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Hello all,

Wonder if anyone has a quick answer to the following problem, no one in our IT department has any suggestions! lol :)

When you click on a link to download a file in IE it prompts you to Open or Save but there's a tick box which says "Always ask before opening this type of file". When someone un ticks this option how do you get it back? It's now set to always open the file and not prompt to open/save.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Many Thanks
Tip

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Short, practical steps to restore the "Open / Save" prompt (per 's thread).

Internet Explorer remembers your choice per file extension and stores that preference in the file-type settings. How you restore the prompt depends on the Windows/IE version.

On Windows XP / IE6–7:
Open Windows Explorer -> Tools -> Folder Options -> File Types. Find the extension (for example, .zip), click Advanced (or Change), then enable "Confirm open after download" and OK. That toggles the prompt back on for that extension.

On Vista / Windows 7 and later:
The File Types tab was removed, so use a small utility to edit the file-type flags. A commonly used tool is FileTypesMan from NirSoft (download and run as administrator). Locate the extension or ProgID, open its properties, and enable the "Confirm open after download" (or similar) flag. After changing it, restart IE and test the download.

Notes and cautions:

  • Make a System Restore point or export the registry key before editing file-type settings or using third-party tools. Manual registry edits (EditFlags under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\<ProgID>) are possible but risky for users who are not comfortable with regedit.
  • Resetting Internet Explorer (Internet Options -> Advanced -> Reset) will revert many settings to default and can be used if you cannot isolate the file-type entry.
  • Modern browsers and server-side headers (Content-Disposition) can also change download behavior; the above applies to IE/file-type prompts only.

Glad to see got it working — these steps should help others who need to re-enable the Open/Save dialog. For a GUI tool to toggle the flag on newer Windows versions, see FileTypesMan: https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/file_types_manager.html.

Member Avatar for Tipcie

Managed to get this working :D

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