PDF attachment is showing up as winmail.dat

[Lynn McGuire]

I occasionally get attachments to emails sent to me showing up as a file
called winmail.dat. But when I look at the email in gmail, I see two
attachments, a "noname" and "something.pdf". Does anyone know what is
going on here and how to see the true name ?

I am running TB 68.4.2 (32 bit) on Windows 7 x64 with 16 GB and a 500 GB
SSD.

Thanks,
Lynn

[Steve]

The reason for the winmail.dat is explained here: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Winmail.dat_attachments

The add-on for TB 68: https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/lookout-fix-version/

[Lynn McGuire]

Thanks !

Lynn

[Lynn McGuire]

I installed that add-in. It does not work. It is too bad that TB
does not have TNEF as a standard feature.

Thanks,
Lynn

[Lynn McGuire]

Wrong ! I had to restart TB twice and then Lookout (Fix) started working.

Thanks,
Lynn

[Andrea Venturoli]

On 2020-01-31 02:03, Lynn McGuire wrote:

> It is too bad that TB does not have TNEF as a standard feature.

Since when is TNEF a "standard"?

[Grant Taylor]

On 1/30/20 6:03 PM, Lynn McGuire wrote:
> It is too bad that TB does not have TNEF as a standard feature.

I don't know that I would call Transport Neutral Encoding Format (a.k.a.
TNEF) a "standard" feature.

The only company that I'm aware of that send using it is Microsoft.
Others know how to read it purely to be able to read what Microsoft sends.

TNEF is largely unneeded with other more common and more widely
supported and deployed features like standard base 64 attachments.

My understanding is that TNEF was developed by Microsoft to transport
Exchange / Outlook proprietary content across non-Microsoft networks
(read: SMTP on the Internet).

I /thought/ that even Microsoft was deprecating their use of TNEF.



--
Grant. . . .
unix || die

[Lynn McGuire]

We get a TNEF email about once a week from a customer. Just enough to
be painful.

Thanks,
Lynn

[Grant Taylor]

On 1/31/20 5:46 PM, Lynn McGuire wrote:
> We get a TNEF email about once a week from a customer.  Just enough to
> be painful.

Is it the same customer, each week? Or is it different customers
different weeks? I'm sort of guessing it's the former.

[Lynn McGuire]

On 2/1/2020 4:54 PM, Grant Taylor wrote:
> On 1/31/20 5:46 PM, Lynn McGuire wrote:
>> We get a TNEF email about once a week from a customer.  Just enough to
>> be painful.
>
> Is it the same customer, each week?  Or is it different customers
> different weeks?  I'm sort of guessing it's the former.

Different customers, all using Outlook.

Lynn

[Jim Dell]

In that situation I usually get 2 attachments, one the real file & the
other windat.

Usually from an iPhone user.

Jim

[Grant Taylor]

On 2/1/20 6:20 PM, Lynn McGuire wrote:
> Different customers, all using Outlook.

Ugh.

It's been a long time since I've used Outlook, but I /thought/ there was
an option you could specify for an address book contact to specify that
you didn't want TNEF attachments and to use Base64 encoding.

[ishikawa]

Depending on the customer, sometimes it is difficult to even ask politely if
the customer can
change such a setting if it exists at all.

YMMV. So it may be worth a try...

[Gabor]

IIRC the option is to not send "rich text format" from Outlook. Again,
the sender is still in control, so if they don't feel like adjusting
their settings, Lookout is the best alternative for the rest of us.

[Tanstaafl]

On Sat Feb 01 2020 20:20:03 GMT-0500 (Eastern Standard Time), Lynn

McGuire <lynnmc...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 2/1/2020 4:54 PM, Grant Taylor wrote:

>> On 1/31/20 5:46 PM, Lynn McGuire wrote:
>>> We get a TNEF email about once a week from a customer.  Just enough to
>>> be painful.

>> Is it the same customer, each week?  Or is it different customers
>> different weeks?  I'm sort of guessing it's the former.

> Different customers, all using Outlook.

Here is an email template I keep handy to send to our users who complain
about this (the actual problem is a configuration issue/mistake on the
sender's end), followed by an email template I keep handy to send to
those sending these files:

*** Bgn Internal Users Template ***

Hi,

If you have ever received any email messages with one or more
attachments named 'winmail.dat' that you couldn't open, this is a known
configuration problem/issue with Microsoft Outlook and/or Microsoft
Exchange Server.

Here is a Microsoft Tech Bulletin outlining the issue, including
different ways (one is a very simple change that the sender can make to
your email address book entry) to resolve it:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/149203

NOTE: the sender will also likely need to delete the cached
'Autocomplete' entry for this recipient. To do this, simply compose a
new blank email, start entering the desired recipient address until you
see it in the autocomplete list, use the arrow key to select it, then
press 'Delete' (or click the 'Delete' (x) icon) to delete it. If there
is more than one for this recipient, you will need to delete them all.

It isn't a problem if there aren't any actual attachments (like PDF or
Word/Excel files) - but if there are, these won't be readable without
decoding them with a special tool.

Again, the best way to permanently fix the problem requires the SENDER
to make a change, either to their Exchange server, or at a minimum, to
your email address book entry in their Outlook program.

Thankfully for Thunderbird users, there is another option. There is an
AddOn called 'Lookout', that will automatically decode these files and
show them to you as normal attachments in the attachment pane:

https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/lookout-fix-version/

It isn't perfect - ie, you will still see the 'winmail.dat' attachment
too - but you also see all of the encoded attachments too.

*** End Internal ***

***Bgn External Senders Template ***

Hello,

Fyi, we are receiving all of your emails with one or more 'winmail.dat'
files as an attachment.

This is a known issue with Microsoft Outlook and Exchange Server that
causes non-Exchange recipients of your emails to get these attachments.
It isn't a problem if you aren't including any actual attachments (like
PDF or Word/Excel files) - but if you do, these won't be readable by our
Sales Reps (without my having to decode them individually with a special
tool).

Here is a Microsoft Tech Document outlining the issue, including
different ways to resolve it:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/149203

Please forward this to your I.T. person. If they choose not to implement
the change at the server level, then they should be able to help you
configure your Outlook to not send these to the MBI addresses in your
address book.

*** End External ***