We have investigated several issues reported by our members trying to access PDFs and other files on the ICAEW website.
Some members have experienced problems when downloading files from icaew.com relating to the file type .ASHX. This will appear on the end of a file name in place of the .xls (Excel file) .docx (Word file) or .PDF (Portable Document Format) that would be expected. This can lead to the user's computer being unable to open the file they have downloaded or, if they have been sent a link to a file on icaew.com, the page failing to open.
These issues are usually related to the way a combination of the following systems interacts with each other at the user's end:
- Operating Systems (e.g. PC, Mac, iPhone)
- Browsers (e.g. IE7, IE9, Firefox)
- Email systems (Outlook)
- PDF readers (Adobe)
Below is an outline of the issues, with some suggested fixes.
Accessing PDFs
Before attempting any of the fixes further down this page, try the following first if you are having problems accessing PDFs on icaew.com:
- Make sure your Adobe reader software is up to date.
- If you are using Internet Explorer, in the ‘Tools’ menu, select the Internet Options, Security Settings tab. Click the ‘Custom
- Settings’ button and find the setting ‘Open files based on content, not file extension’ and set to Enable.
- Ensure that ‘.ashx’ files are not blocked by your service provider, anti-virus software or your organisation’s security policies
- Try an alternative browser (Firefox/Chrome or a more recent version of IE).
If none of these solves your problem, there is still a simple solution to most issues:
If you have downloaded a file and it will not open on your computer
Simply replace the .ASHX suffix with the appropriate file extension.
- Locate the file on your computer
- Right click on the file and click 'Rename'
- Delete '.ASHX' and replace with the appropriate file extension
- Open the file as normal
If you have been sent a link to a file on icaew.com
When you click on the link, you will be presented with a blank page.
Click on the URL bar so the address is selected (usually signified by the words being highlighted in blue) and press 'Enter' on your keyboard, or;
press the refresh button on your browser (usually signified by a pair of curved arrows pointing in opposite directions)
If you are still experiencing problems, please get in touch with us on +44 (0)1908 248250.
For further information and suggested fixes please go to Adobe's support section or you can read more about .ASHX files on the Wikipedia ASP.NET article
Accessing direct links to PDFs in Outlook
We are aware of some members experiencing problems with accessing direct links to PDFs in Outlook. This is may be due to the way the version of Outlook interacts with the version of Adobe. When you click on a link in Outlook and page does not open in IE, then either click into the url and press enter or copy and paste the url from Outlook into your browser.
For further information, please go to Microsoft support section.
Accesssing PDFs for MAC and Firefox users
Firefox has failed to provide proper PDF support in a number of versions for MAC and possibly for PCs. IPADs would follow the same logic.
For further information, please go to Mozilla's support section.