Monday, March 7, 2011

Attachments not showing up correctly

SkyHi @ Monday, March 07, 2011
ERROR:

Now when I add attachments to new emails that I'm creating (using Word as email editor), the attachments show up as icons in the
body of the message. When I send these to my wife at her office (she is not using Outlook--some other non-Microsoft email program),
she does not see the attachment in the message body. But she does see one of those "winmail.dat" attachments (I'm guessing
"winmail.dat" is because of my AutoArchive is turned on) in the message header that she can not open.

If I reply to one of her messages, then when I attach files they attach normally in the message header and my wife can open
attachments that way.

This is something new. It used to be every email I wrote added attachments in the message header and not in the body of the
message.

Is this a setting that I've changed? How can I get Outlook/Word to add attachments to the message header and not place them in the
message body?



SOLUTION:
You've changed your email format to Rich Text. (Whether intentionally or
unintentionally). Change it back to either Plain Text or HTML.....

Tools-Options-Mail Format


 This article describes how either an Exchange Server administrator or end users can prevent the Winmail.dat attachment from being sent to Internet users when using the Microsoft Exchange Internet Mail Connector (IMC).

When an end user sends mail to the Internet from an Exchange Windows or Outlook client, a file attachment called Winmail.dat may be automatically added to the end of the message if the recipient's client cannot receive messages in Rich Text Format (RTF). The Winmail.dat file contains Exchange Server RTF information for the message, and may appear to the recipient as a binary file. It is not useful to non-Exchange Server recipients.

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How to Prevent Winmail.dat Attachments from Being Sent in OutlookDo recipients of your emails, seemingly out of the blue, complain about a mysterious attachment called "winmail.dat" (of the even more mysterious content type "application/ms-tnef"), which they cannot open, no matter what they try? Do files you attach disappear in that winmail.dat moloch? Does winmail.dat show up for some but not all recipients of your messages?

When, How and Why Winmail.dat-Application/MS-Tnef is Created

It's Outlook's fault, in a way. Or the recipient's email client's. If Outlook sends a message using the RTF format (which is not very common outside Outlook) for bold text and other text enhancements, it includes the formatting commands in the winmail.dat file. Receiving email clients that do not understand the code therein display it as a stale attachment. To make matters worse, Outlook may also pack other, regular file attachments in the winmail.dat file.
Fortunately, you can get rid of winmail.dat altogether by making sure Outlook does not even try to send mail using RTF.

Prevent Winmail.dat Attachments from Being Sent in Outlook

To prevent Outlook from attaching winmail.dat when you send an email:
  • Select Tools | Options... from the menu.
  • Go to the Mail Format tab.
  • Under Compose in this message format:, make sure either HTML or Plain Text is selected.
  • Click Internet Format.
  • Make sure either Convert to Plain Text format or Convert to HTML format is selected under When sending Outlook Rich Text messages to Internet recipients, use this format:
  • Click OK.
  • Click OK again.

Disabe Winmail.dat Stubbornly Going to Particular Recipients No Matter the Default

The standard settings for outgoing mail formats in Outlook can be overridden per email address. So, on a per case basis — when somebody complains about an inexplicable "Winmail.dat" attachment after you have made all the right settings changes —, you may have to reset the format for individual addresses:
  • Search for the desired contact in your Outlook Contacts.
  • Double-click the contact's email address.
    • Alternatively, click on the desired email address with the right mouse button and select Outlook Properties... from the menu.
  • Make sure either Let Outlook decide the best sending format or Send Plain Text only is selected under Internet format:.
  • Click OK.

Extract Files from Winmail.dat without Outlook

If you receive winmail.dat attachments with embedded files, you can extract them using a winmail.dat decoder on Windows or Mac OS X.


REFERENCES
http://www.office-outlook.com/outlook-forum/index.php/m/43551/
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/138053 
http://email.about.com/od/outlooktips/qt/Prevent_Winmail_dat_Attachments_from_Being_Sent_in_Outlook.htm