IE 5.5 and File Downloads

[Anon]

I've read all the threads on file downloading in IE, and my headers are set properly. the problem is, IE 5.5 has a bug that causes the Content-Disposition header to not work properly, and thus causes the browser to try to download the current page, and not the file linked. (this is documented by microsoft).

does anyone know of a workaround for this? I'm trying to allow download of plain text files, and they must be downloaded in one step, viewing and saving isn't an option in this case.

thanks!

[Anon]

is using standard HTML not an option?

far as I know all you want is a file to download when a user clicks a link...

ie <a href="file.zip">Download the file, its xxxkb</a>

Thats why I use on the one page where a file can be downloaded, works okay.

[steved]

I ran into this one yesterday. I know the solution, I just don't understand why it works.

It seems that because of some bug in IE 5.5, you need to misspell the word attachment in your Content-Disposition header. When I change the spelling to "atachment" or "atttachment" (or probably "bananas") everything works correctly on IE and Netscape and Mozilla.

Header("Content-Disposition: atachment; filename=myfilename.txt");

[Anon]

It works because the default content-disposition is "inline". If you specify nothing or an unknown content-disposition then it will default to inline, which makes the document open and not try to save-as.

you use "attachment", spelt correctly, when you want IE to pop up the save window.

Gav

[Anon]

I have the similar problem as Clay is having but with ie 6.0. Does anybody know workaround for ie 6 ?

Thanks,
Rekha