Cannot Receive Certain Attachments

[paulcs]

I don't believe this is an internal problem, given the number of attachments we successfully at work every day. It was only happening with one client, but a second just joined the very short list last week. Both, oddly enough, are in the Washington, DC area. I was hoping someone might recognize the problem and suggest a solution I could pass on, or if necessary, implement.

In Eudora, the email message comes in and the program notes an attachment and where it put it. However, the attachment is not the Word or Excel file the sender intended.

The file aways contains a lot of nonsense code (Wing Dings, non-English characters, etc.), some page breaks, and the text from the original email message, sometimes without the spaces. The file's name is always the same as the text in the email message's subject header, unless the suject header is long. In this case, it just cuts the title off at a certain point. The file is not associated with any Windows software that I know of.

There is never any trace of the *intended* attachment in the file we actually receive.

If I download the file using Outlook Express, it doesn't even acknowledge that there was an attachment.

If anyone recognizes these symptoms, I would really appreciate hearing about it.

Thanks.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[speeder]

Lol, my dad has the same problem, hehehe (he uses Netscape)
SO i guess its some kind of virus...

Hey Paul, i am on flashcom too!

[Jorden]

Check if the mail program is using MIME/HTML or plain text. I've had some problems with sending attachements when I used my composer in text format.

Jord.

[paulcs]

Hey Speeder. Does your father have problems sending or receiving attachments.

I'm almost certain this is an encoding issue. The person we're having problems with sent us an attachment yesterday and copied my boss in Tennessee. Two different ISP's, two different POP servers, and the attachment didn't make it to either.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[Maggi]

just a guess, but does that client use AOL and its built-in mailing system ???

[paulcs]

I certainly hope not. The user is a social scientist with the US Department of the Interior, and I'd like to do everything in my power to avoid giving more of the taxpayers money to Federal Express when we should be receiving these documents via email and for free.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[Manex]

Hi paulcs! This may not be the problem you are describing but I've experienced a similar problem before. I've noticed that if you send a message, in rich text format, with an attachment from either Outlook or Exchange to someone who has either Eudora or Outlook express, the same behavior you have described will occur. However, you can send attachments from those two programs in either HTML or plain text format and the attachment arrives intact. This may not be your problem, but it's worth checking out. I don't know any other solution other than to send in HTML or plain text format.

Cheers!


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[This message has been edited by Manex (edited 07 January 2000).]

[This message has been edited by Manex (edited 07 January 2000).]

[paulcs]

Thanks. I'll check it out.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[paulcs]

Problem solved. As suspected, it was an encryption issue. My client was using Outlook and the rich text format. (Good call!) He switched to plain text, and sucessfully sent us and others a MS Word test document.

A short while after sending his first attachment in weeks, he discovered that some variant of the Melissa virus was on his machine, and that he may have infected the machines of several business associates, friends, and relatives, including mine.

The poor guy then had to send off that embarassing "Dear Friends, I may have sent you a virus ..." letter. Happily, he got to send a second message saying he had reason to believe their anti-virus software had nipped this problem in the bud before the attachment got to us. This appears to be true.

So, thank you again.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net