PC Win DOS: How the WINMAIL.DAT File Effects Attachments (126648)
The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Mail for Windows 3.0
- Microsoft Mail for Windows 3.2
- Microsoft Mail for Windows 3.2a
This article was previously published under Q126648 SYMPTOMS
When Microsoft Mail for Windows sends a message with attachments, it dumps
some raw data into the message body. When another Windows client receives
this mail message, it parses and removes the raw data so the user never
sees it.
A problem arises when the mail message is read by different clients. For
example, the MS-DOS client or a foreign mail system client does not have
the ability to remove the raw data. As a result, the unreadable data is
left in the message body.
CAUSE
The "invisible attachment," or WINMAIL.DAT file, should remove the raw data
in the attachment's message body.
RESOLUTION
The MS-DOS client was changed in version 3.0b to provide the following
functionality for mail sent from the Windows client:
- The MS-DOS client shows a text list of the file attachments in the
header of the message file. This list corresponds to what a user
would see in the Attachments, View or Save.
- The WINMAIL.DAT file no longer shows up as text in the MS-DOS
client. Foreign mail clients may, however, still see the raw text.
The MS-DOS client user can still see the text from the View or Save
menus of the MS-DOS client.
| Modification Type: | Major | Last Reviewed: | 11/19/2003 |
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| Keywords: | KB126648 |
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