Files that contain the XFD extension are associated with the Extensible Forms Description Language by Adobe Systems. XFDL is a language which is used to solve problems related to transmitting electronic documents over the Internet. The purpose of XFDL files is to provide a way for businesses and government organizations to securely transmit complex forms that have a precise layout, integrated computations, digital signatures, and other critical elements.
The forms are a class of XML documents known as XFDL forms and represent documents as unified objects without being dependent on external defined units. XFD files are human readable in plain text and are in a publicly accessible open standard. The files are widely used in e-commerce due to the capability to securely send and receive XML documents that are legally binding.
How to Open XFD Files
Since XFD files store data in plain text ASCII format, you can open them using any text editing program, such as Notepad or WordPad for Windows, Apple TextEdit for Mac, or gEdit for the Linux operating system. You can also use a variety of other applications to open XFD files.
If you use Windows, you can open XFD files using Adobe Reader X or Adobe Acrobat X. Both programs are available as a free download from the Adobe website. You can also use PureEdge Viewer, which works as an extension for your web browser or as a standalone application. PureEdge works with Internet Explorer, Netscape, and Mozilla Firefox.
For Mac OS X you can use Adobe Acrobat for Mac or IBM PureEdge Viewer for Mac OS to open XFD files.
If you use Linux, you can open and view XFD files with any open source text editing program including gEdit, Vim Editor, or Nano Editor.
XFD files can also be associated with Acu4GL, which allows an ACUCOBOL-GT program to access a Relational Database Management System. ACUCOBOL-GT is a compiler, runtime, and Vision indexed file system. Acu4GL generates SQL (Structured Query Language) dynamically and then uses the Relational Database Management System to access the data. In this case, XFD files create the file and data mapping for the RDBMS and can be opened using the Acu4GL program.
XFD files can also be related to an Xformer Disk Image, which is a backup file type. The image is similar to an Atari Disk Image file except it does not contain an ID and format header. Instead, it is a disk image with a large block of data which can be opened using the Xformer 2000 program.
