Blackboard: 404 Error when Opening Files

Why is this happening?

If you are using the Edge browser and attempting to open files in Blackboard, but you keep getting 404 errors, you likely need to turn off a setting called Open Office files in the browser.

When Edge detects that you are trying to open an Office-related file (like Word .docx, Excel, .xlsx, or Powerpoint .pptx) it will redirect you to Office 365 and try to open the files there. Blackboard has security on the file to prevent unauthorized access and it thinks another website is trying to open the file, so it rejects the attempt to load the file and you see the 404 error

How to fix it

To fix this, simply disable the Open Office files in the browser setting:

Settings screen with "Open Office files in the browser turned OFF

  1. Open Edge
     
  2. Go to Settings, then Downloads (you can use the search bar if needed)
     
  3. Locate Open Office files in the browser and toggle this setting to OFF
     
  4. Access the file again (it should download now)
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