challenged wrote:
> I receive attachments (pdf) and previously could open and read them.
> Suddenly they open as blank. I then send this to another PC and open it
> successfully, save as Word and return it to my PC.......... I use Windows XP
> Pro, Outlook 2003. I am using the free Trial 2007, and still it worked for
> the first 2 weeks so I don't know if it's related. I'M TECHNOLOGICALLY
> CHALLENGED so if you care to respond, please make it as simple as possible -
> thanks much. Kind regards, Greg.
What happens when you save the .pdf attachment as a file on your hard
disk and then double-click on it in Windows Explorer to open it?
Outlook doesn't open .pdf files. Outlook is an e-mail client. Some
OTHER program is designated as the handler for PDF filetypes and that's
the program with which you are having a problem.
Opening (rather than saving) attachments in Outlook means it has to open
*something*. Attachments are not files. They are merely long strings
of encoded data within a MIME part in the body of your e-mail (that are
presented as "attachments" in the UI for your e-mail client). The
attachment is *in* your e-mail, not some file floating out in the ether
that gets magically linked to the e-mail. Opening or saving the
attachment means decoding that long string. For any program to *use*
that attachment means to decode it and put it SOMEWHERE that the program
can access. That means the attachment gets put into a file. If you
open an attachment, Outlook decodes the attachment, saves it into a file
within Outlook's secured temporary folder, and then passes the file to
whatever is the handler designated for that filetype. When you exit the
program that loaded the temporary file, and upon proper exit of Outlook,
those temporary files are deleted. Any edits you made to them would be
to the file created under Outlook's temporary folder. If you Save the
attachment, Outlook decodes the attachment and puts that data into the
specified file. It is then up to you to load whatever program you want
to edit the file, and those edits will be saved to that file.
If you Open the attachment (which means Outlook created a temporary
file), and to see it outside of Outlook (and to whatever handler program
Outlook passed the temporary file), enter the path for Outlook's secured
temporary folder into the Address bar of Windows Explorer. To find the
folder name, look in the registry under:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\<version>\Outlook\Security
where <version> is whatever version of Outlook that you installed; e.g.,
10.0 for Office XP, 11.0 for Office 2003, and so on. The data item
named "OutlookSecureTempFolder" points to Outlook's temporary file path.
Also read:
http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/securetemp.htm
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