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Safari appends .dot to all .doc files after Word 2008
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89
Registered:
Oct 17, 2003
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Safari appends .dot to all .doc files after Word 2008
Posted:
Jan 21, 2008 12:42 PM
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I am having a weird problem with Safari which may be caused by incompatibilities with Office 2008.
Since upgrading to Office 2008 (and also trashing my entire system then installing Office 2008 for scratch), Safari is having this nasty habit of appending .dot to all .doc downloads.
For example, on the following site, http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=311f4be8-9983-4ab0-9685-f1bfec1e7d62&displaylang=en if I download "Deploying Vista Step by Step Guide.doc", Safari will save it as "Deploying Vista Step by Step Guide.doc.dot" which is rather unhelpful.
The knowledge base article (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304155) suggests that the problem is due to web server configuration - but this does not seem to be the case, because it did not happen before I installed Office 2008.
Using the "misfox" preference pane (http://mac.clauss-net.de/misfox/) I think the problem appears to be that the MIME type application/msword is associated with the file extension .dot rather than .doc
Is anyone else encountering the same issue?
(I am running Mac OS X 10.5.1 on a first gen MacBook Pro upgraded to 2GB of RAM)
Thanks to anyone who can help or confirm/deny this weird problem!
MacBook Pro
Mac OS X (10.5.1)
15.4-inch, 1.83Ghz, 2GB RAM
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Posts:
89
Registered:
Oct 17, 2003
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Re: Safari appends .dot to all .doc files after Word 2008
Posted:
Jan 21, 2008 4:23 PM
in response to: mintchocicecream
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After reading up on Uniform Type Identifiers, I think I have a solution - or at least some sort of workaround. This requires editing the Microsoft Word package.
1. Open the Microsoft Word package (Action -> Show Package Contents)
2. Go to Contents and open Info.plist in a plist editor (I used Panic Coda)
3. Remove lines 703-704 where it reads <key>public.mime-type</key><string>application/msword</string>
4. Remove any caches/whatever (I used Onyx) and reboot.
Further details on Step #3:
There are two instances where Microsoft Word defines application/msword. On my copy of Word, it defines it at line 684-685 and line 703. Line 685 refers to the document type .doc while line 703-704 refers to .dot.
Obviously, I want the MIME type application/msword to refer to .doc (and don't really care too much about .dot files).
Before (lines 688-706):
<dict>
<key>UTTypeConformsTo</key>
<string>public.data</string>
<key>UTTypeDescription</key>
<string>Microsoft Word 97 - 2004 template</string>
<key>UTTypeIconFile</key>
<string>W8TN.icns</string>
<key>UTTypeIdentifier</key>
<string>com.microsoft.word.dot</string>
<key>UTTypeTagSpecification</key>
<dict>
<key>com.apple.ostype</key>
<string>W8TN</string>
<key>public.filename-extension</key>
<string>dot</string>
<key>public.mime-type</key>
<string>application/msword</string>
</dict>
</dict>
After:
<dict>
<key>UTTypeConformsTo</key>
<string>public.data</string>
<key>UTTypeDescription</key>
<string>Microsoft Word 97 - 2004 template</string>
<key>UTTypeIconFile</key>
<string>W8TN.icns</string>
<key>UTTypeIdentifier</key>
<string>com.microsoft.word.dot</string>
<key>UTTypeTagSpecification</key>
<dict>
<key>com.apple.ostype</key>
<string>W8TN</string>
<key>public.filename-extension</key>
<string>dot</string>
</dict>
</dict>
Don't know if this will work anywhere else, but it solved my problem and Safari no longer mysteriously adds .dot to my .doc downloads.
MacBook Pro
Mac OS X (10.5.1)
15.4-inch, 1.83Ghz, 2GB RAM
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Posts:
15
From:
The Netherlands
Registered:
Aug 14, 2007
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Re: Safari appends .dot to all .doc files after Word 2008
Posted:
Jan 22, 2008 3:32 AM
in response to: mintchocicecream
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I'm experiencing the same problem, it sometimes also occurs with Excel: .xls files suddenly become .xls.xla (Excel extension, or something). While this hack might solve the problem I'd rather have Microsoft fix the problem.
iMac G5 20" iSight | MacBook Pro 15"
Mac OS X (10.5.1)
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Posts:
91
Registered:
Apr 5, 2002
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Re: Safari appends .dot to all .doc files after Word 2008
Posted:
Jan 24, 2008 8:13 PM
in response to: mintchocicecream
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I'm getting this with PowerPoint too, they all get .pot added ...
MacBook Pro 2.2GHz
Mac OS X (10.5)
10.5.1
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Posts:
9
Registered:
Nov 4, 2007
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Re: Safari appends .dot to all .doc files after Word 2008
Posted:
Jan 28, 2008 4:03 PM
in response to: mintchocicecream
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I am having this problem as well, and as the others have noted, it affects all files - ppt, doc, and adds the template extension to them. Would love a solution from MS, but I doubt it will come anytime soon. I might try your workaround.
Love your name.... 
macbook pro
Mac OS X (10.4.11)
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Posts:
3
From:
Northeast USA
Registered:
Jan 30, 2008
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Re: Safari appends .dot to all .doc files after Word 2008
Posted:
Jan 30, 2008 4:25 PM
in response to: mintchocicecream
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I have experience the same problem with Excel, Word and Power Point documents. I have Office 2008, and also iWorks 08, not sure if these may interfer? I noticed this started to happen after installing Office 2008 do not recall it happening with Office 2004. Have not yet found a solution to this, other than to manually remove the extension after it downloads, then the documents open up fine in Word, Excel or Power Point.
Hope I can find a setting that can change this.
MacBook Pro
Mac OS X (10.5.1)
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Posts:
9
Registered:
Nov 4, 2007
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Re: Safari appends .dot to all .doc files after Word 2008
Posted:
Feb 2, 2008 10:59 AM
in response to: Cioffi
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it also curious that this does not happen with the exact same downloads when using firefox - it only adds the additional wrong extension when downloading from Safari.
I have fed this back to both apple via safari feedback, and to MS via entourage feedback. I also have posted this on the MS mac office site. Hope it get solved in point update on from apple or safari.
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Posts:
89
Registered:
Oct 17, 2003
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Re: Safari appends .dot to all .doc files after Word 2008
Posted:
Feb 2, 2008 11:11 AM
in response to: chocolatemandan
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The reason is because Safari respects the uniform type identifiers in Mac OS X.
Uniform Type Identifiers (UTIs) is how Leopard tries to solve the issue with filename extensions, MIME types and myriads of other ways to identify files - see http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Carbon/Conceptual/understanding_utis/understanding_utis.pdf
What I suspect is:
- Firefox ignores UTIs.
- Safari respects UTIs and thus appends .dot (and so on) to the downloads.
The reason we're getting the problem appears to be as follows:
Office 2008 defined UTIs in a way that isn't quite supported in Leopard.
This doesn't mean laying the blame solely on Microsoft though - Office 2008 appears to correctly following the rules defined in Apple's own documentation:
http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Carbon/Conceptual/understanding_utis/understand_utis_conc/chapter_2_section_4.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40001319-CH202-BCGFBBIA
You can check by comparing the above with the Info.plist file inside Word, Excel and PowerPoint. It looks like Microsoft defined things correctly.
HOWEVER, where it differs is this:
Inside the Info.plist in Word, the MIME type application/msword is FIRST DEFINED as .doc and then DEFINED as .dot
This scenario doesn't come up in Apple's own documentation. In fact, it suggests that application developers do the opposite – i.e. define MIME type application/msword, and specify that extensions may be .doc or .dot.
Microsoft didn't do that, and for good reason, because .dot has a different behaviour from .doc files – i.e. opening it creates a new document using the template, instead of opening the file.
Leopard looks at it, and gets confused – and so programs that respects UTIs (such as Safari) appends .dot to all application/msword files, including .doc files.
The same thing is basically happening with Excel and PowerPoint.
It doesn't happen with the new OOXML files because they all have different MIME types.
MacBook Pro
Mac OS X (10.5.1)
15.4-inch, 1.83Ghz, 2GB RAM
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Posts:
15
Registered:
Oct 29, 2004
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Re: Safari appends .dot to all .doc files after Word 2008
Posted:
Feb 4, 2008 1:44 PM
in response to: mintchocicecream
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So is this something that can be fixed by modifying the Info.plist file for all the Office 2008 apps? I realize this is playing with fire and will be negated the second Microsoft releases an update, but I download so many files off of our SharePoint sites that this is quite annoying.
MacBook Pro, Powerbook G4, PowerMac G5
Mac OS X (10.5.1)
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Posts:
89
Registered:
Oct 17, 2003
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Re: Safari appends .dot to all .doc files after Word 2008
Posted:
Feb 4, 2008 1:54 PM
in response to: Anand Mandapati
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I am saying my method worked for me in Word.app - http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=6401575#6403855
However it does affect functionality of double-clicking certain TEMPLATE (.dot, .xla, .pot) files.
Backup Word.app, Excel.app and PowerPoint.app first and try it if the issue really affects you - otherwise wait for the next point update from Microsoft.
MacBook Pro
Mac OS X (10.5.1)
15.4-inch, 1.83Ghz, 2GB RAM
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Posts:
8
Registered:
Jun 8, 2005
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Re: Safari appends .dot to all .doc files after Word 2008
Posted:
Feb 6, 2008 4:21 PM
in response to: mintchocicecream
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Helpful
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I made a modifiable workflow for Automator which will remove the appended extensions.
As it is on my macbook, it looks in the Downloads folder for any file ending in .pps, .dot, and .xla and removes the ending leaving only the original extension.
Please test this out in your own environment to make sure it works for you. I (nor Apple) cannot take responsibility if it nukes your quarterly report. 
http://www.funwithsharpies.com/forum_files/Office08_Files_Rename.workflow.zip
Let me know if there are any changes to the workflow which should be made.
Message was edited by: Erik Hensarling
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Posts:
5
From:
Doha, Qatar
Registered:
Nov 9, 2007
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Re: Safari appends .dot to all .doc files after Word 2008
Posted:
Feb 8, 2008 1:24 AM
in response to: Erik Hensarling
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Very nice little application that seems to work just fine for me. I'm a professor and download large numbers of word documents. The ".dot" problem was a real pain for me, cause I comment on these documents and send them back to the students... I don't want them to have to deal with my ".dot" problem.
One enhancement suggestion. I changed the replace functions to look for things such as ".doc.dot" and then replace them with ".doc". This way, if a real ".dot" comes along, I will not discard the legitimate extension.
Thanks again for your application and your posting of it.
MacBook Pro (2.4 GHz Core 2 Dou, 4GB)
Mac OS X (10.5.1)
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Posts:
8
Registered:
Jun 8, 2005
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Re: Safari appends .dot to all .doc files after Word 2008
Posted:
Feb 8, 2008 2:32 PM
in response to: LRCarter
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Excellent idea. Added to the workflow.
Feel free to repost this workflow where-ever you see fit.
EH
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Posts:
7
Registered:
Feb 14, 2008
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Re: Safari appends .dot to all .doc files after Word 2008
Posted:
Feb 14, 2008 8:12 AM
in response to: Erik Hensarling
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Thanks guys,
Sure hope they'll update this s@#@ soon.
Mac OS X (10.5.2)
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Posts:
7
Registered:
Feb 14, 2008
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Re: Safari appends .dot to all .doc files after Word 2008
Posted:
Feb 14, 2008 8:16 AM
in response to: CMD-Z
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Is there a way to make automator do this automatically, so that every time i login, and download a .doc.dot this is done automatically (in other words, i dont have to run the workflow manually every time)?
Thanks
Mac OS X (10.5.2)
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