Electronic Document Distribution

One potential benefit of the information revolution that can be of great value to congregations is electronic document distribution. Most documents are now prepared on computer. From the computer, they can be sent electronically to the people who need them, instead of distributing paper copies. This saves paper, saves time, and saves money. However, there are some pitfalls that have to be avoided.

By far the biggest problem is, how to distribute the information in a format that as many people as possible can read.

The most common word processing software in use today is Microsoft Word. This is expensive software, and many people do not have it available on their home computers. While distributing documents in Word format may be the simplest approach, it may not be effective for many people. (Even if the people you wish to receive your document are able to work with Word documents, there are several security and other concerns with this format, as discussed below.)

Here are several possible solutions. This note assumes that the document is prepared using Word, but most of the ideas will work with other preparation systems. It also assumes you are using some version of Windows - anyone using anything else doesn't need my advice!

• One solution is to ask people to download Microsoft Word Viewer software, available free from this website. This product provides the ability to look at most Word documents, but not the ability to change them.
  
  
• Most Word documents can also be read by OpenOffice, a package of free software available from this website. This software provides almost all of the capabilities of Microsoft Word (and most of the other components of the Microsoft Office suite), at a much more manageable price. (This software would be a good choice for a church office, as well!)

  The software will read almost all Word documents, although a few complex ones will give it trouble. (It is improving all the time in this area.)

• Another possibility is to post the document to a web site, and allow readers to see it there. This is simple for the users, but somewhat tricky and error-prone for the preparer. Word allows a document to be saved in HTML format (the preferred format for documents on the web). However, the conversion will damage some of your careful formatting. (Some of this damage is due to inevitable differences between Word and HTML, others due to Microsoft's limited implemention.) Also, any images in the document are saved as separate files. All of the files, including the images, must be uploaded to the web site. Care must be taken that the images do not have names that conflict with names already on the web site - preventing this can be quite tricky. It is also necessary to create links to each new document as it is added to the web site, so people can find them.

  A big disadvantage of this approach is that anyone can access virtually any document on the web. If the document is intended for a limited audience, this is not a good solution.

• Another approach is to use PDF ("Portable Document Format") files. To use this format, readers must have a copy of Adobe's Acrobat Reader software on their computer - it is available from this website. Unlike HTML format, a PDF file is (normally) complete as a single file, with all the images, etc., contained within it. It carefully preserves the format of your original document.

  This format is very popular on the web. For example, most government forms available on the web are distributed in this format. Many people will already have the necessary software installed on their computers.

  In order to use this format, it is necessary to be able to convert documents from their original format (e.g. Word) into PDF. There are several ways to do this, some of them expensive. One simple approach is to use the pdf995 available at this website. (This software is free, but to eliminate some annoying advertising, a license is available for US$10.) When installed, this software makes an additional "printer" available to your programs. Whenever something is "printed" on this printer, it is really written to a file, in PDF format. The "printer" will work with almost any software, so almost anything can be converted to a PDF document in this way. Another way of converting documents is to use the OpenOffice package mentioned earlier - it can save documents directly in PDF format.

Any solution that requires downloading and installing software may be difficult from some users. To make electronic distribution work well within your congregation, it would be a good idea to find someone who can act as a "technical guru," offering advice by e-mail, and even making "house calls" if at all possible.

An issue that may be important if you are distributing Word documents is security. There are at least three areas of concern in this regard:

• Word can contain viruses and other such nuisances. Good virus checkers will catch them, but many people do not have virus checkers on their home computers. Also, because of this, some businesses "quarantine" incoming Word documents, and prevent them from getting to the intended recipient.
  
  
• Word documents often contain "hidden" text. If you create a draft of a document that contains some sensitive material, and then decide to remove it, that text may in fact still be there, just not visible on your screen. It is not accessible using Word, but may be seen using other software. Many people have been embarrassed when "private" information is extracted in this way.
  
  
• Documents in Word format are editable. It is entirely possible for someone to receive a document, modify it in some way, and then pass it around as if it was the original version. In some situations, this could cause a great deal of trouble.

All of these problems can occur with other forms of documents, but are much less likely than they are with Word.

Electronic document distribution can be a wonderful tool, but it does need to be thought through to be effective. Do not let these issues scare you away, but be ready with the information you need to resolve them.

If you have any comments on this document, would like some help in implementing any of the ideas discussed here, or have other ideas for using technology creatively to communicate with your congregation, please send them to .