# force IE to open Word doc in Word



## n370 (Jul 1, 2003)

I'd like for IE7 to open a link to a Word doc in Word and not to open it in IE7. Is there a way to force or control the link to open in Word? In Firefox, of course, it opens directly in Word, but no such luck with IE7.

I have it linked simply as <a href="application.doc"> in my html. Is there something akin to target="new" that would do the trick?

Thanks.


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## Sequal7 (Apr 15, 2001)

If you have word installed it should ask to download or open the file, it should not open in internet explorer.


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## n370 (Jul 1, 2003)

I thought the same thing too, Sequal7. I don't know why Microsoft thought it would be a good idea to use IE7 as a surrogate to Word. But, none-the-less, IE7 does indeed open the Word document within the browser window.

I don't think there's much to be done with how an end-user views a web page or document on their system, but I was hoping some work-around was out there.

Thanks for the reply.


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## treydx (Jan 4, 2006)

You can set the mime type with your server-side language. I can't remember exactly the syntax, but I think it was response.contenttype in asp, it'll be something similar in php or whatever. You won't be able to link to <a href="mydoc.doc"> this way, but you could do <a href="mydoc.asp"> and set the content type to a downloadable file. I'm pretty sure I used the word "attachment" somewhere when I tried to do it with an excel file... sorry I can't remember exactly.


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## Sequal7 (Apr 15, 2001)

I bet it is a problem with your browser/computer since IE does not render doc pages at all. If you specified the file type in your computer then it is symptomatic, not problematic. 
Can you provide a link to the (or a different) file on your server and I will test it.


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## Squashman (Apr 4, 2003)

Not sure what you found Google searching.....
http://www.helpfeeds.com/can-you-tel-t9859.html


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## Squashman (Apr 4, 2003)

Unfortunatley this KB article doesn't seem to apply to IE7.
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=162059

this is kind of the reverse of what you are getting.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927009/en-us


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