How to open Excel and Word files with your browser

By Andy Walker

Question: Our Intranet contains some files with the .doc and .xls extensions. When Microsoft Internet Explorer displays these files it uses a viewer in the browser. We would like to open a window and use Microsoft Word or Excel program to display these files. Is there any way to set this up? --DAO

Answer: To configure Internet Explorer to open Office files in the appropriate program instead of the browser, follow the steps below.

1. In Windows 95 and/or Windows 98, double-click the My Computer icon.
2. On the View menu, click Options (or Folder Options).
3. Click the File Types tab. In the Registered File Types box, click the specific Office document type (for example, Microsoft Excel Worksheet), and then click Edit.
4. In Internet Explorer 3.01, 3.02, or 3.02a, uncheck the box next to Open Web Documents In Place. In Internet Explorer 4.0, 4.01, or 5, uncheck the Browse In Same Window box.
5. Finally click OK to finish.