I'm trying to download a powerpoint presentation but it won't open in powerpoint.
I just switched from Internet Explorer to Firefox and now I cannot get files to open in the proper program. I am currently downloading Powerpoint files which used to open in Powerpoint automatically. Then I would save them to my hard drive or thumb drive. Now they just open online as if they are an internet window and I can't save them at all. Are there some settings I can adjust so the computer knows what programs to open things with like it used to? Please help. I'm not very computer literate. Thank you very much.
All Replies (3)
Firefox doesn't have any built-in ability to display PowerPoint files in a tab. You can check how Firefox is set to handle PowerPoint files in the Options dialog:
"3-bar" menu button (or Tools menu) > Options > Applications
This list may take a while to load. In the search box above the list, you can type pow and let Firefox filter it down. Usually these would say "Always Ask" but you might have customized them to "Use Microsoft Powerpoint".
There are some sites that have a Flash-based PowerPoint viewer, such as OneDrive/SkyDrive and SlideShare. Maybe Gmail has one now, too, I haven't checked. But all such sites also should have a separate download button, either before showing their viewer or as part of the viewer. If there are particular sites where you notice this problem, maybe someone know how to bypass the viewer on that site and go straight to a download.
Thank you very much. I was very happy to receive your response because it made sense to me and seemed like a simple fix I could accomplish:) However, I followed your instructions but Powerpoint does not show up on the list and I don't know what I should do now.
Please help again. Thanks.
The following page will display a PowerPoint presentation in the browser but you should see a line of commands starting with File that has a Download option. If you click that, do you get the Open/Save/Cancel dialog with the option to select PowerPoint? Usually Firefox will find that in the Windows registry, but maybe you have to trigger the dialog first in order for Firefox to look it up.
Example screen shot attached.
