How to Use Office Apps as Helper Applications in Your Browser

The information in this article applies to:

• Microsoft Word Viewer for Windows, version 6.0
• Microsoft Word for Windows, versions 6.0a, 6.0c
• Microsoft Office for Windows, versions 4.0, 4.2, 4.3
• Microsoft Office for Windows 95, version 7.0, 7.0b
• Microsoft Excel for Windows, versions 5.0, 5.0a, 5.0c
• Microsoft PowerPoint for Windows, versions 4.0, 4.0a, 4.0c
• Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer for Windows, versions 4.0, 4.0a, 4.0c
• Microsoft Access, version 2.0

SUMMARY

Any of the Microsoft Office applications, including the Word Viewer and PowerPoint Viewer, can be used as helper applications within your Internet browser. Using Word Viewer as an example, this article describes how to configure the helper application within several different Internet browsers. You can substitute any of the Office applications in place of the Word Viewer in the following instructions.

MORE INFORMATION

Netscape version 1.0

1. From the Options menu, choose Preferences.

2. Choose Helper Applications from the drop-down list.

3. Choose the New button to specify a mime type and mime subtype. Specify "text" or "application" (without the quotation marks) as the mime type and "doc" (without the quotation marks) as the mime subtype.

4. Choose OK.

5. Under Extensions, type "doc" (without the quotation marks).

6. Under Action, choose Launch Application.

7. Type the path of Word Viewer, for example, C:\WORDVIEW.EXE.

8. Choose OK.

Air Mosaic (Spry's Internet-in-a-Box)

1. From the Options menu, choose Preferences.

2. Choose the Viewers button.

3. In the Extension box, type "doc" (without the quotation marks).

4. Type the path to Word Viewer, for example C:\WORDVIEW.EXE.

5. Save your changes and quit the program.

InternetWorks Internet Assistant

1. From the Options menu, choose Viewers.

2. Choose the New Type button.

3. In the Document Type box, type "application/doc" (without the quotation marks).

4. In the Extensions box, type "doc" (without the quotation marks).

5. In the Viewer text box, type the path to Word Viewer, for example C:\WORDVIEW.EXE.

6. Choose the Save button.

7. Choose the OK button.

QMOSAIC

1. From the Tools menu, choose Preferences.

2. Select the Data Engine tab.

3. Choose the New button.

4. In the Mime Type/Sub Type box, type the following:

         application/doc
   

5. In the filename extensions box, type "doc" (without the quotation marks).

6. Choose the External Viewer option and type the path for the Word Viewer, for example, C:\WORDVIEW.EXE.

7. Choose OK twice.

Other browsers

For browsers that do not have a menu command for selecting helper applications, you can use a text editor, such as Notepad, to edit the browser's .INI file and add the following information to the appropriate section:

   application/doc=c:\wordview.exe