Eliminating winmail.dat attachment

[Outlook User]

Outlook 2003 adds an attachment called winmail.dat to every e-mail
that I send. How do I prevent it from doing this? What is
winmail.dat, and what is it used for?

Thanks,
Michael

 

[Jocelyn Fiorello [MVP - Outlook]]

If you're using Rich Text format for the message, and you send to someone
who isn't using Outlook, the rich text formatting (which is proprietary to
Outlook) will end up in that winmail.dat file, and any attachments you may
have sent with the message will not be viewable to the recipient. To avoid
this, use HTML or Plain Text format when sending to non-Outlook users. You
may also have to turn off Word as your e-mail editor, if you typically use
that feature.

--
Jocelyn Fiorello
MVP - Outlook

*** Messages sent to my e-mail address will NOT be answered -- please
reply only to the newsgroup to preserve the message thread. ***


In

 

[Outlook User]

Hi, Jocelyn. I am, in fact, using plain text. I double checked to
make sure that I was before I sent out any mail, and double checked
again after seeing the winmail.dat file. I used Outlook itself as the
editor for my test messages. I have never attempted to use Word in
that way. Is there something else that could be causing this to
happen?

Thanks,
Michael

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

is the recipients address enabled for RTF? open the contact and click on the
address.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Author, Teach Yourself Outlook 2003 in 24 Hours
Coauthor, OneNote 2003 for Windows (Visual QuickStart Guide)
Author, Google and Other Search Engines (Visual QuickStart Guide)

 

[Outlook User]

I did not create a new contact. I simply typed in an address.
(Actually, a completely new one that I created simply to test outlook,
and that had never been used before for anything.)

Thanks,
Michael

is the recipients address enabled for RTF? open the contact and click on the
address.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Author, Teach Yourself Outlook 2003 in 24 Hours
Coauthor, OneNote 2003 for Windows (Visual QuickStart Guide)
Author, Google and Other Search Engines (Visual QuickStart Guide)

Hi, Jocelyn. I am, in fact, using plain text. I double checked to
make sure that I was before I sent out any mail, and double checked
again after seeing the winmail.dat file. I used Outlook itself as the
editor for my test messages. I have never attempted to use Word in
that way. Is there something else that could be causing this to
happen?

Thanks,
Michael

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

somewhere along the line you have RTF enabled. if the message format is
plain text, look at tools, options, mail format, internet

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Author, Teach Yourself Outlook 2003 in 24 Hours
Coauthor, OneNote 2003 for Windows (Visual QuickStart Guide)
Author, Google and Other Search Engines (Visual QuickStart Guide)

I did not create a new contact. I simply typed in an address.
(Actually, a completely new one that I created simply to test outlook,
and that had never been used before for anything.)

Thanks,
Michael

is the recipients address enabled for RTF? open the contact and click on
the
address.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Author, Teach Yourself Outlook 2003 in 24 Hours
Coauthor, OneNote 2003 for Windows (Visual QuickStart Guide)
Author, Google and Other Search Engines (Visual QuickStart Guide)

Hi, Jocelyn. I am, in fact, using plain text. I double checked to
make sure that I was before I sent out any mail, and double checked
again after seeing the winmail.dat file. I used Outlook itself as the
editor for my test messages. I have never attempted to use Word in
that way. Is there something else that could be causing this to
happen?

Thanks,
Michael

message If you're using Rich Text format for the message, and you send to
someone
who isn't using Outlook, the rich text formatting (which is
proprietary
to
Outlook) will end up in that winmail.dat file, and any attachments you
may
have sent with the message will not be viewable to the recipient. To
avoid
this, use HTML or Plain Text format when sending to non-Outlook users.
You
may also have to turn off Word as your e-mail editor, if you typically
use
that feature.

--
Jocelyn Fiorello
MVP - Outlook

*** Messages sent to my e-mail address will NOT be answered -- please
reply only to the newsgroup to preserve the message thread. ***


In Outlook User wrote:

Outlook 2003 adds an attachment called winmail.dat to every e-mail
that I send. How do I prevent it from doing this? What is
winmail.dat, and what is it used for?

Thanks,
Michael

 

[Outlook User]

Yea! Partial success. I sent myself a test message. No winmail.dat
attached. Boy, that was well hidden. But, outlook is still adding a
winmail.dat when I use a rule to copy the message I just sent to a
sent-mail folder on my IMAP server:

The rule I use is:

Apply this rule after I send the message
uses the Message form
and on this machine only
move a copy to the sent-mail folder

(the sent-mail folder is my sent mail folder on my IMAP server)

The result of mailing myself a test e-mail was:
1) a copy of the e-mail (with no winmail.dat file) successfully
arrived in my inbox.
2) A copy of the mail was copied into the sent-mail folder but:
The copy had a winmail.dat file attached and...
The From field only contained my name, but no e-mail address.

Is there a way to get prevent the winmail.dat file from being attached
when the mail is copied over? And is there a way to get the Front
field to contain the correct information? ie. "My Name"
<[email protected]>

Thanks,
Michael

I did not create a new contact. I simply typed in an address.
(Actually, a completely new one that I created simply to test outlook,
and that had never been used before for anything.)

Thanks,
Michael

is the recipients address enabled for RTF? open the contact and click on the
address.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Author, Teach Yourself Outlook 2003 in 24 Hours
Coauthor, OneNote 2003 for Windows (Visual QuickStart Guide)
Author, Google and Other Search Engines (Visual QuickStart Guide)