Unwanted Word Conversions with MAIL

[bkdolan]

My girlfriend's email has recently started converting her .doc files
to .dat files when she sends them as attachments to pc users. That is
she sends a .doc file but it arrives at the pc user's computer as a
..dat file. She is using the latest version of Mac OSX and of Microsoft
Office for Mac. She is also using the standard mail program that is
packaged with new Macs. From what we have read here there may be some
problem with the encoding that Mail does, but we aren't sure how to
fix it. Can anyone help? She knows that she could convert them to
..rtf files but doesn't always remember to do so and feels like she
shouldn't have to deal with it since Macs are supposed to be
"compatible with pcs" and hers has been until about a week ago.

 

[Elliott Roper]

My girlfriend's email has recently started converting her .doc files
to .dat files when she sends them as attachments to pc users. That is
she sends a .doc file but it arrives at the pc user's computer as a
.dat file. She is using the latest version of Mac OSX and of Microsoft
Office for Mac. She is also using the standard mail program that is
packaged with new Macs. From what we have read here there may be some
problem with the encoding that Mail does, but we aren't sure how to
fix it. Can anyone help? She knows that she could convert them to
.rtf files but doesn't always remember to do so and feels like she
shouldn't have to deal with it since Macs are supposed to be
"compatible with pcs" and hers has been until about a week ago.

This is an untested wild guess:

When she hits cmd-shift-a to bring up the attachment open dialog [1},
is the checkbox at the bottom of that panel "Send Windows Friendly
Attachments" checked?

Without it, Mail may send two files for one attachment. The second may
be called .dat. It is the resource fork of the Mac .doc. That confuses
some Windows mail programs no end.

1. There is probably an icon on the mail Window to do the same thing,
but I have long since forgotten how to get it back.

 

[CyberTaz]

Hello -

The .dat file is coming in to play as a result of Exchange Server, Mac file
Resource Forks & perhaps some other mishmash that needn't be gone into in
depth, but the fix _should_ be easy enough

Have her go to Mail's EditMenu>Attachments>Always Send Windows Friendly
Attachments, or if she prefers she can check the box in the Attachment
window individually for each message when she selects the file to be
attached. BTW - It won't have any effect on mail/attachments sent to other
Mac users.

Also, in Word's Save As dialog have her tick the checkbox for 'Append file
extension' so the Word doc will be recognized as such on the other end. Once
made, that setting should be retained so it won't have to be thought about
from then on.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac