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Did Firefox 63 remove my live webmail "form" data from a Word attachment?

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Hi all -

I logged in to my web based email via Firefox and there was a file attachment, which I viewed in the webmail application.

It looked like all the form data was removed from the letter, so I downloaded the word file to my desktop.

Upon opening the document in Microsoft Word 2016, all the data was there!

Can someone point to the cause and how I can correct this?

Is it Office 2016?

I'm a bit mystified. Never seen anything quite like it. No malware.

TIA :)

Hi all - I logged in to my web based email via Firefox and there was a file attachment, which I viewed in the webmail application. It looked like all the form data was removed from the letter, so I downloaded the word file to my desktop. Upon opening the document in Microsoft Word 2016, all the data was there! Can someone point to the cause and how I can correct this? Is it Office 2016? I'm a bit mystified. Never seen anything quite like it. No malware. TIA :)

Modified by Compumind

All Replies (2)

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Seriously?

No thoughts on this, lol?

Modified by Compumind

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Hmm, Firefox doesn't have any built-in way to view Microsoft Word documents in their native format. Did the attachment open in the Online version of Office?

Are you able to able to see the same problem if you go back and view the attachment again? Office Online's HTML version of Word documents should work in Firefox.

If a site is generally known to work in Firefox, these are standard suggestions to try when it stops working normally:

Double-check content blockers: Firefox's Tracking Protection feature and extensions that counter ads and tracking may break websites that weren't built to operate normally without the blocked components.

Do you see a shield icon toward the left end of the address bar, near the lock icon? More info on managing the Tracking Protection feature in this article: What happened to Tracking Protection?.

Extensions such as Adblock Plus, Blur, Disconnect, Ghostery, NoScript, Privacy Badger, uBlock Origin or uMatrix should provide toolbar buttons to manage blocked content in a page. There may or may not be a number on the icon indicating the number of blocked items; you may need to click the button to see what's going on and test whether you need to make an exception for this site.

Cache and Cookies: When you have a problem with one particular site, a good "first thing to try" is clearing your Firefox cache and deleting your saved cookies for the site.

(1) Clear Firefox's Cache

See: How to clear the Firefox cache

If you have a large hard drive, this might take a few minutes.

(2) Remove the site's cookies (save any pending work first). While viewing a page on the site, try either:

  • right-click (on Mac Ctrl+click) a blank area of the page and choose View Page Info > Security > "Clear Cookies and Site Data"
  • (menu bar) Tools > Page Info > Security > "Clear Cookies and Site Data"
  • click the padlock or "i" icon in the address bar, then the ">" button, then More Information, and finally the "Clear Cookies and Site Data" button

In the dialog that opens, you will see one or more matches to the current address so you can remove the site's cookies individually without affecting other sites.

Then try reloading the page. Does that help?

Testing in Firefox's Safe Mode: In its Safe Mode, Firefox temporarily deactivates extensions, hardware acceleration, and some other advanced features to help you assess whether these are causing the problem.

If Firefox is not running: Hold down the Shift key when starting Firefox. (On Mac, hold down the option/alt key instead of the Shift key.)

If Firefox is running: You can restart Firefox in Safe Mode using either:

  • "3-bar" menu button > "?" Help > Restart with Add-ons Disabled
  • (menu bar) Help menu > Restart with Add-ons Disabled

and OK the restart.

Both scenarios: A small dialog should appear. Click "Start in Safe Mode" (not Refresh).

Any improvement?