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	Downloading Help
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Legislation

By default, AustlII splits each piece of legislation into sections. This is done to facilitate searching and to make access to individual sections easier. The problem with this approach is that it makes printing out entire Acts or Regulations difficult. AustLII therefore generally makes both plain text (ASCII) and rich text format (RTF) versions of entire Acts and Regulations available for download.

Where the Act or Regulation is very large, for example the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936, it is divided into "Volumes" and each of these parts is generally available for separate download.

Cases

For cases, users sometimes find that their browser does not print very well, or cannot handle very large files. The best solution is to download the rich text format (RTF) version, where available, to your computer, and then open the file with your favourite word processor for printing.

Available File Formats

Plain text (ASCII) most formatting (eg fonts, bold, italics etc) is lost and sometimes the structure (eg tables) is lost. It is the "lowest common denominator" approach. The best idea is to save the file to your disk, and then load it into your word processor and format the document manually before printing.

Portable Document Format (PDF) is a proprietary document format created by Adobe Systems Incorporated. You will need the free Adobe Reader program, or another compatible program, to view and/or print these files. These files cannot normally be edited. PDF files generally retain all formatting and structure when viewed or printed. PDF files are typically larger than text files.

Rich Text Format (RTF) is the preferred method of downloading and printing a document. Save the file to disk, then load it into your favourite word processor to print the document. RTF files are often the original files as provided by the body that originally supplied the data (otherwise they may have been converted from the original file format). RTF files retain all formatting and structure. RTF files are typically larger than text files.

Where there is no downloadable file format available, you can use your web browser's "File > Save as" facility to save a copy of the file to your computer or "cut and paste" the contents of the file from your web browser into your favourite word processor.

How to Save a File to Your Computer

To save a file to your computer, click on the download link with the right mouse button (on a Mac, click and hold the mouse button). Your web browser will ask you where you want to save the file. Once downloading is complete, open the file in your word processor. Alternatively, you can have the document opened in your word processor automatically. Consult your web browser help for how to configure it to do this.