how do I link to a spreadsheet without opening a browser window?

[Guest]

I am attempting to add a link to a web page that points to an excel
spreadsheet. The Webpage lives on our corporate intranet.

What is happening now is that the spreadsheet opens in a browser window. I
would prefer the user to have the option of downloading the file. How do I
create the link to do this?

thx
Bill King

 

[Thomas A. Rowe]

Place a note next to the link, instructing users to right click and save...

--
==============================================
Thomas A. Rowe (Microsoft MVP - FrontPage)
WEBMASTER Resources(tm)

FrontPage Resources, WebCircle, MS KB Quick Links, etc.
==============================================

 

[Andrew Murray]

the default action is it will attempt to open in Excel (much like PDF docs open
in Adobe).

So you need to put it in a ZIP folder and link to the zip folder
this will prompt with the download dialogue box.

 

[Guest]

hello Andrew - thank you for your reply. I am not sure I understand your
suggestion, however. What do you mean "put the file in a zip folder"? What
is a zip folder?
thx
Bill

 

[Guest]

Thank you Thomas
This is a good thought. What is interesting is that when I right click on
the link, the "Save as" option is not available.
Bill

 

[Tom Pepper Willett]

In Internet Explorer, it is "Save Target As"
--
===
Tom "Pepper" Willett
Microsoft MVP - FrontPage
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FrontPage 2003 Product Information:
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FrontPage 2002 Server Extensions Support Center:
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===
| Thank you Thomas
| This is a good thought. What is interesting is that when I right click on
| the link, the "Save as" option is not available.
| Bill
|
| "Thomas A. Rowe" wrote:
|
| > Place a note next to the link, instructing users to right click and
save...
| >
| > --
| > ==============================================
| > Thomas A. Rowe (Microsoft MVP - FrontPage)
| > WEBMASTER Resources(tm)
| >
| > FrontPage Resources, WebCircle, MS KB Quick Links, etc.
| > ==============================================
| > To assist you in getting the best answers for FrontPage support see:
| > http://www.net-sites.com/sitebuilder/newsgroups.asp
| >
| > | > >I am attempting to add a link to a web page that points to an excel
| > > spreadsheet. The Webpage lives on our corporate intranet.
| > >
| > > What is happening now is that the spreadsheet opens in a browser
window. I
| > > would prefer the user to have the option of downloading the file. How
do I
| > > create the link to do this?
| > >
| > > thx
| > > Bill King
| >
| >
| >

 

[=?Windows-1252?Q?Rob_Giordano_\=28aka:_Crash_Gordo]

Zips are compressed files...WinZip, StuffIt, etc, are programs that will 'zip' files/folders for ya. WinZip is pretty much the 'standard' I believe.


| hello Andrew - thank you for your reply. I am not sure I understand your
| suggestion, however. What do you mean "put the file in a zip folder"? What
| is a zip folder?
| thx
| Bill
|
| "Andrew Murray" wrote:
|
| > the default action is it will attempt to open in Excel (much like PDF docs open
| > in Adobe).
| >
| > So you need to put it in a ZIP folder and link to the zip folder
| > this will prompt with the download dialogue box.
| >
| >
| > | > > I am attempting to add a link to a web page that points to an excel
| > > spreadsheet. The Webpage lives on our corporate intranet.
| > >
| > > What is happening now is that the spreadsheet opens in a browser window. I
| > > would prefer the user to have the option of downloading the file. How do I
| > > create the link to do this?
| > >
| > > thx
| > > Bill King
| >
| >
| >

 

[David Hunter]

This probably doesn't apply in your case, but *if* you're generating the
Excel file automatically on the server in ASP, you have another option as
well.

First, set the content-type at the top of your ASP file to
"application/vnd.ms-excel". Then add a header called "Content-Disposition",
and set it to "attachment;filename=whatever.xls".

The content-type will tell Explorer that the file is an Excel file (even if
it has some other extension), and the Content-Disposition header will tell
Explorer to save the file, rather than opening it. (Set the filename to the
real file name, of course.)

If you're not generating the file automatically, but it's a real Excel file
sitting on the server, you might be able to alter some settings for that
particular file, and have the web server automatically set the content type
and add the disposition header; I don't have instructions on that.

As I said, this may not actually help you in your situation, but someone
might find this handy. I searched a long time how to do this before I got
it right...

David Hunter
Senior Technical Consultant
CGI

 

[Andrew Murray]

To download the file (to stop it opening in MS Excel - not the browser), ZIP it
with Winzip or similar and link to the Zip file.