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Acceptable file formats

The following file formats are accepted by The Planning Inspectorate:

Acceptable Formats

File extension

Portable Document Format (Adobe Acrobat)
Recommended (but please do not convert photographs from .jpg format)

 .pdf 

Microsoft Word or WordPerfect 5.1 or higher, provided that documents have a .doc extension

 .doc 

Tagged Image Format

 .tif 

Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG)

 .jpg 

Most CAD systems provide a facility to convert output into PDF format, and we recommend that you use this to send us these documents.

If you send us information that we are unable to read, we will need to contact you and ask you to reformat and resubmit it.

Unacceptable Formats

File extension 

Microsoft Excel

 .xls 

Various CAD formats

 .dwg, .dgn, .dxf 

Other formats

 .docx, .html, .zip 

Documents may be published on the internet via the Planning Portal.  Those submitted on paper, and those submitted as non-PDF files will be converted before being published.

*Microsoft Office 2007

If you are using Microsoft Office 2007 please ensure that any Word documents you attach are in the standard .doc format rather than the default .docx.  You must change the file format before saving as at present, the .docx format is not compatible with the online forms.

To ensure that documents are saved in the .doc format, select 'File' then 'Save as'.  Select the option to Save as 'Word Doc 97-2003' and this will ensure the file is saved in the correct format.