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Unable to open Microsoft Office documents from FTP Site
I have a end user that is trying to view excel spread sheets from a FTP server. However when he does so, he gets the error "The file you are downloading cannot be opened by the default program. It is either corrupted or it has an incorrect file type. As a security precaution, it is recommended you cancel the download.
WIth that said, I know the file is not corrupted and I know its not our company firewall blocking the connections because I'm able to download all the files from that ftp site on a different computer using the same log in credentials as the machine thats not working. Also on this FTP site is PDF files. He is able to open them with no problems. It seems to be more of a microsoft office problem at this point. Does anybody have any suggestions that will allow us to open the spreadsheet? Also, if he clicks save to the message, it downloads the spreadsheet into a zipped folder and make a bunch of xml files which also never happens on the other machine.
i've attached a screen shot of what happens when the end user selects a file from the FTP site.
Thanks!
Doc1.docx
WIth that said, I know the file is not corrupted and I know its not our company firewall blocking the connections because I'm able to download all the files from that ftp site on a different computer using the same log in credentials as the machine thats not working. Also on this FTP site is PDF files. He is able to open them with no problems. It seems to be more of a microsoft office problem at this point. Does anybody have any suggestions that will allow us to open the spreadsheet? Also, if he clicks save to the message, it downloads the spreadsheet into a zipped folder and make a bunch of xml files which also never happens on the other machine.
i've attached a screen shot of what happens when the end user selects a file from the FTP site.
Thanks!
Doc1.docx
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So you've already verified the version of Office that the user is using to try and open the file? If he doesnt have 2007, he wont be able to open an xlsx file.
The end user has 2007 on his machine as did the other machine i tested it with.
Not sure if this will help since it's slightly different than the situation you are experiencing, but it might be worth trying. If for some reason IE is trying to open the file instead of actually using Excel, then it could be causing the issue. To stop this from happening, try the following on the user's computer:
Open My Computer.
On the Tools menu (or the View menu), click Folder Options (or click Options).
Click the File Types tab.
In the Registered file types list, click the specific Office document type (for example, Microsoft Excel Worksheet), and then click Advanced (or click Edit).
In the Edit File Type dialog box, click to clear the Browse in same window check box (or click to clear the Open Web documents in place check box).
Click OK.
Open My Computer.
On the Tools menu (or the View menu), click Folder Options (or click Options).
Click the File Types tab.
In the Registered file types list, click the specific Office document type (for example, Microsoft Excel Worksheet), and then click Advanced (or click Edit).
In the Edit File Type dialog box, click to clear the Browse in same window check box (or click to clear the Open Web documents in place check box).
Click OK.
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"In the Edit File Type dialog box, click to clear the Browse in same window check box (or click to clear the Open Web documents in place check box).
Click OK."
You are correct, when I open the file from the FTP site, it try's to use IE it appears to open the file at first. I see where it says "browse in same window" but i don't see the Open web documents in place check box. Could you please elaborate more on where i would find that. I think you're onto something there.
Click OK."
You are correct, when I open the file from the FTP site, it try's to use IE it appears to open the file at first. I see where it says "browse in same window" but i don't see the Open web documents in place check box. Could you please elaborate more on where i would find that. I think you're onto something there.
The information i posted was taken directly from http://support.microsoft.com/kb/162059
I thought i posted that link at the end of my post. My apologies. It's probably just referring to an old option that may have been in previous versions but is no longer there on the ones both you and i have (cause i dont see it either). But if you remove the check for "browse in same window", then that should be enough to test this solution. If that one was already not checked, then this does not help.
I thought i posted that link at the end of my post. My apologies. It's probably just referring to an old option that may have been in previous versions but is no longer there on the ones both you and i have (cause i dont see it either). But if you remove the check for "browse in same window", then that should be enough to test this solution. If that one was already not checked, then this does not help.
Thanks for the great idea, however that was NOT checked for anything pertaining to excel.
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Are these XP machines?
Yes
IE 7 or 8?
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7 on both
Sorry to ask so many questions without offering new things to try, but i'm just trying to further understand the situation....
Has the User tried opening any files from other FTP sites?
Also, the part about saving sounds very odd. The fact that it doesn't just save the excel file as it should.
i'll keep digging
Has the User tried opening any files from other FTP sites?
Also, the part about saving sounds very odd. The fact that it doesn't just save the excel file as it should.
i'll keep digging
I appreciate all the effort. Ask away!
I have not tried any other FTP sites with his machine. I just thought it was really weird how he could open PDF files but not office once. Also, the saving part seem beyond odd as well..
I have not tried any other FTP sites with his machine. I just thought it was really weird how he could open PDF files but not office once. Also, the saving part seem beyond odd as well..
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xlsx files are basically Zip files...
So something on that computer is causing it to save as zip instead of what it really is. At least that's what it seems like to me. Of course i have no way of knowing what that would be. Do you know if this is something that recently started happening on this computer? Or is this just the first time you've tried to access an excel file through the FTP site?
So something on that computer is causing it to save as zip instead of what it really is. At least that's what it seems like to me. Of course i have no way of knowing what that would be. Do you know if this is something that recently started happening on this computer? Or is this just the first time you've tried to access an excel file through the FTP site?
Its the first time we've noticed it. I went to the site with my computer and saved it as a zip file and it looked identical to how his machine is saving the files. I can't get on his machine right now as he's tied up in a meeting with it. BUt i'm 100% sure that its saving that file as a zip. Still curious why it would default to that and not allow us to hit open on the second part. On my machine, there is no second part.
Yeah once i tested the zip thing on my computer, i was pretty sure we were on the right track. There are some websites out there that talk about the server not having the right MIME types for files and some other stuff i dont really know anything about... but since you can open it fine on another computer... it just doesnt seem like it would be that.
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That was my thoughts. Possibly uninstalling office and re-installing office might work? Maybe that will take over the extension as it should?
yes unless there is some kind of thirdparty software thats causing the problem... or an add-on to IE.
Unfortunately i have to stop my responses here for now. I'm about to head home. Wont have much chance to get on until later tonight. I'll check back either then or tomorrow to see your progress.
Good luck.
Unfortunately i have to stop my responses here for now. I'm about to head home. Wont have much chance to get on until later tonight. I'll check back either then or tomorrow to see your progress.
Good luck.
I'll probably take a look more tomorrow as well. Once he gets out of that meeting, i'll be able to give a for sure answer on the zip vs. xlsx. Thanks again for all the help
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I verified if you rename the downloaded zip file to xlsx it works. However, its still not the full solution being its a huge pain to download it as a zip file, convert it and then open it. Once your're done making your changes, save it, re-upload it. Also, it leaves a chance someone else could make changes while you're working on it. At least we got the true problem identified now.
agreed. So now you need to figure out what is on that computer that is causing it to download as a zip instead of what it truly is.
Any suggestions on what would cause that or how I could change that? Theres not much for software on this machine outside of the standard office, ie, etc.
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Open Office isn't installed on it is it?
Nope, microsoft office 2007
Any other ideas?
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Microsoft Office
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Microsoft Office is an integrated suite of applications that includes Outlook, Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, Visio and InfoPath, along with a number of tools to assist in making the individual components work together. Coding within and between the projects is done in Visual Basic for Applications, known as VBA.