User wants IE to prompt him to save .txt files

[wheresmybacon]

This is driving me nuts. I've got a user who wants IE to prompt him to save .txt files. Right now, a site he's using generates large pipe-delimited text files that he wants to import into a database. Rather than prompting him to save to disk or open with a specific app, they automatically open as unreadable garbage in IE. And no you can't right-click the link since there isn't one; it's some sort of back-end process that generates the file (it's an electricity bill).

I know that with something like an Excel file you can alter this behavior by going into Windows explorer and going to:

>Tools >Folder options >File Types

Select "Advanced", then make sure "Confirm open after download" is checked.

However, that's not working with .txt

Since IE natively opens things like .htm and .txt I'm not sure how to fix this. Seems like a reg tweak may be in order but I'm not sure where to look.

Any ideas?

 

[dealmaster00]

Huh, I had this same problem a few years ago, to fix it I used firefox. Probably not the fix you are looking for though.

<edit> On the other hand you could do a ctrl + S or Flie > Save As and save as a .txt file...

 

[wheresmybacon]

Originally posted by: dealmaster00
Huh, I had this same problem a few years ago, to fix it I used firefox. Probably not the fix you are looking for though.

<edit> On the other hand you could do a ctrl + S or Flie > Save As and save as a .txt file...

Yeah I thought about save as option, but the format of the web page the .txt file is generated from is kind of odd. It's not a simple link he's clicking, but rather a java button that invokes some procedure on the back end that spits out the text file. It's a secure section of the site and the text file contains billing information.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Where is the text file going to, the Web browser as a screen page?

If so, you may be able to locate some utility/plug in that will take the page contents and save it off.

It sounds like the control is handling the painting, not the browser.

 

[wheresmybacon]

I think I found the problem, and it's not mine. It's web developer's code:

Text

Seems like there should be a way to force a prompt of an accepted file type from the client side but I'm having a bitch of a time figuring out how.

Thanks for the responses thus far.

EDIT: forgot to mention he's tried Firefox. Same thing.

 

[xtknight]

Anyway I'm sure there's a way to do it on the client side with a Firefox extension or something. Just not sure which one.