PRB: Active Documents Appear Blank in Internet Explorer When They Are Not Cached

When you open a document (such as .doc files, .xls files, .pdf files, or any other file that will be viewed "in place" inside Internet Explorer) from a Web server, the document fails to appear, even though the correct viewer is loaded. In addition, you receive an error message, which states that the document could not be found (or similar error message).

When Internet Explorer uses an Active Document server, such as Microsoft Word, to display a document within the Internet Explorer window, the server must be pointed to a file. Generally, this file is the cached copy of the document that was retrieved. If the HTTP headers instruct the browser not to cache the document, the Active server (the viewer for that document) has no file to read and fails.

If a document is intended to be viewed in this way, do not include any cache-control information with the HTTP headers.

Steps to Reproduce Behavior

1. Place a .doc file on your Web server.
2. Link to that file from an HTML page.
3. Configure the server so that it sends a no-cache header with the page. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
   189409 INFO: Controlling the caching of Web pages with IIS 4.0
4. In Internet Explorer, open the HTML page, and browse to the linked .doc file. Notice that the page appears blank, and you receive an error message, which varies according to the version of your operating system, Internet Explorer, and Microsoft Office.

For additional information about the caching of content in Internet Explorer, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For additional information about the in-place activation of documents such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, or .pdf files, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For additional information about similar issues when you view Word and Excel documents, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For more information about developing Web-based solutions for Microsoft Internet Explorer, visit the following Microsoft Web sites: