Downloading Free spreadsheets from this site - Am I missing Something?

I have read the posts in this section. Some of them refer to downloading spreadsheets from this site. I have visited the FTP area of this site and found only one listing - PDF files. In this listing I found the spreadsheets that were mentioned. I have tried to download some of these - but unsuccessfully. What am I missing? What is the technique to download one of the spreadsheets?

[Marc]

The pdf_files directory is actually set up as an http directory so anyone with a browser can navigate there and see the directory listing. The only restriction is the usual "Read Only' status.

If your browser is set up correctly all you have to do is click on the file name you want to 'download' and it should start downloading. You will probably get a dialogue box asking you where you want the file to be put on your computer.

If you are having problems, it has nothing to do with the site its self. It's pretty standard Apache running on unix.

If you want to tell me the details of exactly what happens when you click on a file name in the listing at Free Files Directory I'll try to help you.

Bottom line - it's a browser file helper configuration issue.

[Ken K]

Good question. I have the same problem. Jerry, Marc; any idea's?

[Jerry Eldred]

I'll have to defer this one to Marc, as I am remote to the particulars of the website.

-Jerry

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Hmm....my browser is configured correctly. This is the only site that I can think of that I have this difficulty from. If I click on a PDF file I get the message do I want to open or save the file. If I click on an .xls file (like the spreadsheets) it never asks me if I want to open or save the file, it tries to open it through the browser and hence I get a screen of garbage. My suggestion, if you are going to offer files like .xls as downloads, you should have them in .zip format. That always triggers the download dialog.

Bottom line - it is a file format issue.

[Laura M]

I haven't had a problem downloading .xls files.

[Marc]

I guess my browser is configured wrong... With my windows PC when I click on the file name in Explorer the file opens without a problem - no 'garbage' appears on my screen, just the file which I can then save to disk. I have my Mac configured to simply download the file to disk -- which works fine as well.

As I said - I have no problem opening up .xls files. I just opened 5 different .xls files from the pdf_files directory without any problem with my peecee. You can blame the site, but it seems strange that I have had no other 'complaints' about this until now and that I can't reproduce the problem myself.

If there are any peecee gurus who can explain what's happening, please speak up.