Unable to View or Edit Office files by using Office Online or Office Web Apps

Symptoms

When you try open an Office file that is stored on a Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 or Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 website by using Office Web Apps, you receive the following message:
 

Open Document
You are about to open:
Name: <filename>
From: <sitename>
How would you like to open this file?

Or, you receive the following message when you double-click a file that is stored in OneDrive to view the file by using Office for the web:

File Download
Do you want to open or save this file?

Name: <filename>
Type: <File Type>
From: livefilestore.com

Cause

This issue occurs because the operation that you requested in Office for the web or Office Web Apps does not support the file format of the file.

Resolution

To view or edit the file in Office for the web or Office Web Apps, open the file in Microsoft Office Excel 2010, in Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2010, or in Microsoft Office Word 2010, and then save the file by using one of the supported formats. The following table shows the recommended file formats for Office for the web and Office Web Apps.
 

Product File format
Excel for the web
Excel Web App
Excel Workbook (*.xlsx)
Excel Workbook Binary (*.xlsb)
Microsoft Word for the web
Word Web App
Word Document (*.docx)
Microsoft PowerPoint for the web
PowerPoint Web App
PowerPoint Presentation (*.pptx)

Note

  • If you save an XLS file that contains macros as an .xlsx file, the macro will not be saved.
  • Macros will not run in Microsoft Excel for the web or Excel Web App.

More information

To view or edit in Office for the web, use the following table to check which file formats are supported.

Microsoft Word

File format View in Word for the web or Word Web App Edit in Word for the web or Word Web App
Open XML (.docx) Yes Yes
Binary (.doc) Yes Yes, Word for the web or Word Web App converts the .doc file to a .docx file to allow you to edit the file but you must save the file in as a .docx file to save your changes.
Macro (.docm) Yes Yes, but macros do not work.
Templates (.dotm, .dotx) Yes No, you must open the template in the client.
Other file formats (.dot, .mht, .mhtml, htm, .html, .odt, .rtf, .txt, .xml, .wps, .wpd) No No

Microsoft Excel

File format View in Excel for the web or Excel Web App Edit in Excel for the web or Excel Web App
Open XML (.xlsx) Yes Yes
Binary (.xlsb) Yes Yes
Binary (.xls) Yes on OneDrive

Not on SharePoint
Yes on OneDrive.

Not on SharePoint.
Macro (.xlsm) Yes Yes. However, you are prompted to create a copy of the file that has the macros removed when you save the changes that you have made.
Other file formats (.xltx, .xltm, .xlam, .xlm, .xla, .xlt, .xml, .xll, .xlw,ods, .prn, .txt, .csv, .mdb, .mde, .accdb, .accde, .dbc, .igy, .dqy, .rqy, .oqy, .cub, .uxdc, .dbf, .slk, .dif, .xlk, .bak, .xlb) No No

Microsoft PowerPoint

File format View in PowerPoint for the web or PowerPoint Web App Edit in PowerPoint for the web or PowerPoint Web App
Open XML (.pptx, .ppsx) Yes Yes
Binary (.ppt, .pps) Yes Yes, PowerPoint for the web or PowerPoint Web App converts the .ppt or .pps file to a .pptx or .ppsx file to allow you to edit the file but you must save the file in as a .pptx or .ppsx file to save your changes.
Macro (.pptm, .potm, .ppam, .potx, .ppsm) Yes No
Other file formats (.pot, .htm, .html, .mht, .mhtml, .txt, .rtf, .wpd, .wps, .ppa, .odp, .thmx) No No