Word 2007 Files Saving as Zip Files

[Kathy]

I don't know if this is the proper place to post this question but here goes:
Sometimes when I download a Word 2007 .docx document sent via Outlook and
using Webmail, the .docx attachment downloads as a zip file that I cannot use.

Any reason why this happens and what can I do to correct the situation?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Joseph Meehan]

Do you know if the sender zipped it? Could their e-mail program be set
to zip all files it sends?

Why can't you unzip it?

 

[Jay Freedman]

The new Office file formats really are zip files containing XML. When you
get one whose extension has been changed to .zip (if you know it hasn't
really been zipped), just rename it to .docx or .xlsx or .pptx as
appropriate.

The probable cause of the problem is that many web and mail servers still
haven't been updated with MIME types for the new formats -- even though
"new" now means "released more than a year ago". The problem is on the
server's end, not yours.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Joseph Meehan]

The new Office file formats really are zip files containing XML. When you
get one whose extension has been changed to .zip (if you know it hasn't
really been zipped), just rename it to .docx or .xlsx or .pptx as
appropriate.

Thanks for the information. I am still a couple of versions back so I
was not aware of the change.

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

No, the senders did not zip them. In one instance, I received 8 Word 2007
files from 8 senders. In each message, the filename showed with a .docx
extension but 3 of them downloaded as files with a .zip extension. When you
unzip them, they don't display as Word documents but produce of what I think
are the XML files.

Rename them; change the .ZIP extension to .DOCX
That should be all it takes.

 

[Kathy]

This worked perfectly. Thanks!

The new Office file formats really are zip files containing XML. When you
get one whose extension has been changed to .zip (if you know it hasn't
really been zipped), just rename it to .docx or .xlsx or .pptx as
appropriate.

The probable cause of the problem is that many web and mail servers still
haven't been updated with MIME types for the new formats -- even though
"new" now means "released more than a year ago". The problem is on the
server's end, not yours.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Tommi Sohlberg]

Hey Jay,

I'm having a same "problem" and i noticed one little thing.
I have two totally similar workstations with same office version and with
same service pack level.

So I'm downloading the same docx-file from same server and what is the result?
Well other workstation will open docx with word but the other one wants to
open that file with winzip. Both of workstations are using MIME-handling. If
i change iexplorer.exe MIME Handling value (from 1 to 0) in the registry
(HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet
Explorer\Main\FeatureControl\FEATURE_MIME_HANDLING\)
then it will works with that other one too.

So do you have any ideas for this one?

Thanks,

Tommi

 

[Jay Freedman]

No, I don't "have any ideas". I suppose you've read
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms537641(VS.85).aspx#mime
which contains everything I know about that feature (and don't particularly
understand much of what it says).

If you found something that works, do it.

 

[Tommi Sohlberg]

Hey Jay!

You were right. Problem was on the server's end.
I registered those new file types on IIS (
http://technet2.microsoft.com/Offic...c9a4-413c-a1d3-40c97e340c5a1041.mspx?mfr=true ) and the problem was solved.

I'm not able to figure out that why some workstations opens those documents
very well before registeration...Maybe i don't need to know that.

thanks.

Tommi

 

[Jay Freedman]

Hi Tommi,

I'm glad you were able to fix it. Thanks for the reference.

As far as I can tell, that article is available only in the Japanese section
of TechNet. Fortunately for me and most USians, the article's text is all in
English.

 

[ECUKIM]

I'm a student and have Office 2007 (Word). My question is this: When I upload
a word file to the schools BlackBoard the file says it's Chap4.docx mind you
I did not zip it when I posted it, but when I go back to BB to look at the
file I just sent the (Chap4.docx) the file download dialog box says: NAME:
Chap4.docx TYPE: compressed (zipped) folder, 32.7KB FROM:
blackboard.ecu.edu

Is that the same problem? Why does it zip itself? What can I do to make it
stop that?
thanks
Kim

 

[Jay Freedman]

The thing to find out is, if you download the file to your computer (or
someone else's computer), does the extension still say .docx or has it been
changed to .zip? If it's still .docx, then you don't have a problem at all.
When the TYPE says "compressed (zipped) folder", that is accurate, because a
..docx file really is exactly that.

If you download the file and the result is a file with a .zip extension,
then you need to talk to the administrator of the school's system -- there's
nothing you personally can do about the way BlackBoard is set up. Until it's
fixed, you can use the workaround of renaming the file to change its
extension.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[ECUKIM]

Thx Jay yea it's sitting in Blackboard with the DOCX extension. It's such a
pain though because do other people have to save it to their computer to open
it or does that just happen to me when I open my own file? I think I may
just start saving everything as .rtf I used that exclusively with word 03 and
it never had an issue. Would it be an issue with Word 07 to save everything
..rtf ?

 

[Jay Freedman]

No, that's not an issue. If you want Word to suggest .rtf for saving new
files, go to Office button > Word Options > Save and set the "Save files in
this format" dropdown to that choice.