Official electronic charts may be downloaded free of charge from the websites listed below. When you download charts from these sites, a "ZIP" file is sent to your computer. A ZIP file is a sort of compressed file folder that must have its contents "extracted" before they can be used. Coastal Explorer is capable of extracting the chart files from the ZIP for you, but only if the following steps are followed:

1. Use one of the websites below to select and order the charts you want (they say "order", but don't worry, the charts are free!)
2. After ordering the charts you should see a message about how your selected charts have been packed into an "Exchange Set" which has been compressed into a ZIP file. At the end of this message is a Download button which you should click
3. Now you should see a popup message asking if you want to Open or Save the file; choose Save.
4. Now you should see another popup message asking where to save the file; at the top of this popup is a box labeled Save in; click on that box and select the My Downloaded Charts item; finally, click the Save button near the lower-right corner of the popup.
5. Now you should see a popup informing you of the download's progress; when it is finished, Coastal Explorer will extract the chart files from the ZIP file and copy them to the folder containing your other charts.
6. After the files are extracted, Coastal Explorer will give you the option of deleting the ZIP file. Chances are, you will not have any further need for it since it only contains files that have been copied to another place on your hard drive, so usually Yes is the appropriate answer. However, if you want to copy the charts to another computer, you might want to hold on the ZIP until you've done that. In you don't have Coastal Explorer delete it for you, you can delete it yourself some other time.

Online Chart Suppliers:

	NOAA ENC® Vector charts for most of the US coast. NOTE: NOAA's new (beta) chart download page has slightly modified ZIP files from their older chart download service. This change prevents them from working with the current shipping version of Coastal Explorer™. The 2.0 beta does work with the new ZIP files, so if you use Coastal Explorer, sign up for the beta, otherwise you should continue to use their older non-beta chart server.
	NOAA RNC™ Raster charts for the complete US coast.
	U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Inland ENC Vector charts for major US rivers including the Atchafalaya, Black Warrior, Illinois, Mississippi, Ohio, Red, and Tombigbee.