What does this message mean: "multi-part message in mime format"

[mitesh gandhi]

Hello, I installed Windows XP Service Pack 2 and after that, have been having
all sorts of issues. One of the issues I have is that when I got an email
from an associate, it didn't give me any text in the email besides for this
message:
This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
Can anyone tell me what this message means and how I can ensure that I
receive emails properly from this associate.

Thank you,

 

[Jeff Stephenson [MSFT]]

What version of Outlook do you have? What sort of mail accounts?

 

[mitesh gandhi]

Jeff, I'm using Outlook 2003. What do you mean by mail accounts?

 

[mitesh gandhi]

Jeff, I'm using Outlook 2003. What do you mean by what sort of mail accounts?

 

[Jeff Stephenson [MSFT]]

Are your mail accounts POP3, Exchange, Hotmail, or something else?

--
Jeff Stephenson
Outlook Development
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights

 

[Lynne]

I am having the same problem with a POP email account. Several emails appear
as follows:

This is a multipart message in MIME format.
--=_alternative 0004607088256F4B_=
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64

SGkgTHlubmUsDQoNCkkgbG9vayBmb3J3YXJkIHRvIGF0dGVuZGluZy4NCg0KS2V2aW4NCg0KX19f...

 

[Brian Tillman]

I am having the same problem with a POP email account. Several
emails appear as follows:

This is a multipart message in MIME format.
--=_alternative 0004607088256F4B_=
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64

SGkgTHlubmUsDQoNCkkgbG9vayBmb3J3YXJkIHRvIGF0dGVuZGluZy4NCg0KS2V2aW4NCg0KX19f...

Perfectly normal for a message to contain information like that. This says
that the message contains multiple parts, the first of which is plain text
using the UTF-8 character set (Unicode), but encoded using Base64 encoding,
which Outlook knows how to decode. If you're not seeing the message,
there's something else ar work, because there doesn't appear to be anything
wrong with the sample you posted.