.ashx files - what are they and how can I open them?

Amtmann

This is an annoying problem for me. I receive an email with attachments on my college Outlook email account. The attachments can either be .pdf or .docx, but when I go to download them, my laptop downloads them as .ashx and then doesn't know how to open them.

Any explanations/solutions?

chin_grin

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/fileextensions/f/ashxfile.htm

Question: What is an ASHX File?
Did you find an ASHX file on your computer and wonder what program should open it? Maybe someone emailed you an ASHX file but you're not sure how to use it. Perhaps you tried to open the ASHX file but Windows told you that it could not open it.

Before you can open an ASHX file (assuming it's even a file format that's intended to be viewed or edited), you'll need to determine what kind of file the ASHX file extension refers to.

Answer: A file with the ASHX file extension is an ASP.NET Web Handler file.
Other types of files may also use the ASHX file extension. If you know of any additional file formats that use the ASHX extension, please let me know so I can update this information.

How to Open an ASHX File:

The easiest way to open an ASHX file is to double-click on it and let your PC decide which default application should open the file. If no program opens the ASHX file then you probably don't have an application installed that can view and/or edit ASHX files.

Warning: Take great care when opening executable file formats received via email or downloaded from websites you're not familiar with. See my List of Executable File Extensions for a listing of file extensions to avoid and why.

ASHX files are used as supporting files in ASP.NET programming and can be opened with any program that codes in ASP.NET (like Microsoft Visual Web Developer). If you know of any other programs that open or manage ASHX files, please send me a quick email and let me know the name of the program so I can update this page.

Tip: Use Notepad or another text editor to open the ASHX file. Many files are text-only files meaning no matter the file extension, a text editor may be able to properly display the file's contents. This may or may not be the case with ASHX files but it's worth a try.

If you find that an application on your PC does try to open the ASHX file but it's the wrong application or if you would rather have another installed program open ASHX files, see my How to Change the Default Program for a Specific File Extension guide for making that change in Windows.

How to Convert an ASHX File:

There are two main ways to attempt to convert an ASHX file to another file type:

Open the ASHX file in its default program and choose to save the open file as another file format.
Use a File Conversion Online Service or Software Program to convert the ASHX file to another file format.
The first option involving opening the ASHX file in its native program is preferable because it's both easier and will probably result in a more accurate file conversion. Of course if you don't have a program that opens ASHX files, a third-party file conversion tool (the second option) could be very useful.

Important: You cannot usually change a file extension (like the ASHX file extension) to one that your computer recognizes and expect the newly renamed file to be usable. An actual file format conversion using one of the methods described above must take place in most cases.

Still Having Problems Opening or Using an ASHX File?

Let a community of computer support enthusiasts help out! Post in the PC Support Forum about what kinds of problems you're having with opening or using the ASHX file and we'll see what we can do to help.

Hope that helps!

Amtmann

I've found out that forwarding the outlook email to my Gmail account, and opening the attachment from there, removes the .ashx element from the equation. Strange!

Sean^DCT4

Is it an online version of Outlook?

If so, there is an option in Internet Options under the "Security" section "Do not save encrypted pages to disk". Uncheck this box and it should sort it out.