Compound document

In <a href="/facts/Computing/Kghtm9fX">computing</a>, a compound document is a <a href="/facts/Electronic_document/7ee80Ee4">document</a> that "combines multiple <a href="/facts/Document_format/ofD5voGr">document formats</a>, either by reference, by inclusion, or both." Compound documents are often produced using <a href="/facts/Word_processor/qAR7lagF">word processing</a> software, and may include text and non-text elements such as <a href="/facts/Barcode/Mkh4cCTp">barcodes</a>, <a href="/facts/Spreadsheet/0cvc1GeB">spreadsheets</a>, <a href="/facts/Picture/hbjEdTXK">pictures</a>, <a href="/facts/Digital_video/xsn9omqG">digital videos</a>, <a href="/facts/Digital_audio/PgugcLAI">digital audio</a>, and other <a href="/facts/Multimedia/PtJteq27">multimedia</a> features.
Compound document <a href="/facts/Technology/9Uav5WVR">technologies</a> are commonly utilized on top of a <a href="/facts/Software_componentry/eW5wvSHC">software componentry</a> framework, but the idea of software componentry includes several other concepts apart from compound documents, and software components alone do not enable compound documents. Well-known technologies for compound documents include:

<ul><li><a href="/facts/ActiveX_Document/w9aAHl24">ActiveX Documents</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Bonobo_(GNOME)/4jUeLN0w">Bonobo</a> by <a href="/facts/Ximian/7aphvdbu">Ximian</a> (primarily used by <a href="/facts/GNOME/EFMNBmpR">GNOME</a>)</li>
<li><a href="/facts/KParts/fuAzewMT">KParts</a> in <a href="/facts/KDE/PCh32IWA">KDE</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/MODCA/pz8SwC3H">Mixed Object Document Content Architecture</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Multipurpose_Internet_Mail_Extensions/P8PDYuts">Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions</a> (MIME)</li>
<li><a href="/facts/Object_linking_and_embedding/Eabu8Qnl">Object linking and embedding</a> (OLE) by <a href="/facts/Microsoft/nGIDDXdx">Microsoft</a>; see <a href="/facts/Compound_File_Binary_Format/7D9qushB">Compound File Binary Format</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Open_Document_Architecture/aqlfLeLc">Open Document Architecture</a> from <a href="/facts/ITU-T/9nJwkPYx">ITU-T</a> (not used)</li>
<li><a href="/facts/OpenDoc/aXv4oj2N">OpenDoc</a> by <a href="/facts/IBM/QszA7nwd">IBM</a> and <a href="/facts/Apple_Computer/oTJYta3k">Apple Computer</a> (now defunct)</li>
<li><a href="/facts/RagTime/BNozfN8S">RagTime</a></li>
<li>Verdantuim</li>
<li><a href="/facts/XML/clNgUfWk">XML</a> and <a href="/facts/Extensible_Stylesheet_Language/fzT8tD7u">XSL</a> are encapsulation formats used for compound documents of all kinds</li></ul>
The first public implementation of compound documents was on the <a href="/facts/Xerox_Star/MT15wQq1">Xerox Star</a> <a href="/facts/Workstation/h5tK4hTt">workstation</a>, released in 1981.

Compound document open-in-new

Compound document