Your computer's combination of hardware and software -- and the versions of the software -- are important factors in determining what you will see when you click on an MS Excel file. Rather than trying to predict exactly what you will see under the numerous possible combinations of hardware, browsers, and Excel versions, we will describe the most common situations.

Topics in this help page:

• Viewing via a plug-in
• Viewer via Excel
• Downloading and opening files
• Problems you might encounter

Viewing via a plug-in:

• When you click on a link to an MS Excel file, the browser automatically launches an Excel plug-in that lets you view and print the Excel file directly from the browser.
• To go back to the previous page in the browser, simply click the browser's "back" arrow in the upper left corner of the screen.

Viewing via Excel:

• When you click on a link to an MS Excel file, the browser asks whether you want to open the file or save it to disk. To view the file, choose the "open" option. The browser will launch Excel (not a plug-in) and open the file in Excel. Occasionally, you may have to use the Windows Task Bar (or the Apple Active-Applications list (in the upper right corner)) to activate Excel after it's launched by the browser.
• If you chose to save the file, choose a folder and enter a file name in the Save dialog. Remember to note the name you give the file and which folder you put it in. Then you can launch MS Excel from the Windows START menu and use the File/Open menu to open the downloaded file. Or you can find the file on your hard drive or server and double-click the file icon -- the file will automatically launch in Excel.
• To go back to the previous page in the browser, simply close Excel. Or you can click the browser's button on the Windows Task Bar (or choose the browser application from the Apple Active-Applications list).
• Note: Some older versions of your browser or MS Office may not offer this smooth click-and-open integration, in which case you should use the download option (see below).

Downloading the file:

You can download any file (Word, Excel or PDF) to your hard drive or server according to the following table:

Platform	Browser	Mouse Action	Pop-Up Menu Command
PC	Internet Explorer	Right-Click	Save Target As
PC	Netscape Navigator	Right-Click	Save Link As
Mac	Internet Explorer	Control-Click	Download Link to Disk
Mac	Netscape Navigator	Control-Click	Save this link as

Older versions of the browsers may have slightly different menu command names.

• When the Save dialog comes up, choose a folder and enter a file name. Remember to note the name you give the file and which folder you put it in. After the file has been downloaded, you may need to close the download status box.
• Then you can launch MS Excel from your computer's START menu (Windows) and use the File/Open menu to open the downloaded file. Or you can find the file on your hard drive or server and double-click the file icon -- the file will automatically launch in Excel.

Problems you might encounter:

• Problem 1 -- You click on an Excel file from your browser and see "garbage" (random characters). This problem appears to be exclusive to Netscape Navigator. You should still be able to download the Excel file and open it using Excel (see above). You might also consider switching your browser to Internet Explorer, which does not experience this problem. (You can download Internet Explorer for free from Microsoft's web site. Follow their installation instructions.)
• Problem 2 -- You are done viewing the Excel file and you close the file or hit the browser's "back" button to go to the previous page in the browser. A dialog box pops up telling you that the document you are looking at has been modified and asks you whether you want to save changes. Click NO.

Other available topics:

• File Format Overview
• MS Word files
• MS PowerPoint files and the PowerPoint Viewer
• PDF files and the Adobe Acrobat Reader
• Go to main Help menu