Safari appends .dot to all .doc files after Word 2008

[mcic]

I am having a weird problem which appears to be caused by Office 2008.

Since upgrading to Office 2008 (and also trashing my entire system then installing Office 2008 for scratch), Safari is having this nasty habit of appending .dot to all .doc downloads.

For example, on the following site, http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=311f4be8-9983-4ab0-9685-f1bfec1e7d62&displaylang=en if I download "Deploying Vista Step by Step Guide.doc", Safari will save it as "Deploying Vista Step by Step Guide.doc.dot" which is rather unhelpful.

On Apple's website, a knowledge base article (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304155) suggests that the problem is due to web server configuration - but this does not seem to be the case, because it did not happen before I installed Office 2008.

Using the "misfox" preference pane (http://mac.clauss-net.de/misfox/) I think the problem appears to be that the MIME type application/msword is associated with the file extension .dot rather than .doc

Is anyone else encountering the same issue?
(I am running Mac OS X 10.5.1 on a first gen MacBook Pro upgraded to 2GB of RAM)

Is this something that the developers (er, the Mac BU) are aware of?

Thanks to anyone who can help or confirm/deny this weird problem!

 

[John McGhie]

Yes, people are aware of it.

Yes, it is apparently a Safari bug in OS 10.5.

Since Firefox apparently doesn't have this problem, I suspect you might have
difficulty convincing Microsoft that it's their fault

I think there's a patch on the way from Apple for this one.

Hope this helps

I am having a weird problem which appears to be caused by Office 2008.

Since upgrading to Office 2008 (and also trashing my entire system then
installing Office 2008 for scratch), Safari is having this nasty habit of
appending .dot to all .doc downloads.

For example, on the following site,
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=311f4be8-9983-4ab0-96
85-f1bfec1e7d62&displaylang=en if I download "Deploying Vista Step by Step
Guide.doc", Safari will save it as "Deploying Vista Step by Step
Guide.doc.dot" which is rather unhelpful.

On Apple's website, a knowledge base article
(http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304155) suggests that the
problem is due to web server configuration - but this does not seem to be the
case, because it did not happen before I installed Office 2008.

Using the "misfox" preference pane (http://mac.clauss-net.de/misfox/) I think
the problem appears to be that the MIME type application/msword is associated
with the file extension .dot rather than .doc

Is anyone else encountering the same issue?
(I am running Mac OS X 10.5.1 on a first gen MacBook Pro upgraded to 2GB of
RAM)

Is this something that the developers (er, the Mac BU) are aware of?

Thanks to anyone who can help or confirm/deny this weird problem!

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[mcic]

John - Thank you for your reply. Does this happen with Safari on 10.4?

It is a bit of an odd behaviour of Safari to append extensions for a start, but I think it's because Safari respects some internal Mac OS X mime type or maybe the Apple uniform type identifier setting somewhere, whereas Firefox doesn't bother, and so the problem doesn't happen there!

I'm sure it didn't happen with Office 2004 though, nor did it happen with my fresh install of OS X, so not sure what's with Office 2008 and Safari 3.0.4 hmm...

 

[mcic]

After reading up on Uniform Type Identifiers, I think I have a solution - or at least some sort of workaround. This requires editing the Microsoft Word package.

1. Open the Microsoft Word package (Action -> Show Package Contents)
2. Go to Contents and open Info.plist in a plist editor (I used Panic Coda)
3. Remove lines 703-704 where it reads <key>public.mime-type</key><string>application/msword</string>
4. Remove any caches/whatever (I used Onyx) and reboot.

Further details on Step #3:

There are two instances where Microsoft Word defines application/msword. On my copy of Word, it defines it at line 684-685 and line 703. Line 685 refers to the document type .doc while line 703-704 refers to .dot.

Obviously, I want the MIME type application/msword to refer to .doc (and don't really care too much about .dot files).

Before (lines 688-706):

<dict>
<key>UTTypeConformsTo</key>
<string>public.data</string>
<key>UTTypeDescription</key>
<string>Microsoft Word 97 - 2004 template</string>
<key>UTTypeIconFile</key>
<string>W8TN.icns</string>
<key>UTTypeIdentifier</key>
<string>com.microsoft.word.dot</string>
<key>UTTypeTagSpecification</key>
<dict>
<key>com.apple.ostype</key>
<string>W8TN</string>
<key>public.filename-extension</key>
<string>dot</string>
<key>public.mime-type</key>
<string>application/msword</string>
</dict>
</dict>

After:

<dict>
<key>UTTypeConformsTo</key>
<string>public.data</string>
<key>UTTypeDescription</key>
<string>Microsoft Word 97 - 2004 template</string>
<key>UTTypeIconFile</key>
<string>W8TN.icns</string>
<key>UTTypeIdentifier</key>
<string>com.microsoft.word.dot</string>
<key>UTTypeTagSpecification</key>
<dict>
<key>com.apple.ostype</key>
<string>W8TN</string>
<key>public.filename-extension</key>
<string>dot</string>
</dict>
</dict>

Don't know if this will work anywhere else, but it solved my problem and Safari no longer mysteriously adds .dot to my .doc downloads.

 

[Beth Rosengard]

This is great to know. Thanks! But for those who aren¹t comfortable
working with behind-the-scenes files and code, the simplest workaround is
just to change the .dot of the downloaded Word file to .doc (and the same
type of thing for the other Office apps).

--
***Please always reply to the newsgroup!***

Beth Rosengard
Mac MVP

Mac Word FAQ: <http://word.mvps.org/Mac/WordMacHome.html>
My Site: <http://www.bethrosengard.com>

 

[John McGhie]

Aaaarrrrghhhhhh..... DON'T do that!!

You will irretrievably destroy Word

Now, if you have the knowledge to do this, you also have the knowledge to
unpick the damage it causes. And you know damn well why hacking Word to fix
a bug in Safari is not "great" computer administration

But for other users who may be tempted to try this: If you do this, Word
will never work right again. You have been warned!!

Cheers

After reading up on Uniform Type Identifiers, I think I have a solution - or
at least some sort of workaround. This requires editing the Microsoft Word
package.

1. Open the Microsoft Word package (Action -> Show Package Contents)
2. Go to Contents and open Info.plist in a plist editor (I used Panic Coda)
3. Remove lines 703-704 where it reads
<key>public.mime-type</key><string>application/msword</string>
4. Remove any caches/whatever (I used Onyx) and reboot.

Further details on Step #3:

There are two instances where Microsoft Word defines application/msword. On
my copy of Word, it defines it at line 684-685 and line 703. Line 685 refers
to the document type .doc while line 703-704 refers to .dot.

Obviously, I want the MIME type application/msword to refer to .doc (and don't
really care too much about .dot files).

Before (lines 688-706):

<dict>
<key>UTTypeConformsTo</key>
<string>public.data</string>
<key>UTTypeDescription</key>
<string>Microsoft Word 97 - 2004 template</string>
<key>UTTypeIconFile</key>
<string>W8TN.icns</string>
<key>UTTypeIdentifier</key>
<string>com.microsoft.word.dot</string>
<key>UTTypeTagSpecification</key>
<dict>
<key>com.apple.ostype</key>
<string>W8TN</string>
<key>public.filename-extension</key>
<string>dot</string>
<key>public.mime-type</key>
<string>application/msword</string>
</dict>
</dict>

After:

<dict>
<key>UTTypeConformsTo</key>
<string>public.data</string>
<key>UTTypeDescription</key>
<string>Microsoft Word 97 - 2004 template</string>
<key>UTTypeIconFile</key>
<string>W8TN.icns</string>
<key>UTTypeIdentifier</key>
<string>com.microsoft.word.dot</string>
<key>UTTypeTagSpecification</key>
<dict>
<key>com.apple.ostype</key>
<string>W8TN</string>
<key>public.filename-extension</key>
<string>dot</string>
</dict>
</dict>

Don't know if this will work anywhere else, but it solved my problem and
Safari no longer mysteriously adds .dot to my .doc downloads.

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[John McGhie]

Well, it doesn't happen to ME in Safari 3.0.4 in OS 10.4

John - Thank you for your reply. Does this happen with Safari on 10.4?

It is a bit of an odd behaviour of Safari to append extensions for a start,
but I think it's because Safari respects some internal Mac OS X mime type or
maybe the Apple uniform type identifier setting somewhere, whereas Firefox
doesn't bother, and so the problem doesn't happen there!

I'm sure it didn't happen with Office 2004 though, nor did it happen with my
fresh install of OS X, so not sure what's with Office 2008 and Safari 3.0.4
hmm...

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[mcic]

I agree it isn't the best way to solve it, but it seems to work.

Maybe Step 0 should be: "BACKUP MICROSOFT WORD FIRST" using Time Machine or whatever!!! (I only backed up Info.plist, though others might want to back up the whole application just in case.)

On my equivalent post on Apple Discussions, a similar problem exists with .xls files ending up as .xls.xla. This leads me to suspect it is a problem with Leopard – not so much Safari itself.

The Apple page describes Uniform Type Identifiers here:

http://developer.apple.com/document...//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40001319-CH202-BCGFBBIA

What's interesting is that filename extensions in the example are defined as an array - i.e. the file type JPEG can include extensions .jpg and .jpeg and they can both be of the MIME type image/jpeg

Meanwhile, Office defines .doc as a Microsoft Word 97 - 2004 document and gives it the MIME type application/msword, and .dot is separately defined as a Microsoft Word 97 - 2004 template, but also with the MIME type application/msword - which is where Leopard seems be confused.

 

[John McGhie]

Yeah, I understood where you are coming from

I just recoil in horror at the prospect of having 300,000 broken copies of
Microsoft Word out there, all displaying a wide range of different and
confusing symptoms, and no clear way to diagnose the problem.

There is no way we could talk an "end user" who can barely find the keyboard
how to open the Word package and check the internal .plists to see if they
are 'complete', let alone switch in a clean version.

This modification will completely break Word's ability to use templates,
document parts, style sheets and to protect itself from nasties... For
users wanting to use the full range of functions in Word, she'll be pretty
broken

The rules for "templates" are now a lot more complex: there are now THREE
file types in use ‹ .doc (Word 6), .doc (Word 8+) and .docx (Word 12 +)

There are now four types of template: .dot (Word 6), .dot (Word 8+), .dotx
(Word 12+ Template) and .dotm (Word 12+ macro-enabled template).

The processing rules for all of the above are different in Word. The
modification you are proposing removes Word's ability to recognise the
difference.

Good luck!

I agree it isn't the best way to solve it, but it seems to work.

Maybe Step 0 should be: "BACKUP MICROSOFT WORD FIRST" using Time Machine or
whatever!!! (I only backed up Info.plist, though others might want to back up
the whole application just in case.)

On my equivalent post on Apple Discussions, a similar problem exists with .xls
files ending up as .xls.xla. This leads me to suspect it is a problem with
Leopard – not so much Safari itself.

The Apple page describes Uniform Type Identifiers here:

http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Carbon/Conceptual/understanding_utis/
understand_utis_conc/chapter_2_section_4.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40001319-C
H202-BCGFBBIA

What's interesting is that filename extensions in the example are defined as
an array - i.e. the file type JPEG can include extensions .jpg and .jpeg and
they can both be of the MIME type image/jpeg

Meanwhile, Office defines .doc as a Microsoft Word 97 - 2004 document and
gives it the MIME type application/msword, and .dot is separately defined as a
Microsoft Word 97 - 2004 template, but also with the MIME type
application/msword - which is where Leopard seems be confused.

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Brian]

Maybe Microsoft should have done some QA testing before shipping out a release. What a sloppy product. And how dare people blame Apple. It's Office 2008 that messes things up, not anything Apple did.

 

[JE McGimpsey]

And how dare people blame Apple. It's Office 2008 that messes things up, not
anything Apple did.

Any you base that statement on...??

Not saying you're wrong, but Firefox and Opera don't exhibit that
behavior, which at least raises questions about Safari.

And it's not like Apple hasn't screwed up its own implementations before.

 

[Sam]

Hello,

and why is Office 2008 the very single app affected by that 'Safari bug' ?
is there a slight chance that Microsoft has done a less than perfect job on O2008 ?

You should try it on any Mac, it's just painful to use. Slow. Crashy. They didn't even get Exposé right for word... and that is after today's update...

Cheers,

Sam

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Sam:

Today's update was not intended to fix "all" the problems. Just the ones
they have repaired so far.

If you want to make a new post for each problem you have, we can try to help
you work around them.

Cheers

Hello,

and why is Office 2008 the very single app affected by that 'Safari bug' ?
is there a slight chance that Microsoft has done a less than perfect job on
O2008 ?

You should try it on any Mac, it's just painful to use. Slow. Crashy. They
didn't even get Exposé right for word... and that is after today's update...

Cheers,

Sam

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]