Automatically conversion of Excel 2007 attachments to .zip files after receiving with Outlook 2003

[Balhatya]

Hello! I am using operating system window XP and MS office 2003. Whenever my friends send any excel file which is generated in excel 2007 with the help of Outlook 2007.When I download the file and try to open it shows as a zip file and every time to open that kind of file I have to manually configure the extension to .xlsx instead of my outlook 2003 it is not opening as excel file. And even if I will send the excel file to my friends they receives the file in the zip format but I have never compressed my files. So suggest me some idea to solve this trouble.

[Badrunath]

I want to know does this happen only to the new Office 2007 file types. Then there might be the chances that the server could be using compression software to reduce the file size, so that it takes minimum time to upload and download. If you are using Outlook Web Application (OWA), then it should configure to use the header, not the extension, to identify that which type of file is. It is also due to the Antivirus or the content software to do the same. As you are using Outlook 2003 and it uses the IE's security settings a check so to see if IE is opening files based on content, not extension. That is why it is giving such problem.

[Bull50]

When any Office 2007 attachment whether it is .docx, .xlsx, or etc is unwraps from OWA, then the user is always asked to save the document to any other place before they open it. Because when they open it, the default extension provided by the outlook to any of these file is .zip. When the user tries to change it to the correct extension before opening of these files, then the files opens correctly opens correctly. This generally happen due to the Office 2007 in this MIME file types are not properly configured for the web server and the users browsers are unaware of how to open the files. If Internet Explorer is configured to open the files based on the file header, it always identifies it as a zip file, which is technically correct. You can fix it if you are holding the administrator account, by adding the Office 2007 file types to the MIME settings on the server computer. And change the setting on the user aide to open the file based on the extension not the header.

[Blazej]

As the above mentioned it is correct but for that you have to make Internet Explorer has to open the files based on extension not on the content. For that you first the user needs to add the Outlook Web Application URL to the list that are trusted or that is secure even on the local intranet. And then the next step is to stop the option to open files based on the content. And to gain the best security, never enable this option in the Internet zone.