DAMAGED PDF ATTACHMENTS ARRIVING AT RECIPIENTS END

[ZEST_GRAPHICS]

Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) Processor: Intel Email Client: imap Hi,

Up until yesterday afternoon, I have been happily sending pdf attachments via microsoft entourage 2008 through my IMAP account with no problems whatsever.

However - this morning I have clients complaining that they are unable to open my attachments due to the files being damaged or corrupt???!!!

The only thing that I can think of is the fact that we had a power cut for approx 1minute yesterday afternoon,(I was out at the time so didn't experience this) although my Laptop remained on as it has battery back-up.

My external seagate hardrives that store my files would have gone off, but then powered up automatically once the electricity was restored.

My InDesign files that were open on the screen seem fine as do all my other inDesign files that are stored on my Seagate Externals & so do the pdfs that I created before & after the powercut.

I just cannot understand why the recipients are unable to read my attachments as I can view them fine on my system & also my iPhone?

I have even re-saved the artwork as a new pdf & even created a completely new piece of artwork & PDF'd that too, but to no avail!

I have since uninstalled, Adobe CS3 suite & re-installed it. I have also deleted my IMAP account in Entourage & then re-instated it.

I am now at the end of my tether as I need to get a job proofed & signed off in the next 24hrs!

Help Anyone - PLEASE!!!

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Hi,

Up until yesterday afternoon, I have been happily sending pdf
attachments via microsoft entourage 2008 through my IMAP account with
no problems whatsever.

However - this morning I have clients complaining that they are unable
to open my attachments due to the files being damaged or corrupt???!!!

if you send a PDF to yourself, can you open it? Have you tried using a
different encoding method for the attachments? (it's in the
preferences).

          Corentin

 

[ZEST_GRAPHICS]

Hi Corentin,

Must admit i didn't think to send it to myself!

I have just done so & the answer is NO I can't open it. How bizarre!

I shall try using another encoding method - watch this space...

thanks for your reply though - at least i know someones out there )

regards!

Deann

 

[ZEST_GRAPHICS]

Hello again Corentin,

I first tried compressing the pdf attachment as a .zip file, but my mail delivery system bouced it back stating there was an 'illegal attachment'!

SMTP error from remote mail server after end of data:
   host alt1.aspmx.l.google.com [209.85.129.114]:
   552-5.7.0 Our system detected an illegal attachment on your message. Please
   552-5.7.0 visit http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=6590 to
   552 5.7.0 review our attachment guidelines. k29si666573fkk.45

* *

I then tried encoding the attachment as 'Windows (MIME/Base64).
I did manage to get as far as opening the attachment, but it was blank & had a message of 'There was a problem reading this document (20).

any thoughts?

Regards!

Deann

 

[William Smith [MVP]]

I first tried compressing the pdf attachment as a .zip file, but my mail
delivery system bouced it back stating there was an 'illegal attachment'!
[snip]

I then tried encoding the attachment as 'Windows (MIME/Base64).
I did manage to get as far as opening the attachment, but it was blank &
had a message of 'There was a problem reading this document (20).

This could very well be a Gmail server problem. Can you set up another
account such as a Hotmail account and send through that? This will help
you test where the problem occurs.

Hope this helps!

--

bill

Entourage Help Page <http://entourage.mvps.org/>
Entourage Help Blog <http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/>
YouTalk <http://nine.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/youtalk>
Twitter: follow <http://twitter.com/meck>

 

[ZEST_GRAPHICS]

Hi Bill / Corentin

many thanks for your advice.

The problem now seems to have been rectified. Having wasted a whole day re-installing my software &amp; pulling my hair out. It was something as simple as -unplugging my modem &amp; re-booting it!!!!!!

It would seem that the power cut must have interrupted the server &amp; corrupted it somehow.

I did send myself an email via my hotmail (@live.com) account &amp; this too worked - so many thanks to Bill - I shall not hesitate to use this method in future - should I experience problems again.

All it takes is a few 'heads together' &amp; with the help of my husband along with you guys - i seem to have solved the problem!! You tend to get a little blinkered &amp; as panic &amp; frustration sets in - we don't think so logically!

many thanks for your help guys

Very Much Appreciated!

Deann

 

[DWL]

I just found this post because I started the same issue yesterday out of the
blue! However, my issue is that .pdf attachments sent through Entourage are
downloading on the recipients end as .pdf.doc and they are definitely saved
as PDF and are associated as PDFs on my computer. I tested sending .pdf
through Entourage to my yahoo account and checked on same computer and it
happened to me as well.

Then, if I attach and send the same original .pdf file from my yahoo account
to my work Entourage account on the same computer, the files remain in tact
as a .pdf file!

I'm thinking the corruption is in Entourage and not the Safari download
manager (which shows the file being downloaded as pdf.doc) because several
people at different destinations had the same issue when receiving my .pdf
attachments.

Thanks for any suggestions you might have.

 

[DWL]

Another test... I sent an old .pdf created the same way (Word, Save As...
PDF) to Yahoo and it downloaded correctly as a .pdf. So, the change is in
how Word 2008 for Mac on my system is since yesterday saving files to PDF
format. They save with only a .pdf extension, are associated with PDF file
type once saved to harddrive and send as .pdf format if sent through Yahoo,
but change to .pdf.doc when sent through Entourage... hmmm.

 

[DWL]

Correction, the old .pdf was no created the same way... that one was scanned
to .pdf. However, I did test sending an old .doc to .pdf which went through
to destinations correctly when I first sent them 3 weeks ago and it, too, now
becomes a pdf.doc when trying to download at receiving end.

So, Word may be converting to PDF correctly, but Entourage is not encoding
properly? Entourage is set to encode attachments for Any Computer
(AppleDouble).

 

[DWL]

Sorry for all the posts, but still doing testing. Here is I what I found
additional...

Had colleague in office save Word doc as PDF and email to me Entourage to
Entourage+Yahoo+Hotmail. Was able to open file as PDF in my Entourage, but
got .pdf.doc from yahoo and hotmail again. (If I rename downloaded file to
remove the .doc and leave as just .pdf it will open.)

If we Print to PDF instead of using Save As... PDF then everything works as
it should so that is my work around until there is a resolve for the Save
As... function.

Side note; emailing Entourage to mac.com (Apple server mail provider), he
was able to open attachment. Could this have anything to do with Apple vs.
Windows based mail servers and encoding or just our mail provider
specifically?

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

If we Print to PDF instead of using Save As... PDF then everything works as
it should so that is my work around until there is a resolve for the Save
As... function.

If you select the PDF created through the Save As approach in the
Finder then hit command-i, what extension do you see in the file name
field?

Corentin