Why Outlook's sent Word files are recived as unreadable dat files

[crossroads]

Hi. Last week I started having problems with Word files I emailed out are
being received as Winmail.dat files or having a message something like
"incorrect path". I use Outlook 2002 and always use HTML. The problem
persists whether Word is checked as editor or not and also persists if I
change the format to Plain Text. I've done "Detect and Repair" several
times, run virus scan (AVG - though outward emails aren't scanned), run
registry diagnostic software fixes, etc.

The problem is intermittent - some days there's no problem but 60% of the
time there is. I'm on Windows XP (SP3) Home.

Hope someone can help.

 

[Jocelyn Fiorello]

Usually it means that something is changing the format of your messages to
Rich Text before they are sent, and other e-mail programs can't read Outlook
Rich Text messages. If you can pick out one contact who is getting the
winmail.dat attachments, open that person's contact record, then double-click
the e-mail address and make sure it's set to "Let Outlook choose the best
sending format". If you're going through an Exchange server, ask your
administrator to make sure Exchange is not converting the messages to Rich
Text.

 

[crossroads]

Thanks for the reply. I just checked a couple of addresses and they are set
to "let Outlook decide...). I don'rt have an exchange server, just a
standard POP3/SMTP account. My ISP can't figure what the problem would be.
I'm stumped. Any other suggestions appreciated. This case seems a rare one.

 

[Jocelyn Fiorello]

I just read a suggestion which says you should try starting Outlook with the
/cleanfreebusy switch and that might clear a "cache" that is causing the
problem. Close Outlook, click the Windows Start Button, click Run, and in
the box type "outlook.exe /cleanfreebusy" (without the quotes).

 

[crossroads]

Thanks for investigating - I've done and suggested and will monitor. Your
time is appreciated!