I have an OWA set up that we have started moving our outside employees onto. We've started running into problems where just SOME of the Excel files will not open properly. When you click on them and open (or save and then open) you get the error message "Unable to read file" and then it opens up a blank spreadsheet. Now if you forward that same email to a pop account (from OWA)and open it, the spreadsheet opens just fine. Also, if you are interenally and open it using Outlook it opens just fine. It's only when trying to open it from within OWA. If you save the document it will say it's saved the file, but the file will have 0 kb in size and will not open. If I copy and paste the internal cells to a new spreadsheet and resend it, the user can open it fine in OWA. I thought it had to do with Autofilter, but if I put that back on the copied spreadsheet it will work just fine. Also, if i zip the file up first and send it, the file opens just fine. The oddest thing is most of the excel files work just fine. It appears to mainly be on internally sent emails that we have these problems. ThanksTxbigden1

Try unchecking the "do not save encrypted pages to disk" in IE options, then advanced. I had this issue with IE6 after an update about a year ago, and its still there with IE7. We've used a GPO to set the option for us.

I was soooo hoping you had it right. But unfortunately when I check that box is already unchecked. Any other guess? ThanksDennis

What's in common denominator here?Are there some macro's in the excel file, or is it all owa clients from a particular FE server, or all windows XP ie6 clients?

I only have one OWA server, so that's not it. The particular couple of files i'm looking at don't have any macros, but do have drop down list from the column (Autofilter) being used. But if i copy the file to a new file and then resend it (adding autofilter back on) it works just fine. I have to believe there is some security setting I'm missing. As far as I can tell, all the emails with problems are internal email. This is the one common demoninator. Thanks

The only thing i can say for certain is that sounds like a tough issue to resolve. Have you seen anything in the FE server app, system or IIS logs? Also how about any 3rd party a/v anti-spam, etc apps on the FE server that could be causing the issue?

I don't see anything in the logs for this error. I have ETrust a/v, but if I forward this to my pop account I can open it (on same computer) and if I use Outlook to look at it I can view them. I really figured there was a security setting for OWA that I need to change, but don't have a clue where/what it would be. Thanks

this article doesn't address your specific problem, but you could at least check all your owa virtual directory security settings http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/327843 Also, have you tried adding your OWA page to trusted sites in IE?

I do have the mail.domain.com in my trusted sites. I'm not sure if the end user does or not, but since I can recreate it on my computer that's not it. I've also gone through the settings and don't see anything off. Where is the controls that dictates what types of files are blocked? Is thata Group Policy generally? or is that something in the Server Manager that I'm missing. Thanks for working through this with me. Dennis

Your verry welcome, however i'm pretty stumped at this point. Have you tried dropping your security level for trusted sites to low? I wouldn't reccomend it permanently but it may shed some light.