref name="rtf16"/>
|-
! 1.7
| August 2001
| Microsoft Word 2002/Word 10
| 2001
| 8/2001– Word 2002 RTF Specification<ref name="rtf17web">{{citation|url=http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?familyid=E5B8EBC2-6AD6-49F0-8C90-E4F763E3F04F&displaylang=en |title=Word 2002 Tool: Rich Text Format Specification |access-date=2012-09-26 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101112181441/http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?familyid=E5B8EBC2-6AD6-49F0-8C90-E4F763E3F04F&displaylang=en |archive-date=November 12, 2010 }}</ref><ref name="rtf17">{{citation |url=http://download.microsoft.com/download/Word2002/Install/1.7/W98NT42KMeXP/EN-US/W2KRTFSF.exe |format=EXE (ZIP) |title=Word 2002 Tool: Rich Text Format Specification&nbsp;– 8/2001– Word 2002 RTF Specification |author=Microsoft Corporation |date=2001-08-31 |access-date=2010-03-13 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160610142625/http://download.microsoft.com/download/Word2002/Install/1.7/W98NT42KMeXP/EN-US/W2KRTFSF.exe |archive-date=2016-06-10 }}</ref>
|-
! 1.8
| April 2004
| Microsoft Word 2003/Word 11
| 2003
| 10/2003– Word 2003 RTF Specification<ref name="rtf18" />
|-
! 1.9.1
| 19. March 2008 <br />(RTF 1.9&nbsp;– published in January 2007)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://coolthingoftheday.blogspot.com/2007/01/rtf-19-specification-word-2007.html |title=RTF 1.9 Specification (Word 2007) |publisher=Greg Duncan |date=2007-01-09 |access-date=2010-03-13}}</ref>
| Microsoft Word 2007/Word 12
| 2006
| Allowed [[XML]] markup&nbsp;– Custom XML Tags, [[Smart tag (Microsoft)|SmartTags]], Math elements in an RTF document, password protection, elements corresponding to [[Office Open XML]] Ecma-376 Part 4<ref name="rtf191">{{cite web |url=https://interoperability.blob.core.windows.net/files/Archive_References/%5bMSFT-RTF%5d.pdf |title=Word 2007: Rich Text Format (RTF) Specification, version 1.9.1 |author=Microsoft Corporation |date=2008-03-20 |access-date=2020-02-18}}</ref>
|}