This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

I want to open a downloaded CSV file into Excel

more options

I previously was able to have the box open open when downloading a CSV file that asked how I would like to open the file? When downloading my CSV files from some software, it now just dumps it out in an unusable format.

I previously was able to have the box open open when downloading a CSV file that asked how I would like to open the file? When downloading my CSV files from some software, it now just dumps it out in an unusable format.

All Replies (1)

more options

Firefox usually ignores the file extension and bases decisions about what to do with a file on a content type header (also known as MIME type) sent by the web server. This isn't always sensible information, unfortunately.

You can check your default setting here:

orange Firefox button or Tools menu > Options > Applications

In the search box type csv and pause to see whether two Excel-related listings come up. Mine are set to "Always ask" but yours may vary or be missing. If they are completely missing, you might want to reset your download actions as described in this article: http://kb.mozillazine.org/File_types_and_download_actions#Resetting_download_actions

If Firefox is displaying the CSV files from some sites as though they are ordinary web pages, you may need to use right-click > Save Link As to save the file locally before launching it in Excel.