csv mistaken for xls

[Ian]

Hi anyone seen this problem. I access a web site which returns a csv file
via a url, like...

http://10.1.0.1/qt2a/queryoutput/IanNew.csv

Now when I click the link I get the dialog box that warns about downloading
harmful files and it asks do I want to save open or cancel. That's ok.

Bizarely the file name it shows in the dialog has become:
Name: IanNew.xls
Type: Microsoft Excel Worksheet, 1.87 Kb

If I say open, it opens Excel and passes the changed name to excel. Excel
can't find the file - cos its really still a .csv file in the ie cache.

Any idea what is going on? And how to fix it...!!

Thanks Ian

 

[Don Varnau]

Hi,
This article may or may not help. It may be informative, at least:
318761- Open Button in Dialog Disabled When You Browse or Redirect to .rtf
or .csv Files:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q318761

If I had this problem, I would take IE out of the equation by right-clicking
the link to the CSV file and choosing "Save as." Save the file to the folder
of your choice and Excel should have no difficulty in opening a CSV file.
You might check Folder Options> File Types to make sure that Excel is the
program used to open CSV files.

Hope this helps,
Don

 

[Ian]

Hi Don
Interesting but not helpful. I did try changing the tick box to not prompt
for csv file but it made no difference, i guess because it is saying it
thinks it is xls. I am not happy to untick the check on xls since they can
be virus laden. So my problem remains. Yes I can save it and then use it
without a problem - just less elegant and annoying that it has newly
appeared as a problem.
Ian