Problem with RTF files

[Theslaz]

Just received a email from my sister and she had a RTF attachment. Went
to open it and it was all garbled. It tried to open in Microsoft Word. I
then tried to open it in Adobe and it to failed. A warning came up
stating that it probably was sent as an email attachment and probably
wasn't decoded properly.

I'm using XP Professional. Is there a way to get remedy this problem as
I have had this happen before?

 

[Bruce Hagen]

Just received a email from my sister and she had a RTF attachment. Went to
open it and it was all garbled. It tried to open in Microsoft Word. I then
tried to open it in Adobe and it to failed. A warning came up stating that
it probably was sent as an email attachment and probably wasn't decoded
properly.

I'm using XP Professional. Is there a way to get remedy this problem as I
have had this happen before?

Are you using Outlook Express? OE, and most other e-mail clients, can't
understand MS Outlook's Rich Text Formatting, (RTF). Have her send it in
Plain Text, or HTML.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Just received a email from my sister and she had a RTF attachment. Went
to open it and it was all garbled. It tried to open in Microsoft Word.

Yes, Microsoft Word is an appropriate program for an rtf file.

I
then tried to open it in Adobe and it to failed.

Yes, certainly. Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat (if one of those is what
you mean by "Adobe") are *not* appropriate programs for rtf files.

A warning came up
stating that it probably was sent as an email attachment and probably
wasn't decoded properly.

I'm using XP Professional. Is there a way to get remedy this problem as
I have had this happen before?

How are you trying to open it? Directly from the E-mail message, or
are you are first saving it to your drive, then opening it? If the
former, try the latter and see if it works.

Also ask your sister to send it to someone else, and see if the other
person can open it.

 

[Jerry Ed]

Use WordPad.

It has been in all Windows since Windows 95.

Start > Programs > Accessories > WordPad

JE

 

[Theslaz]

Are you using Outlook Express? OE, and most other e-mail clients, can't
understand MS Outlook's Rich Text Formatting, (RTF). Have her send it in
Plain Text, or HTML.

Sister can't send in any other format. She works for a company that
restricts what can be sent and how.

Couldn't find WordPad in my copy of windows. I also tried to open the
file in Note Pad; didn't work.

I have saved it to my desktop and tried to open it from there with
negative results.

I'm using Mozilla Thunderbird as my email client.

My wife uses Incredimail and she could not open the file either.

Sent the file to my laptop. Same problem there. Laptop does have
Wordpad. Same problem.

I have a laptop with Vista; will try that and see what happens.

 

[Bruce Hagen]

Sister can't send in any other format. She works for a company that
restricts what can be sent and how.

Couldn't find WordPad in my copy of windows. I also tried to open the file
in Note Pad; didn't work.

I have saved it to my desktop and tried to open it from there with
negative results.

I'm using Mozilla Thunderbird as my email client.

My wife uses Incredimail and she could not open the file either.

Sent the file to my laptop. Same problem there. Laptop does have Wordpad.
Same problem.

I have a laptop with Vista; will try that and see what happens.

I have never used this, but it's freeware and worth a try.

RTF Viewer 1.5:
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/rtfviewer.html

 

[Theslaz]

I have never used this, but it's freeware and worth a try.

RTF Viewer 1.5:
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/rtfviewer.html

Downloaded the program. weird to say the least. Opens with a blank
document/program; only gives three choices under file: Print; Print
setup and exit. I therefore clicked on my RTF file and used "Open With"
and choose the "RTF Viewer"; it then gave me a choice of saving a file
as an .exe file; which I did. The RTF viewer than opened up with the
garbled contents that I had before!

 

[Dave Cohen]

Use WordPad.

It has been in all Windows since Windows 95.

Start > Programs > Accessories > WordPad

JE

It's not an rtf file, if it were it would open in MS Word, I get them
all the time. It may have been sent as .rtf, but it's not .rtf format
when you get it.
I suspect it's in some form of mime code. I used to have a utility that
was supposed to decode this stuff. Sometimes it did,but not always.
Do a google search on 'mime decoder'. I looked at this:
http://www.miken.com/uud/
Can't hurt to try.
Dave Cohen

 

[Bruce Hagen]

Downloaded the program. weird to say the least. Opens with a blank
document/program; only gives three choices under file: Print; Print setup
and exit. I therefore clicked on my RTF file and used "Open With" and
choose the "RTF Viewer"; it then gave me a choice of saving a file as an
.exe file; which I did. The RTF viewer than opened up with the garbled
contents that I had before!

I don't have anything to add, except that WordPad is in Start | All Programs
| Accessories.

I don't know if WordPad can read an RTF file, just going by what Jerry Ed
said.

Save the attachment to your HDD if you haven't yet and Right Click | Open
With and choose WordPad.

 

[Twayne]

I don't have anything to add, except that WordPad is in Start | All
Programs

I don't know if WordPad can read an RTF file, just going by what
Jerry Ed said.

Save the attachment to your HDD if you haven't yet and Right Click |
Open With and choose WordPad.

Of course it can; RTF is its default, in fact.

 

[Peter Foldes]

If this RTF file was produced with Outlook 2003/2007 and was not using Word as the
editor then only Outlook will open it.

 

[Jim]

Sister can't send in any other format. She works for a company that
restricts what can be sent and how.

Couldn't find WordPad in my copy of windows. I also tried to open the
file in Note Pad; didn't work.

I have saved it to my desktop and tried to open it from there with
negative results.

I'm using Mozilla Thunderbird as my email client.

My wife uses Incredimail and she could not open the file either.

Sent the file to my laptop. Same problem there. Laptop does have
Wordpad. Same problem.

I have a laptop with Vista; will try that and see what happens.

D/l and try Jarte ( free ) RTF .

 

[Theslaz]

It's not an rtf file, if it were it would open in MS Word, I get them
all the time. It may have been sent as .rtf, but it's not .rtf format
when you get it.
I suspect it's in some form of mime code. I used to have a utility that
was supposed to decode this stuff. Sometimes it did,but not always.
Do a google search on 'mime decoder'. I looked at this:
http://www.miken.com/uud/
Can't hurt to try.
Dave Cohen

Finally got to see what was in the file. This is what we did. Sister
that sent the RTF file sent it to my other sister at her work. Other
sister tried sending it to her home computer and it would not open. She
than opened it at her work and saved it as a "Word Doc". She than sent
that to me and it opened.

I think that the Adobe program was correct when it generated a error
dialog box that stated "that it probably was sent as an email attachment
and probably wasn't decoded properly"!