Messages that start with the word "begin" are received as blank attachments in Outlook 2000 (260822)

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Outlook 2000

This article was previously published under Q260822

SYMPTOMS

When you use Outlook, you may receive a message in which the text is incorrectly interpreted as an attachment that does not have any data.

CAUSE

The body of the message starts with the word "begin" followed by two spaces. This sequence of characters is identical to that of the header for a file attachment that is encoded in UUencode format. For this reason, the message is incorrectly interpreted as an encoded attachment.

This problem only occurs in messages that you receive in plain text format.

This problem also occurs in Microsoft Outlook Express. For more information about this problem in Outlook Express, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

898124 The text in a newsgroup message or in an e-mail message is incorrectly interpreted as a blank attachment in Outlook Express

WORKAROUND

To workaround this problem:

Do not start messages with the word "begin" followed by two spaces.
Use only one space between the word "begin" and the following data.
Capitalize the word "begin" so that it is reads "Begin."
Use a different word such as "start" or "commence."

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

MORE INFORMATION

In a Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) e-mail message, a file attachment that is encoded in UUencode format is defined when the word "begin" is followed by two spaces and then some data, and the word "end" appears on a line by itself. In cases where there is no "end" on a line by itself, the "begin" statement should be treated as normal text. However, Outlook interprets the following sequence

begin<space><space>data

as a file attachment that is encoded in UUencode format, even if there is no matching "end" statement to define the end of the attachment data.

Modification Type:	Major	Last Reviewed:	8/4/2005
Keywords:	kbbug kbpending KB260822