Editing Rich Text Format (section)

===Security concerns===
Unlike Microsoft Word's DOC format, as well as the newer [[Office Open XML]] and [[OpenDocument]] formats, RTF does not support [[Macro (computer science)|macro]]s. For this reason, RTF was often recommended over those formats when the spread of computer viruses through macros was a concern. However, having the .RTF extension does not guarantee a safe file, since Microsoft Word will open standard DOC files renamed with an RTF extension and run any contained macros as usual. Manual examination of a file in a plain text editor such as [[Notepad (Windows)|Notepad]], or use of the [[file (command)|<code>file</code> command]] in a [[UNIX]]-like systems, is required to determine whether or not a suspect file is really RTF.<ref name="seniortechcenter"/><ref name="SANSavoidmacro">{{cite web|url=http://www.sans.org/security-resources/macro.php |title=Avoiding Macro Viruses |access-date=2015-06-06 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610065538/http://www.sans.org/security-resources/macro.php |archive-date=June 10, 2011 }}</ref> Enabling Word's "Confirm file format conversion on open" option can also assist by warning a document being opened is in a format that does not match the format implied by the file's extension, and giving the option to abort opening that file. One exploit attacking a vulnerability was patched in Microsoft Word in April 2015.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2015/09/08/anatomy-of-a-malicious-email-recent-word-hole/ |title=Anatomy of a malicious email: Crooks exploiting recent Word hole – Naked Security |newspaper=Sophos Web site |date=8 September 2015  |author=Paul Ducklin |access-date= 16 February 2016}}</ref>

Since 2014 there have been malware RTF files embedding [[OpenXML]] exploits.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://blog.malwaretracker.com/2014/05/cryptam-document-analysis-openxml.html |title=malware tracker blog: Cryptam Document Analysis + OpenXML embedded in RTF |newspaper=Blog.malwaretracker.com |access-date= 16 February 2016}}</ref>