Attachments in Outlook 2003 only 64 B in size

[Michael Paniak]

I have several people at my company (Exchange 2003 with Outlook 2003 SP3)
that from time to time get an attachment sent to them. The message reads
fine, but the attachment comes in as a completely blank 64 b email.

I can reproduce this myself using my sbc yahoo (att) home email account.

From my own account, I can grab an email that has a 4 MB pdf attachment from
my sent folder. If I forward that to my work account as an attachment, the
message will be received into myinbox with my inbox reporting that my mail
message is 6 MB in size. I will then go to open the message by double
clicking on the message from my inbox and it will open and I can read the
main message fine. The forwarded attachment is there which states it is only
64 B in size. I open it and it is completely blank.

Now taking the same message again, I forward it from my sbc yahoo (att) home
email account and forward it as an inline attachment. My work account
receives it and reports that the message is now 11 MB in size. I double
click on the message from my inbox and it will open and I can read the main
message fine with the ability to open the pdf attachment which reports as a 4
MB file.

Anyone have this happen to them or know how to fix the issue?

 

[F. H. Muffman]

I have several people at my company (Exchange 2003 with Outlook 2003 SP3)
that from time to time get an attachment sent to them. The message reads
fine, but the attachment comes in as a completely blank 64 b email.

I can reproduce this myself using my sbc yahoo (att) home email account.

From my own account, I can grab an email that has a 4 MB pdf attachment
from
my sent folder. If I forward that to my work account as an attachment,
the
message will be received into myinbox with my inbox reporting that my mail
message is 6 MB in size. I will then go to open the message by double
clicking on the message from my inbox and it will open and I can read the
main message fine. The forwarded attachment is there which states it is
only
64 B in size. I open it and it is completely blank.

Now taking the same message again, I forward it from my sbc yahoo (att)
home
email account and forward it as an inline attachment. My work account
receives it and reports that the message is now 11 MB in size. I double
click on the message from my inbox and it will open and I can read the
main
message fine with the ability to open the pdf attachment which reports as
a 4
MB file.

Anyone have this happen to them or know how to fix the issue?

Is it only attachments coming from the Internet?
Does the attachment show properly in Outlook Web Access (try shutting
Outlook down, sending the attachment from the Internet, then accessing OWA
to ensure that it isn't a plug in making some change)?

I'd wager its either a plug in on the Exchange Server or in Outlook, you
just need to figure out which.

 

[Michael Paniak]

Even in OWA, it shows that I have a 6 MB email, but when I open it in OWA it
shows no attachments at all. For the same message Outlook 2003 shows an
attachment but only 64 B.

Could it be on the exchange side of things if other co-workers receive my
exact same message and don't have any issues?

 

[F. H. Muffman]

Even in OWA, it shows that I have a 6 MB email, but when I open it in OWA
it
shows no attachments at all. For the same message Outlook 2003 shows an
attachment but only 64 B.

Could it be on the exchange side of things if other co-workers receive my
exact same message and don't have any issues?

Yes, it could still be the Exchange side of things, which is one of the
reasons I asked the questions I asked.

You didn't say if it happens for internal messages or just Internet
messages.

Try this.

Shut outlook down.
Send an email with an attachment.
Go to Start - Run and run outlook /safe
See if you can access the attachment.

 

[Michael Paniak]

Thanks F. H.

Still comes across as a 64 b empty email attachments intead of an email
attachment with a 4 MB pdf file attached to it.

 

[Michael Paniak]

Forgot to add. It is coming from the internet. I have heard that some have
experienced this from internal messages too, but no one can reproduce nor
show me an example.

 

[Michael Paniak]

More info.

If I set a flag on the message, the message tries to contact the exchange
server looking for data but then in the inbox adjusts the size of the message
from 6 MB down to 1 KB.

 

[Michael Paniak]

More Info.

When I flag the inline text message that says it is 11 MB in size, it
changes back to the original 4 MB in size which is correct.

 

[F. H. Muffman]

Thanks F. H.

Still comes across as a 64 b empty email attachments intead of an email
attachment with a 4 MB pdf file attached to it.

Errr... that's nice.

Just a hint, don't remove all the text from the thread. It makes it hard to
remember exactly where we were or what was suggested.

Are you the Exchange Admin?
If it doesn't work without Outlook in the picture, not even running, solely
through OWA, then it isn't Outlook, it's Exchange (assuming that's where the
MX record for the domain is pointing). Either there's a plug-in on
Exchange, or a router/firewall that is playing with the file as it comes in.

 

[Michael Paniak]

Sorry about the cleanup. Wanted to make it easier to read.

I woild agree that it appears to be elsewhere then Outlook itself.

If it is on exchange though, why would the plug-in, router/firewall, treat
the message differently for me then it does for a co-worker of mine? It's
not even that it is inconsistent as I can reproduce it at will the problem
for me, but at the same time whether my co-worker is cc's on it or is sent
the message directly the co-worker always gets it correct and I always get it
wrong.

I am not the admin for the server, but have direct access to the admin.

 

[F. H. Muffman]

Sorry about the cleanup. Wanted to make it easier to read.

I woild agree that it appears to be elsewhere then Outlook itself.

If it is on exchange though, why would the plug-in, router/firewall, treat
the message differently for me then it does for a co-worker of mine? It's
not even that it is inconsistent as I can reproduce it at will the problem
for me, but at the same time whether my co-worker is cc's on it or is sent
the message directly the co-worker always gets it correct and I always get
it
wrong.

I am not the admin for the server, but have direct access to the admin.

If you're on a different server or in a different message store, it could
affect your message differently.

But, again, if you can reproduce the problem *without starting Microsoft
Outlook*, then it isn't Microsoft Outlook causing the problem. OWA isn't
part of Outlook, it is part of Exchange. Heck, try this, shut down your
workstation completely. That will make sure there's no add-ons running that
could access the Exchange server. Using a different computer, send the
message using whatever web based mail service you want and then check OWA to
see if you can access the attachment.

 

[Michael Paniak]

Tried that too. No luck. We are all on the same server and same message
store as far as I know.

I am going to open this thread in the exchange forum as you are right, it
isn't an outlook issue.

Thanks for the help!!

 

[Darryl Parkyn]

Where is the Exchange forum and has this topic been reposted there? We are seeing quite a few instances of this and I am very keen to resolve.

TIA

 

[Brian Tillman]

Where is the Exchange forum and has this topic been reposted there?

news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.exchange is one of them (there
are others as well). Since I don't read the Exchange newsgroups, I can't
say whether or not the question has been asked before, but Google Groups
(http://groups.google.com/) will find it quickly if it has.

 

[Darryl Parkyn]

Ok, thank you. Have posted in the exchange forum.