Google Doc Viewer in IE

Question

I searched high and low for a solution, but can't find it. I use Google Docs Viewer to view PDF files. This is a great tool, but I can't get it to work in Internet Explorer (7 or 8). All my images appear as a “missing” icon. If I view the file from outside, it seems to load fine and it will start working (I assume the images are cached). The document is displayed in the iframe and works in all other browsers. Has anyone come up with a solution to make it work in IE? If not, is there an alternative that can display PPT and PDF files?

Answer 1

The only solution I found for this problem is to add https://docs.google.com to your reliable websites.

Answer 2

I have the same problem, but I don’t think it would be acceptable to ask users to add a URL to their trusted sites in IE.

Fortunately, I came across the following message :

The built-in version of Google Docs Viewer (gview) will not load images correctly if third-party cookies are disabled. This issue is a problem for most IE users, as it will be disabled by default. Below I will talk about this problem, at least until Google adds p3p. An original discussion of the problem can be found on the google docs help forum.

I tried this and it works in IE8, IE7 and IE6.

Answer 3

I know this is an old question, but since the problem still persists, and I stumbled upon this question with an answer pointing to an empty website, here is the actual script code mentioned in the @codeinthehole answer , in case anyone needs this need it. (This time you can find GitHub )

 <?php # This proxy code is a bypass for an existing flaw in Google Docs Viewer that breaks the functionality # for some IE users. If you do not wish to use this code, select Google Standard Viewer rather than # Enhanced Viewer in GDE Settings. Note that viewer toolbar customization options depend on this # proxy workaround remaining enabled. # # The problem this code addresses is discussed at length on Google Help Forum: # http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Docs/thread?tid=22d92671afd5b9b7&hl=en # # This code is based on the work of Peter Chen. For more information, see: # http://peterchenadded.herobo.com/gview/ # # Peter code is modified below to allow for cURL fallback, viewer toolbar customization, # and to reflect changes in the viewer since the code was first released. // test for allow_url_fopen in php config; try curl for function if disabled if (ini_get('allow_url_fopen') !== "1") { if (function_exists('curl_version')) { $curl = 1; } else { $err = "This function is not supported on your web server. Please add "; $err .= "<code>allow_url_fopen = 1</code> to your php.ini or enable cURL library. "; $err .= "If you are unable to do this, please switch to Google Standard "; $err .= "Viewer in GDE Options."; echo $err; exit; } } if (isset($_GET['embedded'])) { // get the src page, change relative path to absolute if (isset($curl)) { $code = curl_get_contents("http://docs.google.com/viewer?" . $_SERVER['QUERY_STRING']); } else { $code = file_get_contents("http://docs.google.com/viewer?" . $_SERVER['QUERY_STRING']); } // fix path to images $search[] = "/viewer/images"; $replace[] = "http://docs.google.com/viewer/images"; $search[] = "/gview/images"; $replace[] = "http://docs.google.com/viewer/images"; // proxy the javascript file $search[] = "gview/resources_gview/client/js"; $replace[] = "?jsfile=gview/resources_gview/client/js"; if (isset($_GET['gdet'])) { $gdet = $_GET['gdet']; # hide google icon (i) /* These are no longer visible by default - not necessary if (strstr($gdet, 'i') !== false) { $search[] = ".goog-logo-small {"; $replace[] = ".goog-logo-small { display: none !important;"; } # hide single/double page view (p) if (strstr($gdet, 'p') !== false) { $search[] = ".controlbar-two-up-image {"; $replace[] = ".controlbar-two-up-image { display: none !important;"; $search[] = ".controlbar-one-up-image {"; $replace[] = ".controlbar-one-up-image { display: none !important;"; } */ # hide zoom in/out (z) if (strstr($gdet, 'z') !== false) { $search[] = "#zoomOutToolbarButtonIcon {"; $replace[] = "#zoomOutToolbarButtonIcon { display: none !important;"; $search[] = "#zoomInToolbarButtonIcon {"; $replace[] = "#zoomInToolbarButtonIcon { display: none !important;"; } # hide open in new window (n) if (strstr($gdet, 'n') !== false) { $search[] = "#openInViewerButtonIcon {"; $replace[] = "#openInViewerButtonIcon { display: none !important;"; } } $code = str_replace($search, $replace, $code); header('Content-type: text/html'); echo $code; } else if (isset($_GET['a']) && $_GET['a'] == 'gt') { // get text coordinates file, can not redirect because of same origin policy if (isset($curl)) { $code = curl_get_contents("http://docs.google.com/viewer?" . $_SERVER['QUERY_STRING']); } else { $code = file_get_contents("http://docs.google.com/viewer?" . $_SERVER['QUERY_STRING']); } header('Content-type: text/xml; charset=UTF-8'); echo $code; } else if (isset($_GET['a']) && $_GET['a'] == 'bi') { // redirect to images header("Location: http://docs.google.com/viewer?" . $_SERVER['QUERY_STRING']); header('Content-type: image/png'); } else if (isset($_GET['jsfile'])) { // proxy javascript files and replace navigator.cookieEnabled with false if (isset($curl)) { $code = curl_get_contents("http://docs.google.com/" . $_GET['jsfile']); } else { $code = file_get_contents("http://docs.google.com/" . $_GET['jsfile']); } $search = array("navigator.cookieEnabled"); $replace = array("false"); $code = str_replace($search, $replace, $code); header('Content-type: text/javascript'); echo $code; } else { // everything else, of which there isn't! header("Location: http://docs.google.com/viewer?" . $_SERVER['QUERY_STRING']); } function curl_get_contents($url) { $ch = curl_init(); $timeout = 5; // set to zero for no timeout curl_setopt ($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $url); curl_setopt ($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1); curl_setopt ($ch, CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT, $timeout); $file_contents = curl_exec($ch); curl_close($ch); return $file_contents; }