Problems Downloading Files -- a.k.a. I see a blank page when I click a link in the course
If a professor posts word documents or excel files, they will be downloaded and opened in that specific software from a course. HTML or PDF files are not downloaded but rendered in the course window itself.
Sometimes students can be confused by seeing a blank screen instead of the file and they do not notice the information bar saying the file has been blocked for download.
The default setting in Internet Explorer is to block downloaded files. In a course if you access a file that needs to be downloaded, such as a Microsoft Word document, the download blocker is activated.
Often the information bar comes up right below the address bar telling you a file has been blocked. You can click on that bar to download the file but that action takes you back to the my Classes page. You then
have to go back to the course and again click the link for the file you want and it will download.
To prevent this you can set Internet Explorer to not use the information bar on downloads and to prompt instead for file downloads by following the steps below.
This procedure will allow Web sites to automatically prompt you when downloading files and software (bypassing the Information Bar).
- Open Internet Explorer.
- On the Tools menu, click Internet Options.
- On the Security tab, click Custom Level.
- Do one or both of the following:
To turn off the Information Bar for file downloads, in the Downloads
section of the list, under Automatic prompting for file downloads,
click Enable.
To turn off the Information Bar for ActiveX controls, in the ActiveX
controls and plug-ins section of the list, under Automatic prompting
for ActiveX controls, click Enable.
