D
dot
I have a very strange problem that I would be very thankful if someone
could explain to me and even more thankful if someone could tell me how
to fix!
We are running Exchange 5.5 standard on Win NT4 SP 5.
Mostly people access their email Via Outlook for Windows or Outlook 2001
for Mac on OS 8.6 and 9.x. Recently we have acquired new Macs that don't
boot OS9 and consequently have been investigating OS X native mail
clients that can retrieve mail from exchange.
Using various IMAP clients, Mozilla, Entourage, Thunderbird etc.
certain messages (always messages with attachments) will cause the mail
client to report the following error when attempting to download the
message headers in their parent folder.
*******************************************
Entourage reports the following error:
Error
Mail could not be received at this time
Explanation
The server returned the following error.
One or more arguments are invalid.
Error 1025
*******************************************
Other mail clients also report that "arguments are invalid" and fail in
exactly the same manner.
When this occurs the problem message is not displayed in the folder and
every time the mail client refreshes it's header list the error
re-occurs. This is not only very very irritating but also results in the
recipient not being aware that they have one (or more) unread emails
with attachments.
When the folder containing this errant message is viewed in Outlook
(for Mac or Windows) there is no error message and the email with the
attachment is listed and may be opened and read as usual. However, when
the email with the problematic attachment is viewed the
document icon for the attached file is always incorrect: The icon
displayed is for a document with the correct creator but with a much
older file type (for instance problematic .xls attachments display with
very lack and white Excel version 1 icons) interestingly in emails with
multiple attachments where only one of which is problematic the
attachment causing the problem will be the only attachment with the
"older" icon.
The only solution I have found to this problem is to use outlook
running on another mac or PC to save the problem file from the email
remove the attachment save the email without the attachment then re
attach the file and save the email again. Once this is done the email
will appear in its parent folder when viewed on an IMAP client and there
is no error reported when the IMAP client attempts to download the
message headers for the folder.
I have also found that some OS9 Macs consistently start generating
emails with these problem attachments and have found that I can fix this
problem by a rather hit an miss approach of
1) rebuilding desktop
2) manualy re specifying the mappings for all the commonly used file
types (mainly office and graphics formats in our case) in the internet
control panel.
Whilst this works I have no idea what is going on, why it fixes
anything of causes things to go wrong in the first place. I suspect that
it has something to do with the MIME type or some other attachment
description that is being (or not being assigned) to the attachment and
how this gets dealt with by Exchange in the process of feeding the email
out to an IMAP client.
I have also noticed that there is a string resource in the "Exchange
Preferences' file installed by outlook 2001, called Mac File Types, what
this is doing and how it interacts with the Mac OS9 internet file
mappings (which are derived from the old internet config app I believe).
I have a sneaking suspicion that Outlook might be trying to be helpful
and updating the installed file mappings with the ones in here.
In conclusion then, I am looking for answers or some guidance to the
following questions;
Does anyone know what exactly is causing Exchange to barf on these
emails with strange attachments?
Does anyone know why some but not other mac OS9 machines running
Outlook 2001 create these attachments?
Finally does anyone know of a fix to either Exchange or either my IMAP
or Outlook clients that can prevent this form happening.
I would be grateful for any feedback to either this newsgroup or to
Stephen dot buckley at ukgsp dot co dot uk
Stephen
could explain to me and even more thankful if someone could tell me how
to fix!
We are running Exchange 5.5 standard on Win NT4 SP 5.
Mostly people access their email Via Outlook for Windows or Outlook 2001
for Mac on OS 8.6 and 9.x. Recently we have acquired new Macs that don't
boot OS9 and consequently have been investigating OS X native mail
clients that can retrieve mail from exchange.
Using various IMAP clients, Mozilla, Entourage, Thunderbird etc.
certain messages (always messages with attachments) will cause the mail
client to report the following error when attempting to download the
message headers in their parent folder.
*******************************************
Entourage reports the following error:
Error
Mail could not be received at this time
Explanation
The server returned the following error.
One or more arguments are invalid.
Error 1025
*******************************************
Other mail clients also report that "arguments are invalid" and fail in
exactly the same manner.
When this occurs the problem message is not displayed in the folder and
every time the mail client refreshes it's header list the error
re-occurs. This is not only very very irritating but also results in the
recipient not being aware that they have one (or more) unread emails
with attachments.
When the folder containing this errant message is viewed in Outlook
(for Mac or Windows) there is no error message and the email with the
attachment is listed and may be opened and read as usual. However, when
the email with the problematic attachment is viewed the
document icon for the attached file is always incorrect: The icon
displayed is for a document with the correct creator but with a much
older file type (for instance problematic .xls attachments display with
very lack and white Excel version 1 icons) interestingly in emails with
multiple attachments where only one of which is problematic the
attachment causing the problem will be the only attachment with the
"older" icon.
The only solution I have found to this problem is to use outlook
running on another mac or PC to save the problem file from the email
remove the attachment save the email without the attachment then re
attach the file and save the email again. Once this is done the email
will appear in its parent folder when viewed on an IMAP client and there
is no error reported when the IMAP client attempts to download the
message headers for the folder.
I have also found that some OS9 Macs consistently start generating
emails with these problem attachments and have found that I can fix this
problem by a rather hit an miss approach of
1) rebuilding desktop
2) manualy re specifying the mappings for all the commonly used file
types (mainly office and graphics formats in our case) in the internet
control panel.
Whilst this works I have no idea what is going on, why it fixes
anything of causes things to go wrong in the first place. I suspect that
it has something to do with the MIME type or some other attachment
description that is being (or not being assigned) to the attachment and
how this gets dealt with by Exchange in the process of feeding the email
out to an IMAP client.
I have also noticed that there is a string resource in the "Exchange
Preferences' file installed by outlook 2001, called Mac File Types, what
this is doing and how it interacts with the Mac OS9 internet file
mappings (which are derived from the old internet config app I believe).
I have a sneaking suspicion that Outlook might be trying to be helpful
and updating the installed file mappings with the ones in here.
In conclusion then, I am looking for answers or some guidance to the
following questions;
Does anyone know what exactly is causing Exchange to barf on these
emails with strange attachments?
Does anyone know why some but not other mac OS9 machines running
Outlook 2001 create these attachments?
Finally does anyone know of a fix to either Exchange or either my IMAP
or Outlook clients that can prevent this form happening.
I would be grateful for any feedback to either this newsgroup or to
Stephen dot buckley at ukgsp dot co dot uk
Stephen