XYplorer Beta Club

Hi, new user here, very favourably impressed so far - after my first day it looks like I will switch to XYplorer instead of renewing DirectoryOpus.

I know this issue has been raised before, in other threads here, but the answer given to other people does not work for me.

When the Preview panel is open, when I click on a file such as name.rtf or name.doc in the file list, a dialog appears asking whether I want to download or open it. If I click Open, the file is opened in its associated application such as a word processor. The other threads about this problem say that clicking Open in that dialog should "open" the file in XYplorer's preview panel. I guess that should apply to *.rtf files too?

In case it's relevant: XP Pro SP1, IE6 is installed and works properly (though my default browser is set to Firefox). Microsoft Office is not installed (I use OpenOfficeOrg instead).

Any ideas how I can fix this (I am used to Regedit, if that is necessary).

Best regards... Alan

Hi and welcome to the XY forums!

I presume when you referred to other/prior threads, these were some? :
http://www.xyplorer.com/xyfc/viewtopic.php?t=1424
http://www.xyplorer.com/xyfc/viewtopic.php?t=1081

AlanMartin wrote:I know this issue has been raised before, in other threads here, but the answer given to other people does not work for me. ...

Hi! As jacky already said elsewhere "This is because XY uses an embedded IE for Office/Web files, thus this is an IE behavior that is independent of XY. "

I can guarantee that the issue is solvable by some IE setting, and I'm 80% sure it has to do with MIME-types. Well, sorry for a stupid sounding answer, but I have no better now and it might help you on.

j_c_hallgren wrote:Hi and welcome to the XY forums!

I presume when you referred to other/prior threads, these were some? :
http://www.xyplorer.com/xyfc/viewtopic.php?t=1424
http://www.xyplorer.com/xyfc/viewtopic.php?t=1081

Thanks for the links. I had seen 1424 before (which says: Choosing open ... opens the file in the XYPlorer viewer.)

... but I did not see 1081 before. That gives a a more comprehensive explanation about associated files, codecs, etc.
I'll do some tinkering with my file associations and let you know if I discover anything useful.
I notice that .pdf files do get Previewed properly, so I guess my problem with .doc and .rtf files is caused by me not having MS Office installed -- which probably counts as heresy in Windows ;)

AlanMartin wrote:Thanks for the links. I had seen 1424 before (which says: Choosing open ... opens the file in the XYPlorer viewer.)

No, that's definitely not the case. Choosing open will open it in the associated app.

If you play around with IE settings, you can test the results directly in IE. Simply put the full path/name of the file to preview in IE's address bar and <enter>. It will either open/preview it, or attempt to download it, or give you the message box you described.

BTW, Thanks for buying!

admin wrote:No, that's definitely not the case. Choosing open will open it in the associated app.

If you play around with IE settings, you can test the results directly in IE. Simply put the full path/name of the file to preview in IE's address bar and <enter>. It will either open/preview it, or attempt to download it, or give you the message box you described.

BTW, Thanks for buying!

Thanks for the neat file manager -- it must be good for me to buy it on the first trial day because I'm very fussy about file managers!

I really like how holding the mouse button down on an image preview or thumbnail immediately shows a full size view. That will be a time saver for someone who has too many versions of images I have been editing.
This issue about preview is not a major annoyance and I'll fix it eventually.
I am sure you are correct to say, it's not about the kind of "file association" which defines what happens when you double click a file in Windows Explorer, it's about the "mime" association which defines what IE does with a file.

admin wrote:

AlanMartin wrote:Thanks for the links. I had seen 1424 before (which says: Choosing open ... opens the file in the XYPlorer viewer.)

No, that's definitely not the case. Choosing open will open it in the associated app.

hmm no, not really. He was actually right, choosing Open is the way to go.

Basically what happens is that, yes just like enterirng the file path on IE I believe, XY starts his own embedded IE engine and asks it to open the file. When settings are what they need to be to get that window (and I'm not sure exactly what those are) then the question is: What to do with that file? Open, Save, or Cancel.

Then, when choosing "Open", and indeed depending on MIME settings most likely, IE will either "launch" the associated app with the specified file, or open it "within itself"

For example, if the file was to be opened with notepad, the notepad would be launched. But, if the file was to be opened with Word, then Word would "start within" the IE window, or in the case of XY Preview, within XY's preview (embedded IE) area.

That is how it works. I always say "Open" to have PDF files being previewed on XY, because then Foxit is "launched" within the preview area.

Now what would happen there too is, since I believe this whole thing might be based on ActiveX, if your app - let's say OpenOffice - does not have such ActiveX support (like notepad), hence cannot be launched within an IE window, then "Open" would result in having OpenOffice to be launched the "regular" way, instead of using XY's Preview area (ie. IE)

Please note that I do not actually know if OpenOffice supports this or not, this was just an explanation of a possible cause. Maybe OO does support it, but some (MIME) settings needs to be set right to allow so...

jacky wrote:

admin wrote:

AlanMartin wrote:Thanks for the links. I had seen 1424 before (which says: Choosing open ... opens the file in the XYPlorer viewer.)

No, that's definitely not the case. Choosing open will open it in the associated app.

hmm no, not really. He was actually right, choosing Open is the way to go.

Oh-la-la....

AlanMartin wrote:When the Preview panel is open, when I click on a file such as name.rtf or name.doc in the file list, a dialog appears asking whether I want to download or open it. If I click Open, the file is opened in its associated application such as a word processor. The other threads about this problem say that clicking Open in that dialog should "open" the file in XYplorer's preview panel. I guess that should apply to *.rtf files too?

I have users asking me the same thing regularly and I still can't give an answer. I know it can be done (because it works as expected here) but I don't know how because it never did not work here, so I never changed any settings to make it work.

I believe it must be some Inter Explorer settings since this is the app that is used to open Office files in XYplorer. The possible IE reactions when feeding it a file (AFAIK):
(a) Open the file in IE (that's what we want)
(b) Download/Save the file
(c) Pop a dialog asking "Open or Download"
(d) Open the file with the associated app
Where can we control this behavior???

Thanks,
Don

admin wrote:I have users asking me the same thing regularly and I still can't give an answer. I know it can be done (because it works as expected here) but I don't know how because it never did not work here, so I never changed any settings to make it work.

Where can we control this behavior???

Wish I could help, but as I've had Office always installed on this system (I put it on when I got it) which may have some impact on this, and as it now always works for me, I'm in a similar situation...I do recall (I hope correctly) that once I got past the problem the first time, it went away...

admin wrote:
I believe it must be some Inter Explorer settings since this is the app that is used to open Office files in XYplorer. The possible IE reactions when feeding it a file (AFAIK):
(a) Open the file in IE (that's what we want)
(b) Download/Save the file
(c) Pop a dialog asking "Open or Download"
(d) Open the file with the associated app
Where can we control this behavior???

Thanks,
Don

I also have a problem with OpenOffice previewing. After reading this thread, I've got a theory about the problem.

It looks like OpenOffice comes with an ActiveX control, and the control is only going to be installed if you use the OpenOffice installer. Installing OpenOffice manually (or using a "portable" version like I did) most likely means the ActiveX control won't be installed.

I have not verified this by using the OpenOffice installer since I'm not yet sure I want it "gunking" up my machine.

-- jeff

Oops double post, delete this if possible.

admin wrote: I have users asking me the same thing regularly and I still can't give an answer. I know it can be done (because it works as expected here) but I don't know how because it never did not work here, so I never changed any settings to make it work.

I believe it must be some Inter Explorer settings since this is the app that is used to open Office files in XYplorer. The possible IE reactions when feeding it a file (AFAIK):
(a) Open the file in IE (that's what we want)
(b) Download/Save the file
(c) Pop a dialog asking "Open or Download"
(d) Open the file with the associated app
Where can we control this behavior???

Thanks,
Don

I do not know if this has been answered yet. I just had the same problem, Word, Excel, and PDF files would not preview. I searched this forum for an answer and found enough clues as to how it was supposed to work, then goggled "open work in ie" and found this article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/178222.

Strangely enough the "Browse in same window" option was checked for Word. I unchecked it, clicked "OK", then re-opened the file type dialogue and re-checked the "Browse....." box. I then opened XY, and my Word docs opened in the preview pane. I did the same thing for Excel, and it now previews.

I had the same issue with Adobe Acrobat Standard (not the reader). I opened Adobe, then went to the "Edit->Preferences" and found a "Display PDF in Browser" check box which I checked, and .pdf's now preview properly.

If this information appears elsewhere in the forum, feel free to delete this message.

BTW: XYplorer rocks!

grakaska wrote:

admin wrote: I have users asking me the same thing regularly and I still can't give an answer. I know it can be done (because it works as expected here) but I don't know how because it never did not work here, so I never changed any settings to make it work.

I believe it must be some Inter Explorer settings since this is the app that is used to open Office files in XYplorer. The possible IE reactions when feeding it a file (AFAIK):
(a) Open the file in IE (that's what we want)
(b) Download/Save the file
(c) Pop a dialog asking "Open or Download"
(d) Open the file with the associated app
Where can we control this behavior???

Thanks,
Don

I do not know if this has been answered yet. I just had the same problem, Word, Excel, and PDF files would not preview. I searched this forum for an answer and found enough clues as to how it was supposed to work, then goggled "open work in ie" and found this article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/178222.

Strangely enough the "Browse in same window" option was checked for Word. I unchecked it, clicked "OK", then re-opened the file type dialogue and re-checked the "Browse....." box. I then opened XY, and my Word docs opened in the preview pane. I did the same thing for Excel, and it now previews.

I had the same issue with Adobe Acrobat Standard (not the reader). I opened Adobe, then went to the "Edit->Preferences" and found a "Display PDF in Browser" check box which I checked, and .pdf's now preview properly.

If this information appears elsewhere in the forum, feel free to delete this message.

BTW: XYplorer rocks!

Hey, that's great!!!
I did not try it, but you did. So finally we found an answer! Cool!

grakaska wrote: Strangely enough the "Browse in same window" option was checked for Word. I unchecked it, clicked "OK", then re-opened the file type dialogue and re-checked the "Browse....." box. I then opened XY, and my Word docs opened in the preview pane. I did the same thing for Excel, and it now previews.

Stranger here (unfortunately)
the option to "Browse in same window" is greyed out in all filetypes that I looked at (a good few including the relevant ones here) which means that instead of previewing the files open in default programme
IE is installed Version 7

I dont have MS word installed - I have Softmaker Office & Star Office - could that be the problem - cant see it should cause the greyed out option but I wouldnt know

Anyone got any ideas ?