Software Downloads

In addition to the software that Penn State provides to protect your computer, some courses through World Campus will require you to have additional software. This can range from a general word processing program for composing papers to course-specific programs like Minitab or Photoshop. In either case, your course syllabus will indicate what software your courses require.

Word Processing Software

One type of software that you will need in nearly all of your courses is a word processing program. Perhaps the most common of these programs is Microsoft Word, which is the program that will be suggested on your syllabus if a word processor is required. If you don't own a copy of Microsoft Word, or if you own a version from before the 2003 release and would like to use this program, we have you covered. As a student, Penn State supplies you with access to the Penn State O365 suite. Links to an external site.  You can access Office 365 applications by visiting office.psu.edu Links to an external site., and you can use the applications either in your browser as web applications, or install them on your computer as desktop applications. 

If you would like to explore other options for creating documents for your courses, you can certainly do so. They just need to be able to save files in the .doc or .docx file format. One free option for this is utilizing online services like Google Docs; you just need to be aware of how to save and export files in the proper format.

Other Software

The Penn State downloads Links to an external site. page is the repository for other software titles that you can acquire either for free or for a discounted price.  Of note among these programs are the Adobe Creative Cloud Suite that includes things like Photoshop and Adobe Acrobat (Free), The Global Connect VPN (Free), and course specific titles like Minitab (Purchase).

If you need to purchase specific software for a course details on obtaining that software will be provided to you by the instructor of the course that requires them.