[FX.php List] [OFF] Trouble with clients trying to download DOCX files from web server

[Dale Bengston]

Just a theory here, but most browsers will try to load a file they can  
interpret into the browser window rather than download it. The docx  
format is a kind of XML, no? Tiger browsers must be seeing that as XML  
they can display. Leopard came out after docx, so it's trapped there  
as a file type to download. Specifying the mime type on the server  
must have accomplished the same thing for Tiger users.

For what it's worth, I can open docx with Pages and TextEdit.  
OpenOffice 2.1 would not do it. So I upgraded to OpenOffice 2.3 and it  
didn't know what to do with it either. I'm running 10.5.1.

Dale

On Dec 30, 2007, at 6:50 PM, Alex Gates wrote:

> Bob,
>
> While your client has MS Word on his mac, .docx won't open properly  
> because .docx wasn't introduced until the 08 version of Office.
> It has been available for Windows for a while now, but won't be  
> available for Mac until mid-January.
>
> If they upgrade to the new version of Office in January, (or to  
> Leopard) it won't be a problem.
>
> Until then, they'll need the plugin.
>
> My guess is it is opening the jumbled garbage in the browser because  
> there is no program associated with .docx. With the plugin or the  
> updated program(s), I don't think it will open anything in the  
> browser. I'm not sure though - I'm not running Leopard. It wouldn't  
> be out of the question for Safari in Leopard to open the docs right  
> in the browser. I'm not sure, though.
>
> Alex
>
>
>
> Bob Patin wrote:
>> I think the coin just dropped... :)
>> So if my client downloads that plugin below, he will be able to  
>> download the file in his browser? So if I'm understanding this  
>> correctly, if he has the plugin, it also enables the browser to  
>> download the file rather than open it in a browser window?
>> Sounds strange to me, but if you guys say it's so... :)
>> I'll pass this on to my client and see if that fixes it for him.
>> Thanks,
>> Bob
>> On Dec 30, 2007, at 4:33 PM, Alex Gates wrote:
>>> The .docx format is the default format in Word 2008.
>>>
>>> Tiger has the ability to open .doc natively (in text edit) - and I  
>>> imagine Leopard was made to address .docx natively as well.
>>>
>>> Perhaps I'm missing something here - but even if your client  
>>> requires that all file types can be uploaded, you surely can't  
>>> guarantee everyone will be able to properly open every file type.
>>>
>>> Office 08 for Mac will be out in mid-january. Until then, in order  
>>> for Tiger users (who use microsoft office) to be able to  
>>> open .docx, they will need to install the plugins that andy linked  
>>> to.
>>>
>>> I believe open office can handle .docx as well.
>>>
>>> Alex
>>>
>>>
>>> Bob Patin wrote:
>>>> Hi,
>>>> Thanks, but my Leopard machine, which is totally Microsoft-free,  
>>>> deals with the download fine. However, my client, who DOES have  
>>>> MS Word on his Mac, is running Tiger, and he was having trouble.
>>>> Frustrating...
>>>> BP
>>>> On Dec 30, 2007, at 2:39 PM, Andy Walz wrote:
>>>>> Bob-  I'm not sure if this will be helpful but as I understand  
>>>>> it, for Macs that do not have MS Office 2008 for Mac you need  
>>>>> this plug-in in order use .docx, .pptx, or any of the new MS  
>>>>> file types at all.
>>>>>
>>>>> http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/system_disk_utilities/microsoftofficeopenxmlfileformatconverter.html
>>>>> or
>>>>> http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.aspx?pid=download&location=/mac/download/office2004/converterbeta_0_2.xml 
>>>>>  <http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.aspx?pid=download&location=/mac/download/office2004/converterbeta_0_2.xml 
>>>>> >
>>>>>
>>>>> Gotta love Microsoft!
>>>>> Andy
>>>>>
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