Opening attached files

When a message has one or more files attached, the names of the files will appear as live links at the top of the message next to the label: "Attachments:" To retrieve an attached file, simply click on the name of the file. With just a little luck, your computer will automatically start the appropriate software to view the file attachment

What actually happens when you click on a file attachment depends entirely on the file name's extension, how your web browser is configured, and the other software you have installed on your computer. A file's extension is the part of the file name following the 'dot'. In Windows computing and on the Internet in general the type of a file is generally associated with a file's extension. For example, files ending in .doc are Word files, files ending in .xls are Excel spreadsheet files, files ending in .ppt are PowerPoint presentation files, etc.

Netscape, Mozilla and Internet Explorer can be configured to automatically start a program, say Microsoft Word, when you encounter a particular type of file on the Internet, say a Word file. When you click on an attachment ending in .doc, either Word or a Word Viewer will start, showing you the contents of the file. Clicking on a PowerPoint presentation ending in .ppt should launch a PowerPoint viewer allowing you to view the slide presentation. In many cases, your browser will already know about many different file types, but in some circumstances you will have to teach your browser what to do with a particular file type.

Say someone has attached a file with the name of manual.doc to a Manhattan message, and you're using the Netscape web browser. When you click on it (assuming your version of Netscape has not yet been set up to work with Word files) you'll see a dialog box like the following:

Look at the wording carefully. It says you have started to download a file of type application/msword. Application/msword is an example of a MIME type, which is a standard way of identifying file types on the Internet. Behind the scenes, Manhattan has told your browser that the file is of this type, because the file ended in .doc.

At any rate, you now have a choice. More Info and Cancel won't help at the moment, but if you click on Save File, you'll be given a standard save file dialog box and will be able to give the file a name and tell Netscape where to store it. For many people, that's all you ever need to do. You can then start the proper program to read the file - Microsoft Word in this example - and then open the file you just stored on your hard disk. If on the other hand, you would like Netscape to automatically start Word every time you encounter a file of this type on the Internet, you should click on the Pick App button. In Netscape Communicator, the following dialog appears:

You are being asked to enter the full path to the program you want to deal with files of type "application/msword" now and in the future. Just as within Manhattan itself, it is much easier to click on the Browse button then to figure out and type the full path to the program. A standard file browser dialog box will open. You need to navigate through the folders to find where your copy of Word is stored, then Open, or double-click on the program file. On some installations of Microsoft Word, the Word Program will be installed in

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Microsoft Word

Fortunately this step needs to be done only once for each type of file you encounter. If you need to undo the settings, in Netscape look under

Edit+Preferences+Netscape->Applications

Here, you'll find a listing of all the file types known by Netscape with commands to edit or delete the choices that have been previously made. Other browsers will have similar commands to change the settings.

Microsoft has free viewers - programs that allow you to view, but not change, the contents of a file for Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. These are available at the Microsoft home page at http://www.microsoft.com. Once installed on your computer, you can have Netscape automatically start the correct viewer so you can at least view and print attached files.