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Why firefox opens xls files in browser and not excel

  • 7 replies
  • 3 have this problem
  • 2 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

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From this site http://www.revenue.state.il.us/LocalGovernment/Disbursements/SalesRelated/sales.htm i am trying to open this xls file in excel the link just opens the file in browser but dose not display correctly. I have it set to always ask on xls files and xlsx files but it never does. This works fine in chrome and Internet explorer. Firefox is completely up to date.

From this site http://www.revenue.state.il.us/LocalGovernment/Disbursements/SalesRelated/sales.htm i am trying to open this xls file in excel the link just opens the file in browser but dose not display correctly. I have it set to always ask on xls files and xlsx files but it never does. This works fine in chrome and Internet explorer. Firefox is completely up to date.

All Replies (7)

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My client has a website with a link to their Excel price sheet. The link is below. When I click on the file I am able to save to my computer or open it up to view. When they click on the link it opens up into an unreadable web page of special codes. I have sent a screen shot of it. They are using Windows 10, Excel excel 14.0.7166.5000 32 bit.

Link to excel price sheet: http://blackswanmfg.com/index.php/list-price-sheet

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The server doesn't send the file with the correct content type, so Firefox opens it in a browser tab instead.

You will have to use "Save Page As" to save the page with the correct file extension, so you can open the file with the correct application.

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Thank you for such a quick reply! This is my client who lives in Chicago. I have my office in Virginia and am able to open up the file successfully from my Firefox. So it's a server problem?

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I may be a little confused. The web server where the website is hosted may be the problem? Is this the web server you are referring to? Again, I am able to open just fine from my business computer in Virginia using Firefox

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I checked the HTTP response headers with Live Http Headers and that shows that the Excel file is send as text/plain.

Firefox will always open files send as text/plain in a browser tab.

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Tue, 26 Apr 2016 18:36:08 GMT
Server: Apache/2
Last-Modified: Wed, 30 Dec 2015 15:58:06 GMT
Etag: "1bb4f06-3ad6f-5281f9a935f80"
Accept-Ranges: bytes
Vary: Accept-Encoding,User-Agent
Content-Encoding: gzip
Keep-Alive: timeout=1, max=100
Connection: Keep-Alive
Transfer-Encoding: chunked
Content-Type: text/plain
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Thank you!

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You're welcome.