05 May 2008

MSOXMLED & Office Documents

I recently deployed an email application that mailed out Excel files in XML from an ASP.Net server to all clients that had trades for the day. One issue we found was that some of the internal people had trouble opening the file directly, while others did not.

This issue was traced to the 'Open' verb and a bad file setting. In essence, Windows does not know how to open Excel XML unless the File Type Setting is correct. Below are the instructions for correcting the issue.

  1. Open the File Settings from any folder by opening an Explorer window and choosing Tools > Folder Options > File Types (tab).
  2. Navigate to the XML Document type. Click on the 'Advanced' button.
  3. Highlight the 'open' entry in the Actions box and click Edit.
  4. The box should have the following settings:
File Types Settings
  • Action: open
  • Application used to perform action: "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\OFFICE11\MSOXMLED.EXE" /verb open "%1"
  • Use DDE: (checked)
  • DDE Message: <blank>
  • Application: MSOXMLED
  • DDE Application Not Running: <blank>
  • Topic: System
  • Click 'Ok'.
  •  

    I also have the 'Confirm open after download' option checked on the file type screen, but am not sure if this makes a difference or not.

    Following these instructions should get you back to opening Office XML.