How do I get Firefox to launch Visio when I click on a linked .vsd file?

Question

On our intranet site, we have various MS Office documents linked. When I click on a Word, Excel or PowerPoint file, Firefox gives me the option to Open, Save or Cancel. When I click on Open, the appropriate app is launched and the file is loaded. This is perfect. But for some reason, when I click on a linked Visio file, I only get the option to Save, which is inconvenient.

I know that Firefox knows the linked file is a Visio file because it tells me so in the dialog box: "You have chosen to open example.vsd which is a: Microsoft Visio Drawing".

How can I make Firefox launch Visio when I click on a linked Visio file?

Update: Firefox is not launching Visio when I click on a linked Visio file because the web server does not identify the content-type correctly. It identifies the Visio file as application/octet-stream instead of application/x-visio. (Thanks Grant Wagner.) This explains why it doesn't work. And in my case, I may be able to get the Apache config file changed, but this is not certain.

However, I would love to know if there is a way to configure Firefox itself to launch Visio based on some other criteria, like file name extension. This way I can open Visio files even if I don't have access to the Apache configuration.

Answer 1

Go under Tools, Options.. in firefox, then when the options box comes up go to applications, there you can set all extensions and launch conditions. Actually it's termed "Content Type" and "Action" there...

Answer 2

If the behavior is similar to opening an Application, all you need to do is click the Open/Save dialog and the Open button will become available about a second later. Does this help?

Answer 3

Is this really a programming question? I listened to the podcast last night, and he was saying to avoid questions such as this one. Did I misunderstand what he said?

Answer 4

@curtisk

I should have mentioned in my question that I tried that. Unfortunately, Visio is not listed, and I don't see any way of adding it. I'm using Firefox 3.

Answer 5

Going under Tools | Options... doesn't seem to work, as after doing so you get an error that an unknown error occurred opening the file.

However, if you install the OpenDownload extension, then you get a run button which successfully runs Visio.

Answer 6

@Asaf R

There are only two buttons in the dialog box: "Save File" and "Cancel". The "Open with" option is not there at all.

But I think I know what you mean. Sometimes, the "Open with" option is grayed out and only becomes available a moment later. Unfortunately that's not the case here.

Answer 7

@LeBleu

Thanks, but I was hoping not to have to install an addon just for this. I thought there might be some configuration option somewhere in Firefox that I could set.

Answer 8

@Dean

There are only two buttons in the dialog box: "Save File" and "Cancel". The "Open with" option is not there at all.

But I think I know what you mean. Sometimes, the "Open with" option is grayed out and only becomes available a moment later. Unfortunately that's not the case here.

If Open With is not available, the most likely cause is that Firefox does not know the MIME type of the document and is assuming it is application/octet-stream, or your web server is serving up files that end in .vnd as application/octet-stream (or some other binary-only MIME type).

To confirm this, download LiveHTTPHeaders and use it to confirm that the MIME type of the file is application/x-visio.

Answer 9

@Grant Wagner

LiveHTTPHeaders shows the content-type as "application/octet-stream".

(Even though, Firefox displays "You have chosen to open example.vsd which is a: Microsoft Visio Drawing", in the Save File dialog box.)

Answer 10

THe problem is with the VSD File type.

Open Windows Explorer

Menu / Tools / Folder options

Click on the File Type TAB

Locate the VSD file type (just type v s d > it will get You there)

There are two Buttons: [Modify] and [Special] -- Click on the [Special] button --- The Actions associated with the file are listed

You have to add the Open option:
Add the path to Visio as follows: "C:\Program Files[## correct PATH##]\VISIO.EXE" /e
(Just check how an other filetype is setup, e.g.: DOC or XLS)

Also there is the option: Browse in same window.

Uncheck the Browse in same window. checkbox, Click [OK]

and there You go! The browser should ask if You want to open or download the file. and one You mark Your option and remove the checkbox from "Always Ask for this Filetype..." Your VSD Document should open directly in Visio.

Hope this Helps, BR, Zoltan Gajdatsy

Answer 11

Edit the file %appdata%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\your profile\mimeTypes.rdf

Add in the following

<RDF:li RDF:resource="urn:mimetype:application/vnd.visio"/>

<RDF:Description RDF:about="urn:mimetype:externalApplication:application/vnd.visio"
    NC:prettyName="VISIO.EXE"
    NC:path="FULL PATH TO YOUR VISIO\VISIO.EXE" />

<RDF:Description RDF:about="urn:mimetype:application/vnd.visio"
    NC:value="application/vnd.visio"
    NC:editable="true"
    NC:fileExtensions="vsd"
    NC:description="Microsoft Visio Drawing">
<NC:handlerProp RDF:resource="urn:mimetype:handler:application/vnd.visio"/>
</RDF:Description>
<RDF:Description RDF:about="urn:mimetype:handler:application/vnd.visio"
               NC:alwaysAsk="false">
<NC:externalApplication RDF:resource="urn:mimetype:externalApplication:application/vnd.visio"/>
<NC:possibleApplication RDF:resource="urn:handler:local:FULL PATH TO YOUR VISIO\VISIO.EXE"/>
</RDF:Description>

This is working for me under Firefox 3.6.3 under Windows XP SP2