PowerPoint 2007 files don't download correctly from a Web Server, open as zip files

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Problem

Links to PowerPoint 2007 files (PPTX, PPSX, etc) on your web site don't work.

When you click the link, you get 404/File Not Found errors or the browser displays gibberish or offers to download the file with an incorrect ZIP file extension.

Solution

The real solution is to contact your webmaster and have the new Office 2007 file types added to the web server's MIME table. You may not understand what that means or how to do it, but your webmaster will.

IIS 6.0 does not serve unknown MIME types

Here's a list of suggested MIME types:

Content types for Open XML Documents

Workaround

While you're waiting for the new MIME types to be added, you can include your PowerPoint 2007 files in a ZIP archive. Upload and link to that instead (and explain to users that they'll have to extract your files from the ZIP after downloading it).

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