How to open RTF – 10 ways

Among the variety of different file formats, some users come across RTF – a format designed for storing text documents. Accordingly, the user has a question about how to open an RTF file on a computer or online.

RTF (Rich Text Format) is a cross-platform rich text format often used in documents with content formatting. Unlike regular text, this format has various formatting elements built in: italics, bold, etc., it supports fonts and images.

The RTF format was created jointly by Microsoft and Adobe corporations in 1982 for the Word text editor. Then the paths of the companies diverged and only Microsoft became responsible for the development of the format. PostScript was created in 1985. The last update to the format specification was released in 2006.

The RTF format supports meta tags, so it is often used to save documents. There are quite a few documents or e-books saved in RTF format on the Internet.

Therefore, the user is faced with the question: how to open the RTF format on a computer or open an RTF file online without using software on a PC. We need a program that opens RTF, or an Internet service capable of opening RTF online.

In the first case, we will view this format on a PC, because programs that open files with the RTF extension will help us with this. In the second option, the contents of the file are viewed in a browser window on the web page of the service on the Internet.

This guide introduces applications that run on Windows and cross-platform solutions designed to run on different operating systems.

Depending on which program opens RTF files, the user’s options for further actions with the contents of the document differ. Some of the software shown supports editing an open RTF document, other programs that open RTF files can only be used for viewing.

To select an RTF file in the Explorer dialog box from the program window, in addition to the necessary actions in the application’s graphical interface, use the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl” + “O”.

How to open an RTF document in WordPad – 1 way

When asked what program to open RTF in the Windows operating system, the first answer is obvious – this is the WordPad program. This application is built into the operating system and is specifically designed to work with RTF files, because this is the main format of this program.

Windows users do not need to install anything on their computer, because this application is included with the OS. You can find WordPad in the Start menu, in the Standard Programs folder.

1 way:

1. Launch the application on your computer.
2. Enter the “File” menu, in the context menu click on the “Open” button.
3. In the Explorer dialog box, select the RTF file.
4. An RTF document opens in a WordPad window.

2 way:

1. Right click on the RTF file.
2. In the context menu, click on the “Open with …” item.
3. In the window that opens, select the WordPad application.

Document content in WordPad is not paged, and there is no reading mode in the application. The program has built-in options for editing an open file.

How to open RTF in Word – 2 way

Many computers use the popular office suite, Microsoft Office, which includes the Word word processor. MS Word opens RTF files without problems, as it is software from a single developer.

Open the RTF file from the interface of the program itself or from the Explorer context menu. If you check the box “Always open this application to open .rtf files”, then files of this format will automatically open in this text editor.

The RTF file is open in Word. The display of the contents of a text document does not differ from the original.

An open file can be edited using the tools of the Word program.

How to open a file with RTF extension in LibreOffice – 3 way

The free LibreOffice office suite includes a Writer application that supports opening RTF files. Not only Windows, but also another operating system can be installed on a PC. In both cases, LibreOffice supports opening this text format.

Go through the steps:

1. In the LibreOffice main window, click on the “Writer Document” button.
2. In the LibreOffice Writer window, from the “File” menu, click on the “Open” button.
3. Download the file from your device.

If necessary, you can edit files with the “.rtf” extension in the LibreOffice Writer application.

How to open an RTF file in OpenOffice – 4 way

OpenOffice is a free office suite that is suitable for working with RTF files.

Do the following:

1. In the main OpenOffice window, click on the “Text Document” button.
2. The OpenOffice Writer text editor will open.
3. Enter the “File” menu, in the drop-down menu, click on “Open …”.
4. Select the appropriate file on the PC.

Read and, if necessary, edit the open document.

Using SoftMaker FreeOffice – Method 5

Free version of the office application from the German company SoftMaker. The office suite includes a TextMaker text editor that supports the RTF format.

Do the following:

1. In the TextMaker application window, click on the File menu.
2. On the ribbon, in the File group, click the Open button.
3. Add the file from your computer to the text editor window.

TextMaker has editing tools that you can use.

View in Cool Reader – 6 way

The free Cool Reader program is designed to read and view files in some popular text formats. Among others, the application supports opening RTF files.

In the Cool Reader window, click on the “File” menu, then on “Open …”, and then load the document into the program.

Depending on the user’s preferences, the text of the document can be viewed in page mode or in portrait mode.

How to open an RTF file on a computer in Universal Viewer – 7 way

When asked how to open RTF for viewing, the recommendation to use a text editor for this is not always the correct answer. Some universal programs support opening a large number of formats of different types of files: multimedia, text and graphics.

The Universal Viewer supports viewing RTF files:

1. Launch Universal Viewer.
2. From the “File” menu, enter the context menu, and then click on the “Open …” item to add RTF to the program.

Google Docs – 8 way

Google Drive cloud storage is available to all Google Mail (gmail.com) email users. In the “cloud” there is a tool “Google Docs”, designed to work with text, tables and presentations.

To use the features of Google Docs, follow these steps:

1. Open Google Drive in a browser.
2. Click on the “Create” button and then “Upload Files”.
3. Right-click on the file, in the context menu select “Open With” first, and then “Google Docs”.
4. The RTF file is open in the Google Docs cloud service.

If necessary, use the editing tools in Google Docs.

How to open RTF online for free in Zoho Docs – 9 way

Zoho Office Suite is an online office suite of tools located on a remote server on the Internet. To use the online service for free for non-commercial purposes, registration on the site is required.

Follow these steps:

1. Sign in to the Zoho Docs website:  .
2. Click on the “Create” button, and in the drop-down box “Document”.
3. In the empty document window, click on “File”, and in the menu “Load Document”.
4. In the Download Document window, select From Local Computer.
5. Add a file from your PC.

When used for free, Zoho Docs supports the transfer of Word files up to 50 MB in size, and other types up to 10 MB.

6. Click on the “Open” button.

View RTF document on Free File Format Apps – 10 way

Free File Format Apps – free web-based applications for working with text and image formats on Aspose.app. Along with other features, the online service has tools for viewing files downloaded from a computer.

Go through the following steps:

1. From the main page of the Free File Format Apps service, go to the link: https://products.aspose.app/words/viewer to the “Viewer” web page.
2. In the web application window, drag a file from your computer to a special area or click on the “Drop or upload files” link.
3. After a while, an online service window will open, displaying the full contents of the document for reading on a PC screen.

On the left is the navigation area if the text of the document has headings. If necessary, an open RTF file can be downloaded to a computer in DOCX, PDF or HTML formats.

Article Conclusions

On a computer, users encounter files of various formats that are opened using certain software. When working with text documents, some users are wondering how to open the RTF extension.

Files of this format can be opened using the system tool – WordPad, text editors – Word, LibreOffice, OpenOffice, SoftMaker FreeOffice, file viewers – Cool Reader, Universal Viewer, online services – Google Docs, Zoho Docs, Free File Format Apps.