Unable to View or Edit Office files by using Office Online or Office Web Apps

Or, you receive the following message when you double-click a file that is stored in OneDrive to view the file by using Office for the web:

File Download
Do you want to open or save this file?

Cause

This issue occurs because the operation that you requested in Office for the web or Office Web Apps does not support the file format of the file.

Resolution

To view or edit the file in Office for the web or Office Web Apps, open the file in Microsoft Office Excel 2010, in Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2010, or in Microsoft Office Word 2010, and then save the file by using one of the supported formats. The following table shows the recommended file formats for Office for the web and Office Web Apps.

Excel for the web
Excel Web App

Excel Workbook (*.xlsx)
Excel Workbook Binary (*.xlsb)

Microsoft Word for the web
Word Web App

Word Document (*.docx)

Microsoft PowerPoint for the web
PowerPoint Web App

PowerPoint Presentation (*.pptx)

• If you save an XLS file that contains macros as an .xlsx file, the macro will not be saved.
• Macros will not run in Microsoft Excel for the web or Excel Web App.

More information

To view or edit in Office for the web, use the following table to check which file formats are supported.

Microsoft Word

View in Word for the web or Word Web App

Edit in Word for the web or Word Web App

Yes, Word for the web or Word Web App converts the .doc file to a .docx file to allow you to edit the file but you must save the file in as a .docx file to save your changes.

Yes, but macros do not work.

Templates (.dotm, .dotx)

No, you must open the template in the client.

Other file formats (.dot, .mht, .mhtml, htm, .html, .odt, .rtf, .txt, .xml, .wps, .wpd)

Microsoft Excel

View in Excel for the web or Excel Web App

Edit in Excel for the web or Excel Web App

Yes on OneDrive

Not on SharePoint

Yes on OneDrive.

Not on SharePoint.

Yes. However, you are prompted to create a copy of the file that has the macros removed when you save the changes that you have made.

Other file formats (.xltx, .xltm, .xlam, .xlm, .xla, .xlt, .xml, .xll, .xlw,ods, .prn, .txt, .csv, .mdb, .mde, .accdb, .accde, .dbc, .igy, .dqy, .rqy, .oqy, .cub, .uxdc, .dbf, .slk, .dif, .xlk, .bak, .xlb)

Microsoft PowerPoint

View in PowerPoint for the web or PowerPoint Web App

Edit in PowerPoint for the web or PowerPoint Web App

Open XML (.pptx, .ppsx)

Yes, PowerPoint for the web or PowerPoint Web App converts the .ppt or .pps file to a .pptx or .ppsx file to allow you to edit the file but you must save the file in as a .pptx or .ppsx file to save your changes.

Macro (.pptm, .potm, .ppam, .potx, .ppsm)

Other file formats (.pot, .htm, .html, .mht, .mhtml, .txt, .rtf, .wpd, .wps, .ppa, .odp, .thmx)