Plain Text Email Attachments not received correctly

[timmeah4]

Hi Guys,

Here are the facts:
- Company Group Policy Forces Outlook users to send emails in plain text
- We send out alot of documents via PDF
- Outlook 2003 is run on Windows 2003 server under Citrix

It seems that alot of our clients are not receiving our PDF attachments
correctly. I have done a few tests myself sending from my personal account.

I have seen the following:
- Sending a PDF attachment either via plain text or HTML encoded emails
works when I receive the email via Hotmail. Though HOTMAIL doesnt show the
attachment paperclip on the Plain Text Email, the attachment is still present.
- Sending a PDF attachment to my personal ISP email account (read via
webmail) with a PLAIN TEXT EMAIL does NOT work, the email I receive is crap.
- Sending a PDF attachment to my personal ISP email account with a HTML
EMAIL does WORK.

Basically, when its not working, I just get the file dumped out in plain
text. EG:

begin 666 20080114_reg.pdf
M)5!$1BTQ+C0*)<.DP[S#ML.?"C(@,"!O8FH*/#PO3&5N9W1H(#,@,"!2+T9I
M;'1E0"71>T"
M&@9RJ3)\;$\!_@"O,*9MS%S\^^:B+3*ER%*BT%UZ$Frown>19$2)46I[7^G7S>U
MJ3?87')O9HL6WM+VV]^WO_RT_>?T??MU<_!F-[#XSB;S%C9P^%^IP,+X\]L_
M3Y?/DU1-^/[S;]OO/V +;WK[_,?V38'2RBBKG/)_V#[_?8+PYE ,JWU3045Y
MILH3JI>4XZ?OGZ?O=S0QOL4QS5E=U%7=U#N6KNH#&SJ#`N"&K,%.9H(;/S'8
M4WD`>L9E4Z0^)Y3-9(FIP*@@6D-K]BQ$M5EE^8%K-:9]<\=BX1AA+*
etc etc etc

Note: This error happens for a few different types of files INCLUDING zip
files.

My question; seeing as the plain text email correctly sent to my hotmail
account, is this just one of those microsoft does it differently to everyone
else issue? Is it an issue with the client that receives the email? Is it
something I can fix? Are there settings available that will make these
attachments readable.

I would LOVE some help. Thanks You all in advance!

 

[Diane Poremsky]

what encoding is it set for? The first line of garbage identifies it as
uuencode (begin 666). change it to MIME and attachments should work with
plain text.

 

[timmeah4]

Thank you for your response Diane.

However the uuencode check box is not checked in Tools->Options->Mail
Format->Internet Format->Encode attachments in UUENCODE format when sending a
plain text message, this is also a company policy (not that I personally knew
that it could effect the attachments like this).

Is there somewhere else I should look to change its encoding?

Thanks You.
- Thomas Higgins

what encoding is it set for? The first line of garbage identifies it as
uuencode (begin 666). change it to MIME and attachments should work with
plain text.

Hi Guys,

Here are the facts:
- Company Group Policy Forces Outlook users to send emails in plain text
- We send out alot of documents via PDF
- Outlook 2003 is run on Windows 2003 server under Citrix

It seems that alot of our clients are not receiving our PDF attachments
correctly. I have done a few tests myself sending from my personal
account.

I have seen the following:
- Sending a PDF attachment either via plain text or HTML encoded emails
works when I receive the email via Hotmail. Though HOTMAIL doesnt show the
attachment paperclip on the Plain Text Email, the attachment is still
present.
- Sending a PDF attachment to my personal ISP email account (read via
webmail) with a PLAIN TEXT EMAIL does NOT work, the email I receive is
crap.
- Sending a PDF attachment to my personal ISP email account with a HTML
EMAIL does WORK.

Basically, when its not working, I just get the file dumped out in plain
text. EG:

begin 666 20080114_reg.pdf
M)5!$1BTQ+C0*)<.DP[S#ML.?"C(@,"!O8FH*/#PO3&5N9W1H(#,@,"!2+T9I
M;'1E0"71>T"
M&@9RJ3)\;$\!_@"O,*9MS%S\^^:B+3*ER%*BT%UZ$Frown>19$2)46I[7^G7S>U
MJ3?87')O9HL6WM+VV]^WO_RT_>?T??MU<_!F-[#XSB;S%C9P^%^IP,+X\]L_
M3Y?/DU1-^/[S;]OO/V +;WK[_,?V38'2RBBKG/)_V#[_?8+PYE ,JWU3045Y
MILH3JI>4XZ?OGZ?O=S0QOL4QS5E=U%7=U#N6KNH#&SJ#`N"&K,%.9H(;/S'8
M4WD`>L9E4Z0^)Y3-9(FIP*@@6D-K]BQ$M5EE^8%K-:9]<\=BX1AA+*
etc etc etc

Note: This error happens for a few different types of files INCLUDING zip
files.

My question; seeing as the plain text email correctly sent to my hotmail
account, is this just one of those microsoft does it differently to
everyone
else issue? Is it an issue with the client that receives the email? Is it
something I can fix? Are there settings available that will make these
attachments readable.

I would LOVE some help. Thanks You all in advance!

 

[Diane Poremsky]

it could be done automatically on the exchange server - check with the
exchange admin.

Thank you for your response Diane.

However the uuencode check box is not checked in Tools->Options->Mail
Format->Internet Format->Encode attachments in UUENCODE format when
sending a
plain text message, this is also a company policy (not that I personally
knew
that it could effect the attachments like this).

Is there somewhere else I should look to change its encoding?

Thanks You.
- Thomas Higgins

what encoding is it set for? The first line of garbage identifies it as
uuencode (begin 666). change it to MIME and attachments should work with
plain text.

Hi Guys,

Here are the facts:
- Company Group Policy Forces Outlook users to send emails in plain
text
- We send out alot of documents via PDF
- Outlook 2003 is run on Windows 2003 server under Citrix

It seems that alot of our clients are not receiving our PDF attachments
correctly. I have done a few tests myself sending from my personal
account.

I have seen the following:
- Sending a PDF attachment either via plain text or HTML encoded emails
works when I receive the email via Hotmail. Though HOTMAIL doesnt show
the
attachment paperclip on the Plain Text Email, the attachment is still
present.
- Sending a PDF attachment to my personal ISP email account (read via
webmail) with a PLAIN TEXT EMAIL does NOT work, the email I receive is
crap.
- Sending a PDF attachment to my personal ISP email account with a HTML
EMAIL does WORK.

Basically, when its not working, I just get the file dumped out in
plain
text. EG:

begin 666 20080114_reg.pdf
M)5!$1BTQ+C0*)<.DP[S#ML.?"C(@,"!O8FH*/#PO3&5N9W1H(#,@,"!2+T9I
M;'1E0"71>T"
M&@9RJ3)\;$\!_@"O,*9MS%S\^^:B+3*ER%*BT%UZ$Frown>19$2)46I[7^G7S>U
MJ3?87')O9HL6WM+VV]^WO_RT_>?T??MU<_!F-[#XSB;S%C9P^%^IP,+X\]L_
M3Y?/DU1-^/[S;]OO/V +;WK[_,?V38'2RBBKG/)_V#[_?8+PYE ,JWU3045Y
MILH3JI>4XZ?OGZ?O=S0QOL4QS5E=U%7=U#N6KNH#&SJ#`N"&K,%.9H(;/S'8
M4WD`>L9E4Z0^)Y3-9(FIP*@@6D-K]BQ$M5EE^8%K-:9]<\=BX1AA+*
etc etc etc

Note: This error happens for a few different types of files INCLUDING
zip
files.

My question; seeing as the plain text email correctly sent to my
hotmail
account, is this just one of those microsoft does it differently to
everyone
else issue? Is it an issue with the client that receives the email? Is
it
something I can fix? Are there settings available that will make these
attachments readable.

I would LOVE some help. Thanks You all in advance!

 

[timmeah4]

Thanks Diane,

After your previous reply I went searching and found the answer I needed to
fix the issue: When sending an email go View->Options->Attachment format, and
change the format to MIME.

This has fixed this issue, but now the question becomes is there a group
policy that can make MIME the default with Plain Text Emails? As it seems
Plain Text emails default to UUENCODE.

Thank you very much Dianne for your responses so far.
- Thomas Higgins

it could be done automatically on the exchange server - check with the
exchange admin.

Thank you for your response Diane.

However the uuencode check box is not checked in Tools->Options->Mail
Format->Internet Format->Encode attachments in UUENCODE format when
sending a
plain text message, this is also a company policy (not that I personally
knew
that it could effect the attachments like this).

Is there somewhere else I should look to change its encoding?

Thanks You.
- Thomas Higgins

what encoding is it set for? The first line of garbage identifies it as
uuencode (begin 666). change it to MIME and attachments should work with
plain text.




Hi Guys,

Here are the facts:
- Company Group Policy Forces Outlook users to send emails in plain
text
- We send out alot of documents via PDF
- Outlook 2003 is run on Windows 2003 server under Citrix

It seems that alot of our clients are not receiving our PDF attachments
correctly. I have done a few tests myself sending from my personal
account.

I have seen the following:
- Sending a PDF attachment either via plain text or HTML encoded emails
works when I receive the email via Hotmail. Though HOTMAIL doesnt show
the
attachment paperclip on the Plain Text Email, the attachment is still
present.
- Sending a PDF attachment to my personal ISP email account (read via
webmail) with a PLAIN TEXT EMAIL does NOT work, the email I receive is
crap.
- Sending a PDF attachment to my personal ISP email account with a HTML
EMAIL does WORK.

Basically, when its not working, I just get the file dumped out in
plain
text. EG:

begin 666 20080114_reg.pdf
M)5!$1BTQ+C0*)<.DP[S#ML.?"C(@,"!O8FH*/#PO3&5N9W1H(#,@,"!2+T9I
M;'1E0"71>T"
M&@9RJ3)\;$\!_@"O,*9MS%S\^^:B+3*ER%*BT%UZ$Frown>19$2)46I[7^G7S>U
MJ3?87')O9HL6WM+VV]^WO_RT_>?T??MU<_!F-[#XSB;S%C9P^%^IP,+X\]L_
M3Y?/DU1-^/[S;]OO/V +;WK[_,?V38'2RBBKG/)_V#[_?8+PYE ,JWU3045Y
MILH3JI>4XZ?OGZ?O=S0QOL4QS5E=U%7=U#N6KNH#&SJ#`N"&K,%.9H(;/S'8
M4WD`>L9E4Z0^)Y3-9(FIP*@@6D-K]BQ$M5EE^8%K-:9]<\=BX1AA+*
etc etc etc

Note: This error happens for a few different types of files INCLUDING
zip
files.

My question; seeing as the plain text email correctly sent to my
hotmail
account, is this just one of those microsoft does it differently to
everyone
else issue? Is it an issue with the client that receives the email? Is
it
something I can fix? Are there settings available that will make these
attachments readable.

I would LOVE some help. Thanks You all in advance!