Apologies if this is already better answered (I'm a
digest-reader),
but if all you need is a quick glance at the contents of the
file you
can always just pipe through strings to read the string
contents of
the file.
I'm in a heavy exchange/outlook environment and get these
winmail.dat
files from time to time, always from the same users. I think
it's
some kind of misconfiguration in outlook that produces them
-- i.e.
they're not normal even for winblows.
j
On Jun 29, 2006, at 12:02 p.m., <dclug-request tux.org> wrote:
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> 1. RE: [ma-linux] Re: [dclug] decoding a winmail.dat
file on a
> linux box (Vanderhoof, Tzadik)
>
>
>
------------------------------------------------------------
----------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2006 11:05:22 -0400
> From: "Vanderhoof, Tzadik"
<Tzadik.Vanderhoofssa.gov>
> Subject: RE: [ma-linux] Re: [dclug] decoding a
winmail.dat file on a
> linux box
> To: "William Shotts" <bshottspanix.com>, <bogiebogartearthlink.net>
> Cc: Ma linux <ma-linuxtux.org>, "Novalug
\(E-mail\)"
> <novalugtux.org>, dclugtux.org
> Message-ID:
>
<15AEACF110417C4B9D6186FE81FBF2D90206FC81HQ-
> MBX-03.ba.ad.ssa.gov>
> Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="us-ascii"
>
> How do you get Outlook to generate a winmail.dat file?
I'd like to
> send
> one to myself and open it on a Linux box so I can look
at it.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ma-linux-bouncestux.org
[mailto:ma-linux-bouncestux.org] On
> Behalf Of William Shotts
> Sent: Tuesday, June 27, 2006 7:14 PM
> To: bogiebogartearthlink.net
> Cc: Ma linux; Novalug (E-mail); dclugtux.org
> Subject: [ma-linux] Re: [dclug] decoding a winmail.dat
file on a linux
> box
>
> Tim Bogart wrote:
> > All,
> >
> > For the purposes of decency I will refrain from
openly expressing my
> > discontentment and distain for the clueless
individual who has done
> > this to me.
> >
> > They have sent me a winmail.dat file and insist
that I read it's
> > contents. I have tried to walk them through
cutting and pasting the
> > verbage they wish me to review into the body of an
email, but due
> to a
>
> > combination of a language barrier and technical
ineptness and
> > cluelessness that the whole universe doesn't
revolve around redmond
> > washington, I cannot get them to understand that I
cannot read their
> email, nor can I decode it on my linux box.
> >
> > I've been through about 15 pages of google
searches, and have found
> > utilities that convert winmail.dat files to text,
but unfortunately,
> > they all run on windoze (go figure).
> >
> > Does anybody know of a way to decode a winmail.dat
file on a linux
> > system and where I might find the program required
to perform this
> > seemingly insurmountable task?
> >
> > TIA,
> >
> > Tim B.
> > _______________________________________________
> > dclug mailing list
> > dclugtux.org
> > http://www.
tux.org/mailman/listinfo/dclug
> >
> There is a tnef application in KDE (in kdepim). It's
called ktnef.
>
> --
>
> ||||| William Shotts, Jr. (bshotts AT panix DOT com)
Be a Linux
> ||||| Commander! Follow me to http://linuxcommand.org
See My
> ||||| Photography! http://www.wi
lliamshottsphotography.com
> _______________________________________________
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>
>
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> End of dclug Digest, Vol 25, Issue 19
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<quote>
Dealing with the winmail.dat file: the problem and the
solutions
The Problem
Email users sometimes find that they receive email messages
with a
strange file attached, called winmail.dat. When they attempt
to open
this file, either it can't be opened at all, or it contains
"garbage" data.
The situation causing this is that people are using several
different
email client programs to receive, read, and send email. The
most
commonly used email client programs at GPC seem to be
Microsoft Outlook
and Netscape (specifically the Messenger component), with a
small
minority of techno-geeks using Eudora. Unfortunately,
Outlook does not
"play nice" with the other email programs all
the time. This causes
problems, not for the sender of the email, but the
recipient,
particularly when actual files are attached to messages.
Outlook97/2000
Outlook is a rather powerful email client program with a
number of
features that look very attractive. Most notably, Outlook
allows users
to send email in a variety of formats:
* as plain vanilla text with no formatting
* in Rich Text Format, which allows for a limited
amount of
formatting, such as boldface/italic/underlined text or
different fonts
* formatted with the HTML formatting language so that
it appears
(sort of) like a web page
* formatted as a Microsoft Word document.
It's these formatting options that cause the problems.
When an Outlook user composes and sends a message using
either Rich Text
Format or HTML Format, Outlook automagically generates a
file,
winmail.dat, and attaches it to the end of the message.
winmail.dat
contains formatting information, in a human-unreadable form,
that
Outlook will use on the receiving end to display this email
message
correctly. Unfortunately, Outlook is the ONLY email client
program that
can use this information! Netscape Messenger, Eudora*, and
other email
client programs don't understand this information.
The Solutions
If you are receiving these winmail.dat files
I assume at this point that you are not using Microsoft
Outlook as your
email client program, since this wouldn't be a problem if
you were using it.
One solution to the problem is to visit http://www.biblet.com and
download the WMDecode program found there (look about
halfway down the
page). This will at least allow you to decode the
winmail.dat files and
extract any useful attachments from them.
Other than this, there's not much you can do on your end to
fix the
problem, since it's not your email program generating the
problem. If
you just don't want to deal with the problem, the other
approach is to
reply to the individual who sent you the offending email and
ask that
they re-send the message, with the attached files, as a
plain text
message, not in Rich Text Format or HTML. If they don't
know how to do
this, you can, of course, refer them to this document!
If you are sending these winmail.dat files
If someone emails you to complain that they couldn't read
your
attachments, or to ask what this "winmail.dat"
file is that you sent
them, chances are you sent this email using Microsoft
Outlook 97/2000
(or, very remotely possibly, another product using Microsoft
Exchange
Server). Although you are not the one having the problem,
you are the
one who gets to fix the problem.
You have multiple possible ways to fix the problem,
depending on how you
have set up your address book capabilities and whether or
not you are
using a mailing list or group mailing to send out the
offending email.
Please read the remainder of this section before you begin
making
changes to your settings, as there are two special
situations, discussed
first, that you must consider before choosing the
appropriate solution.
Special Situations
If you are sending messages to a mailing list or as a group
mailing
In this situation, you MUST set ALL users up so that they
receive plain
text email. If even one user is set up in your address book,
or your
default setting is to receive Rich Text Format or HTML
format email,
everyone will receive that format. You must either edit
every address
book entry for every individual on your mailing list, or
change your
default sending mode to plain text. Both methods are
described below.
If you use an online directory (LDAP server) to look up the
recipient's
address
In this situation, you have no address book entry to edit,
so you may
either change your default sending mode to plain text or
change the
sending mode manually for each message.
Solution details
If the recipient is in your address book
1. Open up your Outlook Address Book, either by clicking
on the
Address Book icon or by choosing Tools->Address Book
2. Select the recipient's entry in your address book
and open up
their Properties, either by clicking on the Properties
button or double-
clicking on the recipient's entry.
3. Select the "Name" tab in the Properties
dialog window.
4. Check the box at the bottom of the window that says
"Send email
using plain text only".
5. Click the "OK" button.
If you enter the recipient's address manually in the To:
line of your
email message
EACH TIME you send a message to this person, you must:
1. Create a new email message as you normally would, but
before
sending it,
2. Choose Format->Plain Text from the menu bar.
3. Now send your message.
If you want to change your default sending mode
You may change your default sending mode in Outlook, thereby
sending all
email messages as plain text, by doing the following:
1. Select Tools->Options from the Outlook menu bar.
2. Select the "Mail Format" tab in the
dialog window.
3. In the first drop-down list, under the "Message
Format" heading,
select Plain Text
4. Click the "OK" button.
Use your browser's "Back" button to return to
your previous page.
* Eudora can, and does, display HTML formatted email
messages in HTML
format, but it does not use the winmail.dat information to
do so.
</quote>
http
://www.gpc.edu/~jbenson/resource/winmail.htm
Searching for winmail.dat on google brings this and dozens
of other
pages as well.
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