XIMS: Exchange Displays Message That Uses "Inline" MIME Content-Disposition Header as Attachment (323482)



The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server

This article was previously published under Q323482

SYMPTOMS

Exchange 2000 displays a message that is set to "inline" as an attachment instead of as the message content in the main body of the message.

CAUSE

This behavior occurs if the MIME Content-Disposition header of a multipart message is set to inline and the filename= parameter is used.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this issue, do not use the filename= parameter when you compose multipart messages in which the MIME Content-Disposition header is set to inline.

MORE INFORMATION

Content-Disposition is an extension to the MIME protocol that describes the content of the message and provides instructions about how the content is to be displayed.

When the MIME Content-Disposition header is set to inline, Exchange 2000 presents the content immediately to the user when the message is viewed, by displaying it in the main body of the message.

When the MIME Content-Disposition header is set to inline and uses the filename= parameter, Exchange 2000 presents the content as an attachment that is separate from the main body of the message. To view the attachment, the user must take more action.

For example:
Content-Type: multipart/mixed;boundary="server-part-0000-00000001"
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; name="Bdy.txt"
Content-Disposition: inline; filename="Bdy.txt"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
"This message should be displayed immediately to the user"
--server-part-000-00000001
Content-Type: application/msword; name="Test.doc"
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="Test.doc"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
				
This behavior is in compliance with the Request For Comments (RFC) 2803 and 1806. For more information about RFC 2183 and 1806, visit the following Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Web sites:

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:6/13/2003
Keywords:kbprb KB323482