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Word file has no application to open it.

  • 3 replies
  • 3 have this problem
  • 221 views
  • Last reply by NightPort

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I download then open many student files each day. PDFs open fine automatically, but never Word files. In the Applications settings dialog, I have tried to choose the file format docx and doc. But neither are recognised as a valid file type. I realise that Microsoft is a bully and Mozilla may be trying to discourage its use, but I and the students are stuck with Word. How come docs and doc are invalid and how can I persuade Firefox to open them?

Thank you

I download then open many student files each day. PDFs open fine automatically, but never Word files. In the Applications settings dialog, I have tried to choose the file format docx and doc. But neither are recognised as a valid file type. I realise that Microsoft is a bully and Mozilla may be trying to discourage its use, but I and the students are stuck with Word. How come docs and doc are invalid and how can I persuade Firefox to open them? Thank you

Chosen solution

You can right-click a doc and docx item in the Downloads panel and choose "Always Open Similar Files" to make it open automatically. You can change the "Save" action to "Always Ask".

See also:

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Chosen Solution

You can right-click a doc and docx item in the Downloads panel and choose "Always Open Similar Files" to make it open automatically. You can change the "Save" action to "Always Ask".

See also:

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Thank you. But why is this option not available in the settings>applications menu, where it logically should be?

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This isn't quite the issue. In the settings > application menu the Microsoft Word application is there to open as I should expect. However, for whatever reason, any document I download that is a word file, the process removes the .doc or .docx file extension making it a non-associated file requiring me to manually select the application I wish to use to open the file. When I pick Word for the application the file opens without issue. For whatever reason, the most recent update within Firefox has caused word files to download as non-associated application files preventing it from using the application defined settings within the browser.

It isn't document breaking, which is good, but just adds an additional step I'd prefer not have.

Modified by NightPort