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cthomaso73

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 27, 2007
2
0
while using my Iphone to log onto webmail to view my company emails and when I have an attachment that is an excel document it will not allow me to open it. I get a message box asking to drag it to my desktop. I do not have any problens opening up word documents. Any help as to why I can open word but not excel through webmail?
 

Big-TDI-Guy

macrumors 68030
Jan 11, 2007
2,606
13
The criteria you've described looks a little too vague for a straight answer.

What webmail are you using - what computer and OS do you have? What version of excel file is it? And do you have Microsoft Office on your mac? Where did the "original" or source file come from (OS and software version)

My vague answer could be: If you don't have Microsoft Office on your computer - perhaps it's using "text edit" or Adobe to open the Word files. (which gets presented as basic text, or some other non-word format.) I don't think Apple OSX supports .xls files natively. (though can't say for sure - I've had word on this Apple since day-1)

Another possibility could be the origin of the excel file - some companies interested in protecting intellectual property will prevent export of files that could be used to populate a large database with hijacked information. They will block the attachments from being launched WAN-side.

If the excel file was large - it may have exceeded your "file size cap" for your web-based email. (if XXX webmail allows up to 10 megs for email attachments, and your spreadsheet was 15 - you won't get the attachment.
 

albinoAZN

macrumors regular
Nov 19, 2007
136
0
it probably opens the word documents as an *.RTF, but there's no basic file type for excel sheets.
 

cthomaso73

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 27, 2007
2
0
Answer

The criteria you've described looks a little too vague for a straight answer.

What webmail are you using - what computer and OS do you have? What version of excel file is it? And do you have Microsoft Office on your mac? Where did the "original" or source file come from (OS and software version)

My vague answer could be: If you don't have Microsoft Office on your computer - perhaps it's using "text edit" or Adobe to open the Word files. (which gets presented as basic text, or some other non-word format.) I don't think Apple OSX supports .xls files natively. (though can't say for sure - I've had word on this Apple since day-1)

Another possibility could be the origin of the excel file - some companies interested in protecting intellectual property will prevent export of files that could be used to populate a large database with hijacked information. They will block the attachments from being launched WAN-side.

If the excel file was large - it may have exceeded your "file size cap" for your web-based email. (if XXX webmail allows up to 10 megs for email attachments, and your spreadsheet was 15 - you won't get the attachment.

I am using my Iphone when going to the webmail.company.com website when I am having this problem. I figured that if it opens word then it would also open the excel document. The size of the excel document is very small with little data and only one page in length.
 

Big-TDI-Guy

macrumors 68030
Jan 11, 2007
2,606
13
I should have looked a little harder at the forum you were posting to.

I'm not using company webmail - so I can't say for sure. But having my own email (comcast) within the "mail" app - I've noticed that ANY attachments will sometimes fail to download in email via Edge. Seems a lot more reliable with a WIFI connection, and more trouble prone with larger attachments.

I've opened an excel sheet - but could not edit anything, just read-only. I cannot recall if it was an excel sheet, or an excel sheet embedded within a word file. So I'm not sure that is any help.

Last thing - you say webmail - as in access via Safari? If that be the case, are you able to download attachments? I've never been able to download anything in Safari outside of PDFs or pictures. (and by download I mean read within Safari - not save to a particular directory) I "think" the email App on the iphone is what actually supports the word and excel file viewing - which could be why you can't via Safari / webmail.

Take all that with a grain of salt - I'm not an expert on this.
 
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