OLEXP: Outlook Express and MIME Encoded Messages (268548)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Outlook Express 5.01 for Windows NT 4.0 SP 1
  • Microsoft Outlook Express 5.0 for Windows NT 4.0
  • Microsoft Outlook Express 4.01 for Windows NT 4.0 SP 1
  • Microsoft Outlook Express 4.01 for Windows NT 4.0 SP 2
  • Microsoft Outlook Express 4.0 for Windows NT 4.0
  • Microsoft Outlook Express 5.5 for Windows Millennium Edition
  • Microsoft Outlook Express 5.5 for Windows 98 Second Edition SP 1
  • Microsoft Outlook Express 5.01 for Windows 98 Second Edition SP 1
  • Microsoft Outlook Express 5.0 for Windows 98 Second Edition
  • Microsoft Outlook Express 5.5 for Windows 98 SP 1
  • Microsoft Outlook Express 5.01 for Windows 98 SP 1
  • Microsoft Outlook Express 5.0 for Windows 98
  • Microsoft Outlook Express 4.01 for Windows 98 SP 1
  • Microsoft Outlook Express 4.01 for Windows 98 SP 2
  • Microsoft Outlook Express 5.5 for Windows 95 SP 1
  • Microsoft Outlook Express 5.01 for Windows 95 SP 1
  • Microsoft Outlook Express 5.0 for Windows 95
  • Microsoft Outlook Express 4.01 for Windows 95 SP 1
  • Microsoft Outlook Express 4.01 for Windows 95 SP 2
  • Microsoft Outlook Express 4.0 for Windows 95
  • Microsoft Outlook Express 5.5 for Windows 2000 SP 1
  • Microsoft Outlook Express 5.01 for Windows 2000
This article was previously published under Q268548
For information about the differences between Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Outlook Express e-mail clients, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

257824 OL2000: Differences Between Outlook and Outlook Express

SYMPTOMS

Outlook Express can receive e-mail messages in the Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME), uuencode, or BinHex formats. Periodically, e-mail messages may not be displayed correctly in Outlook Express when you receive them.

CAUSE

This issue can occur for various reasons, which are often contingent upon the way that various e-mail servers have handled the mail messages.

MORE INFORMATION

The following is an example of a MIME-encoded message that is not correctly displayed when you receive it: 

Received: by johndoe.mydomain.test.com id <01BEB6A2.7127CDC6@JESEOGP42.mydomain.test.com>; Mon, 14 Jun 1999 13:14:01 -0700 
From: "Test1142" <Test1142@mydomain.test.com> 
To: "Test1142" <Test1142@mydomain.test.com>
Subject: Main Sub Date: Mon, 14 Jun 1999 13:14:01 -0700 
Message-ID: <18587AAA767AF84DA994C2D60D9F25DD083B@johndoe.mydomain.test.com> 
MIME-Version: 1.0 
Content-Type: multipart/mixed; 
        boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0000_01BEB668.130B3C30" 
content-class: urn:content-classes:message/mail 
X-MS-Has-Attach: yes 
X-MS-TNEF-Correlator: 
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2918.600 
X-Foo: top 

This is a multi-part message in MIME format. 

------=_NextPart_000_0000_01BEB668.130B3C30 
Content-Type: text/html; 
          charset="iso-8859-1" 
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable 

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> 
<HTML> 
<HEAD> 
<META HTTP-EQUIV=3D"Content-Type" CONTENT=3D"text/html; = charset=3DISO-8859-1"> 
<META NAME=3D"Generator" CONTENT=3D"MS Exchange Server version = 6.0.3915.0"> 
<TITLE>Main Sub</TITLE>
 </HEAD> 
<BODY> 
<P><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">Main Body<FONT FACE=3D"Arial" SIZE=3D2 = COLOR=3D"#000000"> <<Emb>> </FONT></FONT> </P> 
</BODY> 
</HTML>

 ------=_NextPart_000_0000_01BEB668.130B3C30 
Content-Type: message/rfc822 
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit 
Content-Disposition: attachment 
From: "Test1142" <Test1142@mydomain.test.com> 
To: "Test1142" <Test1142@mydomain.test.com> 
Subject: Emb Date: Mon, 14 Jun 1999 13:12:01 -0700 
Message-ID: <18587AAA767AF84DA994C2D60D9F25DD083A@johndoe@mydomain.test.com> 
MIME-Version: 1.0 
Content-Type: text/html; 
        charset="iso-8859-1" 
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable 
content-class: urn:content-classes:message/mail 
X-MS-Has-Attach: 
X-MS-TNEF-Correlator: 
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2918.600 
X-Foo: level1 
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> 
<HTML> 
<HEAD> 
<META HTTP-EQUIV=3D"Content-Type" CONTENT=3D"text/html; = charset=3DISO-8859-1"> 
<META NAME=3D"Generator" CONTENT=3D"MS Exchange Server version = 6.0.3915.0"> 
<TITLE>Emb</TITLE> 
</HEAD> 
<BODY> 
<P><FONT SIZE=3D2 FACE=3D"Arial">Body</FONT> </P> 
</BODY> 
</HTML>

If you receive an e-mail message that is similar to the preceding example, the cause can vary depending on the way that your e-mail server, the sender's e-mail server, or the transport between the two servers has handled the message.

A number of programs that decode MIME, BinHex, and uuencode messages are available. Some of these programs are:
  • Fastcode32
  • Wincode
  • Winzip
The third-party products that are discussed in this article are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding the performance or reliability of these products.
Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:6/25/2004
Keywords:kbprb KB268548
©2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.