I have a file from Adobe Reader that has the pdf association file
type.  The file has 36 pages and the data that has all the shore tours
at each port we will visit.  We have to select the one tour we want at
each port.  To peruse all ports on the computer will take lots of time
so I have copied all the data on floppies and CD's to give to each of
the couples going on this cruise ---they cam peruse the data at their
leisure.  The problem is that most couples do not have Adobe Reader on
their computer so the floppies and CD's cannot be read.  I have tried
all kinds of tactics to change the pdf association to something like
Word or Works to no avail---I can't get the conversion.  Can you give
me a step-by-step way to change this association?

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Request for Question Clarification by sublime1-ga on 10 Jun 2006 22:08 PDT

superdoober...

You can't simply change the association. The .pdf file format
is proprietary, and requires a program designed specifically
to read documents in this format.

PDF files are everywhere, so it's hard to believe there's that
many people who don't have the free Adobe Reader. The simplest
solution would be to include either a copy of the program or a
link to the free download on the CD or floppys:
http://www.adobe.com/go/gntray_dl_get_reader

Otherwise, you can convert the PDF files to Word's .doc filetype
using this freeware converter:

OmniFormat
http://www.omniformat.com/download.html

Note that the converter requires that another freeware program
from the same company - Pdf995 - is also installed.

Let me know if this answers your question...

sublime1-ga

superdoober...

Thanks for the comment confirming my input as an answer to your
question. I'll repost it here for the sake of future readers.

---------------------------------------------------------------

You can't simply change the association. The .pdf file format
is proprietary, and requires a program designed specifically
to read documents in this format.

PDF files are everywhere, so it's hard to believe there's that
many people who don't have the free Adobe Reader. The simplest
solution would be to include either a copy of the program or a
link to the free download on the CD or floppys:
http://www.adobe.com/go/gntray_dl_get_reader

Otherwise, you can convert the PDF files to Word's .doc filetype
using this freeware converter:

OmniFormat
http://www.omniformat.com/download.html

Note that the converter requires that another freeware program
from the same company - Pdf995 - is also installed.

---------------------------------------------------------------

As for the other extension you're getting in the email, instead
of opening it, select download to disk and use the dialog to
place the file somewhere that you can get to it using Windows
Explorer. 

You may have to go to an Explorer window and change the display
settings so that you can see the file extension on the file when
you navigate to the folder where you placed it.

To do that, go to Tools -> Folder Options -> View, and make sure
that 'Hide file extensions for known file types' is unchecked.

Then go to the folder where you placed the file from the email
and tell me what the extension is.

sublime1-ga

Your 'Subject' is misleading!

If you had called it 'Converting pdf files to Word' you would have got an answer.

sublime1-ga
I followed your suggestions and made several floppies with the link to
download a Adobe Reader and a file with all the data on the tours
available and they were able to peruse the tours at their leisure. 
Was help them to select the tours.
By the way, I am getting some emails with an attachment that when I
tried to open what ever was in the attachment I get a window "Mail
Attachment",
'Do you want to open this file", the name of the file and Type:
"Unknown file type".  The emails are from the same person---all the
others open correctly.
I can't find any way to change to a file type ---iI think the others have "eml"
and they open.  This asociation file type is a great mystery to me.

Thanks for your help on the .pdf problem