When creating projects and assignments that you need to share, you'll need to consider who you are sharing with by selecting a suitable format (also known as file extension) and file size.

A similar example could be speaking to someone in a different language. Would you have a conversation knowing they will be incapable of understanding you, or would you use a common method (or language) that you both understood?

Points to consider when sharing files:

• Has the person requested a certain file type and quality? 
  E.g. SACE moderation requirements

• How large will the file be?  
  E.g. email size limit is 34 Megabytes (MB)

• How will I distribute the file? 
  E.g. Email for smaller, Link to my shared Onedrive folder for larger? (Onedrive sharing article)

• Security of the file?
  E.g. The common general school file store can be accessed by ALL students and standard email is unsecure.

• Will the person be able to open the file with standard software? 
  E.g. Microsoft Office, or Adobe Acrobat for PDF's?

• Will the person be required to install a program to view the file?  
  E.g. if Openoffice or Apple 'Pages' was used to create the file, but not saved as Microsoft Office compatible.

• Will the person be required to sign up to an internet service or site to view the content?  
  E.g. an Office 365 account, Prezi etc. or is a non-sign in required link available?

File standards used at Tenison Woods College

At Tenison Woods College all staff and students are able to download the latest version of Microsoft Office for free, allowing students to submit their work in MS Office or Adobe PDF formats which teachers are then able to view and mark.

Students who submit work in other formats will be required to re-submit their work in a viewable format.

Document standard examples:

• .docx  Microsoft Word document

• .xlsx   Microsoft Excel document

• .pptx  Microsoft Powerpoint document

• .pdf  Adobe document format

Image standard examples:

• .jpg or .jpeg

• .png

• .bmp

Video standard examples:

• .mp4

• .mov 

• .avi

• .wmv  

Audio standard examples:

• .mp3 

• .wav  (larger file size) 

• .wma 

Common file size measurements

​When using a file explorer program, file sizes are often displayed as KB or Kilobytes.

When creating files, students work should be in the Kilobytes or low Megabytes size range (less than 50MB).. Above this is considered large and can create sharing and storage problems.

Kilobyte or KB - displayed as 1 KB ​
Megabyte or MB - displayed as 1,000 KB ​
Gigabyte or GB - displayed as 1,000,000 KB
​Terabyte or TB - displayed as 1,000,000,000 KB

There are of course much larger file sizes in use, but it is highly unlikely to see these sizes at home or school.

Windows explorer file size examples: