Users of Microsoft Internet Explorer may face this weird issue - try to download or open any "*.docx" or "*.xmlx" file from any site in Internet and you'll see it opens as zip archive!
Well, and this is because MS employees involved in different projects have no idea about other projects within MS MS IE has this nice feature "Open files based on CONTENT, not FILE EXTENSION". So just guess where to disable this USEFUL feature and you're good to go.
If you're not that smart (as I am for example) you may read through this step-by-step guidance:
If using IE8, you need to disable Opening files based on content rather than extension. Instructions -
1. In the upper-right corner of IE8, click on Tools to open the drop down menu;
2. At the bottom of the Tools menu, click Internet Options;
3. In the Internet Options dialog box, select the Security tab;
4. On the Security tab, select the Internet zone, then click the Custom Level button;
5. Scroll about 2/3 down the list to the option “Open file based on content, not file extension” and change the setting to Disable;
6. Click OK;
7. Repeat steps 4-6 for the Local Intranet zone and Trusted Sites zone;
8. Click OK;
9. Close all instances of IE8;
10. Reopen IE8 and it should now recognize Office 2007 and 2010 file extensions when saving email attachments.
2. At the bottom of the Tools menu, click Internet Options;
3. In the Internet Options dialog box, select the Security tab;
4. On the Security tab, select the Internet zone, then click the Custom Level button;
5. Scroll about 2/3 down the list to the option “Open file based on content, not file extension” and change the setting to Disable;
6. Click OK;
7. Repeat steps 4-6 for the Local Intranet zone and Trusted Sites zone;
8. Click OK;
9. Close all instances of IE8;
10. Reopen IE8 and it should now recognize Office 2007 and 2010 file extensions when saving email attachments.
The most funny part is any other browser on Earth opens files in question in proper application (MS Word or Libre/OpenOffice Writer) by default.
This issue has been known for years now and still MS ignores it. Well, it's their decision.
