Downloading Private Messages?

I want to download some of my messages ...but not all. I can't get that to work.

Also, what is the difference between the three types of download?

 

1.) Select the messages you want then go to the drop down box labeled "Select Messages", select "Download as...", and then click OK.

2.) I found this regarding teh differences:

CSV - Microsoft Excel Datasheet - No image support
TXT - Text only
XML - Open with Internet Explorer or any Internet Browser - No image support

 

Thank you.

I use Firefox and if I choose text download nothing happens.

If I select XML and check a few messages for download, then I get a download box that has IE as the download site...that is weird ...why I would I want Fx to download something to IE? That is the default download choice but I chose the other choice to download to disk and then I wasn't asked where to download to and they didn't download to my usual downloaded programs folder but downloaded to an IE temp folder! When I tried to open them, the display was horrible ...with bright red text and basically unreadable. Plus, why did they download to a temp folder? Oh, and IE wouldn't let me see some stuff...I got that stupid message about IE restricting the images for privacy reasons. Further, I had specified that they NOT download to IE so why did they open in IE? I don't use IE.

Then I tried CSV. I don't have Excel so I figured that would not be a good way to download but that was the best because the messages open in notepad and are readable but those also download to a temp file...why? Firefox should download them to the path I have specified for all downloads. I think I recall the last time I reached 50 messages and was forced to download some that is what happened so I don't understand why they are downloading to temp folders. I must have used CSV before too because that is the only readable method and I never had them open in IE before. I guess I forgot that I used CSV because it was quite a while before I got up to the limit again.

Why doesn't text download work and why do the other two methods insist on opening in IE and download to temp files only? The entire point of downloading them is to save them to disk! I'm getting tired of seeing the warning at the top of every page here. I'd like to figure this out. I didn't have problems like this before when I downloaded them. Maybe it works differently if I download ALL messages? Maybe that is what I did before?

OK, I just tried downloading all messages as csv. That got me a download box that again was by default to download them to a TEMP folder! Geez. So, I chose the other option to download to disk. And unlike when I chose only certain ones to download, this time they did download using the path I have specified for all downloads. Then when I went to open them Explorer complained that it didn't know how to open them. There is no csv in File Types and when I used the web to see how to open them I was informed there was no way to open them as csv was unknown file type. That makes no sense because the default choice in download box was to open them in notepad but that meant they downloaded to a temp file which I didn't want.

Text download doesn't work for selected messages at all. So, I tried it for all messages. That simply resulted in them being put on the tab I was on here in Fx! They didn't DOWNLOAD to disk. They just opened in the tab creating a gigantic horizontal scroll bar so they were basically unreadable also.

Why is this so screwed up? I'm thoroughly confused. It shouldn't be difficult to download selected or all PMs to my hard disk (but not to a temp file) and then be able to open them in notepad, wordpad what ever to read them in a neat, easily readable form.

 

Well all the download options work for me under Firefox and IE (IEtab).

Do you have scripts enabled? Could any security software be interfering maybe?

 

I try to stay perpetually logged in here. This is one of a handful of sites that I allow permanent cookies to be set. But when I came here today, I wasn't logged in. So, I cleared the cookies out of Fx and then logged in here with permanent cookies (except for one session) and had no problems on the first try downloading to disk selected PM's. I even used CSV and they downloaded to the correct path ...not to a temp file. When I tried to open them Explorer said it didn't know how but this time it offered me a list of possible programs to use to open them. I chose notepad and they opened just fine. So, I guess I just needed to log out and login again to get things to work properly. I don't know why that would make a difference in the download path or in being offered the opportunity to download to disk and not a temp file, etc. but it worked today so I should ust be glad, I guess and not try to figure out why it wouldn't work yesterday but did today.