Ticket Options
Question Details
TICKET ARCHIVE -> Mime Attachments
dakereba - Aug 29, 2005 - 11:38 pm
I keep getting mail attachments titled "mime-attachment" and cannot open them. If I double-click I get a message saying there is no default application. How do I read these? How can I set Mail up to decode them automatically?
Natobasso - Aug 30, 2005 - 7:25 pm
Here's more on MIME attachments:
http://email.about.com/cs/standards/a/mime.htm
Hope this helps!
--------
*Nathaniel
Bass. Design. Junior IT.
1. Repair Permissions: apps/utilities/disk utility/repair permissions
2. Boot up with your system disk and run Repair Permissions as well as Repair Disk. Do NOT reinstall OS X.
3. Delete the offending program\'s preference file
4. Reboot your computer
5. Zap the PRAM: command + option + p + r
http://email.about.com/cs/standards/a/mime.htm
Hope this helps!
--------
*Nathaniel
Bass. Design. Junior IT.
1. Repair Permissions: apps/utilities/disk utility/repair permissions
2. Boot up with your system disk and run Repair Permissions as well as Repair Disk. Do NOT reinstall OS X.
3. Delete the offending program\'s preference file
4. Reboot your computer
5. Zap the PRAM: command + option + p + r
dakereba - Aug 30, 2005 - 11:06 pm
This is a brand new iMac. I am not comfortable with this suggestion, as I have done nothing to the machine to cause a need to repair. Any other suggestions?
Natobasso - Aug 30, 2005 - 11:38 pm
Sorry, the points listed in my signature are not for you to do…I just refer to them regularly and so in order to keep from typing them I have them there.
Just read the article on MIME email. It should tell you what you need to know.
Basically you don't need to "open" MIME attachments because they are already displayed in your emails. MIME is a text only format.
--------
*Nathaniel
Bass. Design. Junior IT.
1. Repair Permissions: apps/utilities/disk utility/repair permissions
2. Boot up with your system disk and run Repair Permissions as well as Repair Disk. Do NO
Just read the article on MIME email. It should tell you what you need to know.
Basically you don't need to "open" MIME attachments because they are already displayed in your emails. MIME is a text only format.
--------
*Nathaniel
Bass. Design. Junior IT.
1. Repair Permissions: apps/utilities/disk utility/repair permissions
2. Boot up with your system disk and run Repair Permissions as well as Repair Disk. Do NO
dakereba - Sep 1, 2005 - 10:29 pm
Sorry, but that article doesn't address my problem. I have people sending me attachments, but all I see is a MIME attachment. The body of the attachment does NOT show up in the text of the email.
I would strongly suggest you remove the "instructions" in your signature. Many people that ask questions here are like me, that is to say, unfamiliar with the Mac and sometimes with computers in general. It's very easy to mistake your signature as instructions to the recipient.
Thanks for your help.
I would strongly suggest you remove the "instructions" in your signature. Many people that ask questions here are like me, that is to say, unfamiliar with the Mac and sometimes with computers in general. It's very easy to mistake your signature as instructions to the recipient.
Thanks for your help.
Natobasso - Sep 2, 2005 - 3:02 pm
I'll be working with Senior IT today and I'll find out from him. I looked all through preferences in Mail and couldn't find anything helpful there (even opened Mail Help; no luck).
I'll see if I can get an answer today. If not then probably by Saturday.
--------
*Nathaniel
Bass. Design. Junior IT.
I'll see if I can get an answer today. If not then probably by Saturday.
--------
*Nathaniel
Bass. Design. Junior IT.
dakereba - Sep 5, 2005 - 6:31 pm
I got an email saying the ticket is closed, but to reply when I have the information you need. If you are waiting on a reply from me, please let me know. I have not been requested to send any additional information, but was asked to wait until Nathaniel could speak with other techs then reply back to me. Any updates for me?
Natobasso - Sep 6, 2005 - 9:49 am
I didn't close the thread…
I am having trouble answering your problem. Most programs have an option to receive mail attachments as eithere MIME or Apple Double and I can't find this in the Mail program. It exists in Entourage, however.
Can you access your email account directly (most ISPs have webmail) and set your attachments to be received as non-MIME?
If not, I'll have to put your question back into open queue because I'm at a loss. I do apologize, though there must be someone else who knoww how to answer this.
--------
*Nathaniel
Bass. Design. Junior IT.
I am having trouble answering your problem. Most programs have an option to receive mail attachments as eithere MIME or Apple Double and I can't find this in the Mail program. It exists in Entourage, however.
Can you access your email account directly (most ISPs have webmail) and set your attachments to be received as non-MIME?
If not, I'll have to put your question back into open queue because I'm at a loss. I do apologize, though there must be someone else who knoww how to answer this.
--------
*Nathaniel
Bass. Design. Junior IT.
dakereba - Sep 6, 2005 - 10:40 pm
There seems to be no way to get my webmail to translate mime attachments.
Natobasso - Sep 7, 2005 - 2:21 pm
Are all your MIME attachments from the same source? Have them send their attachments as non MIME. maybe that will solve the issue?
I have to apologize that I haven't seen my IT guy long enough to ask him this question. Shall I put your question back in the queue for others to provide help?
--------
*Nathaniel
Bass. Design. Junior IT.
I have to apologize that I haven't seen my IT guy long enough to ask him this question. Shall I put your question back in the queue for others to provide help?
--------
*Nathaniel
Bass. Design. Junior IT.
dakereba - Sep 7, 2005 - 9:21 pm
Yes, I'd appreciate it if you could put it back in the que. Asking the sender to change how they send things doesn't seem like a workable solution. I think Mail should be able to decode these attachments or compose the mail message in the body of the text without breaking out into an attachment. No one should have to make changes in how they send things to me because I chose a Mac.
Natobasso - Sep 8, 2005 - 11:28 am
I will send this back to queue.
However, users on PCs have specific needs just like mac users do. For example, when I send graphic files I usually have to .zip my files so they aren't corrupted by the time they reach the pc computer. Asking the sender to send things differently is a part of life. Life is all about translation and communication. So I disagree with your assessment, but we can agree to disagree.
--------
*Nathaniel
Bass. Design. Junior IT.
However, users on PCs have specific needs just like mac users do. For example, when I send graphic files I usually have to .zip my files so they aren't corrupted by the time they reach the pc computer. Asking the sender to send things differently is a part of life. Life is all about translation and communication. So I disagree with your assessment, but we can agree to disagree.
--------
*Nathaniel
Bass. Design. Junior IT.
dakereba - Sep 8, 2005 - 9:31 pm
The sender mass-mails this and it would not be practical for them to make a change to accomodate the occasional Mac user. It's my problem, not theirs. I'd appreciate any help you could give. Thanks.
Drumhum - Sep 10, 2005 - 5:12 pm
David,
I have had MIME attachments that sound similar to yours in so far as I cannot open them. There are typically two reasons for this.
1 They are viruses. Sent un-knowingly by PC users. They wont work on Macs so its safe, just irritating. They are typically 21kB or 32kB in size for some reason (though not always!). They are not really mime files. Action - trash and ignore
2 They are "extra bits" attached to emails by PC users that have a relevance to PC email software but no relevance to Mac users. You are not missing out on anything in this case. On a PC they would be hidden from the user. Its just they are "visible" to Mac users and cause confusion. Action - ignore.
If you feel that your mime attachments are not of the above then we clearly need to investigate further! Do you know what they are supposed to be? Have you asked the sender what they have sent you, for eg? How big is the attachment?
Also, can you tell me what OS you are running and what what mail application you use (eg Apple's Mail, Entourage etc).
If you would like to send me an example to look at it would be most useful I'm sure. Just "forward" an example email and address to...
thomas@macosx.com
regards
Tom
--------
You will be asked for feedback once this query is closed. All us techs love to get feedback:-) Thanks for using macosx.com
I have had MIME attachments that sound similar to yours in so far as I cannot open them. There are typically two reasons for this.
1 They are viruses. Sent un-knowingly by PC users. They wont work on Macs so its safe, just irritating. They are typically 21kB or 32kB in size for some reason (though not always!). They are not really mime files. Action - trash and ignore
2 They are "extra bits" attached to emails by PC users that have a relevance to PC email software but no relevance to Mac users. You are not missing out on anything in this case. On a PC they would be hidden from the user. Its just they are "visible" to Mac users and cause confusion. Action - ignore.
If you feel that your mime attachments are not of the above then we clearly need to investigate further! Do you know what they are supposed to be? Have you asked the sender what they have sent you, for eg? How big is the attachment?
Also, can you tell me what OS you are running and what what mail application you use (eg Apple's Mail, Entourage etc).
If you would like to send me an example to look at it would be most useful I'm sure. Just "forward" an example email and address to...
thomas@macosx.com
regards
Tom
--------
You will be asked for feedback once this query is closed. All us techs love to get feedback:-) Thanks for using macosx.com
Drumhum - Sep 11, 2005 - 2:39 pm
David,
For the record, you wrote in email:
**********
This is one of the emails I am referring to. I am using Tiger 10.4.2 and Mail 2.0.3. I don't know what software was used to create the attachment.
In an seemingly unrelated issue, I have also had some emails forwarded to me that cut off part way down the message. If I increase the text size, the cutoff stays physically in the same place, sometimes slicing right through the middle of a line of text. I'll submit another request if I need to for this new issue.
**************
I have looked at the file and have found no way of converting it into something useful. From my research it is impossible to do this unless you have a windows PC. Having said that it is not just mac users that will struggle with this file - even some PC users will too. The file is generated by Microsoft technology that is totally non-standard internet "rules", and as far as I know, even MS have abandoned this technology. Email rules say that all emails must be text based. Even when you attach a file such as a picture, your email software will convert the attachment into a text format which will get converted back to a picture by the recipient. How the file gets converted is where Microsoft have deviated from the standards. If you don't have MS entourage and MS Excel then you wont be able to read this file. You probably even need specific versions of these applications and possibly a certain version of MS windows too. Lets just say it was naughty of Microsoft to incorporate this "feature" in their software.
I believe the file is supposed to generate a Microsoft Excel file (spreadsheet). I say "generate" as the attachment is not really a MS Excel file as such. It is more like a special file that provides Excel instructions on how to generate a speadsheet. It could well be just data to be inserted into some excel template for example. It will probably be made by the sender directly from excel. ie the user will select something like "email this spreadsheet" from excel and excel then generates some special file to send to entourage which then sends the email. A format specific to Entourage and Excel on the PC
I have read that one work around is for the sender to set their Entourage software (this file only gets made in Entourage!) to send email as text rather than RTF (rich text format). This setting can be made for individual address book entries. So the sender could look up your name in entourage address book and put a cross in the box that says something like "send plain text email only to this guy".
I take your earlier point about how you, as a Mac user should be able to cope with anything thats sent to you, but in this case it really is the fault of the sender. They're sending a very non standard format. Using this format they will be potentially causing many users to have problems. The sender does have a responsibility to be compatible. There have been many formats developed to keep things compatible such as PDF, and other formats have become a standard by default like Word documents but this mime file certainly isn't one of those. The sender should save the excel document and attache it to an email and send the email as plaintext format - it would probably work ok as RTF too but Plaintext is more standard.
It is a simple case of ignorance on the part of the sender. I suspect they have a pretty old computer made back in the days when internet lessons had yet to be learned!
I'm just saying don't feel bad you can't handle this file. I suggest you gently suggest to the sender to change how he/she sends attachments.
*******
With regards to your other question, it may prove more useful to you to post this as a separate question. I can't say its a problem I can instantly identify and I would need more info etc. there may be a tech whose experienced the very thing you see, who could sort you out quickly.
Feel free to get back to me if you need to
Regards
Tom
--------
You will be asked for feedback once this query is closed. All us techs love to get feedback:-) Thanks for using macosx.com
For the record, you wrote in email:
**********
This is one of the emails I am referring to. I am using Tiger 10.4.2 and Mail 2.0.3. I don't know what software was used to create the attachment.
In an seemingly unrelated issue, I have also had some emails forwarded to me that cut off part way down the message. If I increase the text size, the cutoff stays physically in the same place, sometimes slicing right through the middle of a line of text. I'll submit another request if I need to for this new issue.
**************
I have looked at the file and have found no way of converting it into something useful. From my research it is impossible to do this unless you have a windows PC. Having said that it is not just mac users that will struggle with this file - even some PC users will too. The file is generated by Microsoft technology that is totally non-standard internet "rules", and as far as I know, even MS have abandoned this technology. Email rules say that all emails must be text based. Even when you attach a file such as a picture, your email software will convert the attachment into a text format which will get converted back to a picture by the recipient. How the file gets converted is where Microsoft have deviated from the standards. If you don't have MS entourage and MS Excel then you wont be able to read this file. You probably even need specific versions of these applications and possibly a certain version of MS windows too. Lets just say it was naughty of Microsoft to incorporate this "feature" in their software.
I believe the file is supposed to generate a Microsoft Excel file (spreadsheet). I say "generate" as the attachment is not really a MS Excel file as such. It is more like a special file that provides Excel instructions on how to generate a speadsheet. It could well be just data to be inserted into some excel template for example. It will probably be made by the sender directly from excel. ie the user will select something like "email this spreadsheet" from excel and excel then generates some special file to send to entourage which then sends the email. A format specific to Entourage and Excel on the PC
I have read that one work around is for the sender to set their Entourage software (this file only gets made in Entourage!) to send email as text rather than RTF (rich text format). This setting can be made for individual address book entries. So the sender could look up your name in entourage address book and put a cross in the box that says something like "send plain text email only to this guy".
I take your earlier point about how you, as a Mac user should be able to cope with anything thats sent to you, but in this case it really is the fault of the sender. They're sending a very non standard format. Using this format they will be potentially causing many users to have problems. The sender does have a responsibility to be compatible. There have been many formats developed to keep things compatible such as PDF, and other formats have become a standard by default like Word documents but this mime file certainly isn't one of those. The sender should save the excel document and attache it to an email and send the email as plaintext format - it would probably work ok as RTF too but Plaintext is more standard.
It is a simple case of ignorance on the part of the sender. I suspect they have a pretty old computer made back in the days when internet lessons had yet to be learned!
I'm just saying don't feel bad you can't handle this file. I suggest you gently suggest to the sender to change how he/she sends attachments.
*******
With regards to your other question, it may prove more useful to you to post this as a separate question. I can't say its a problem I can instantly identify and I would need more info etc. there may be a tech whose experienced the very thing you see, who could sort you out quickly.
Feel free to get back to me if you need to
Regards
Tom
--------
You will be asked for feedback once this query is closed. All us techs love to get feedback:-) Thanks for using macosx.com
dakereba - Sep 11, 2005 - 3:20 pm
Thank you very much for your well-written reply. I have a current copy of Excel on my Mac, but still cannot view this file. I guess I'l have to reply to the sender that the format is such that I cannot view it and request they send it from a newer version of whatever program they are using.
Thanks again.
Thanks again.
Drumhum - Sep 11, 2005 - 4:38 pm
David,
Excel doesn't even recognise it does it!
Just to be accurate, your sender does not have to use more up-to-date software, your sender just needs to send the attachment differently.
I'm pretty sure if email is sent as "plaintext" it will work - a setting the sender can makes either in entourage or against your name in entourage's address book - I can't be more specific as I don't use entourage but suffice to say this software allows the format of emails to be set differently for each person in the address book.
or
get the sender to just save the excel document to the desktop (or somewhere) first, and then attach that to your email.
Or get the sender to "zip" the file before sending. You will have to un-zip the file before use but this should be automatic after a double click.
Its not that the sender's software is incompatible to yours as such. its the *way* the sender is sending the file.
It may take a bit of experimentation to get thinks working but once worked out it'll be good for the future too.
regards
Tom
--------
You will be asked for feedback once this query is closed. All us techs love to get feedback:-) Thanks for using macosx.com
Excel doesn't even recognise it does it!
Just to be accurate, your sender does not have to use more up-to-date software, your sender just needs to send the attachment differently.
I'm pretty sure if email is sent as "plaintext" it will work - a setting the sender can makes either in entourage or against your name in entourage's address book - I can't be more specific as I don't use entourage but suffice to say this software allows the format of emails to be set differently for each person in the address book.
or
get the sender to just save the excel document to the desktop (or somewhere) first, and then attach that to your email.
Or get the sender to "zip" the file before sending. You will have to un-zip the file before use but this should be automatic after a double click.
Its not that the sender's software is incompatible to yours as such. its the *way* the sender is sending the file.
It may take a bit of experimentation to get thinks working but once worked out it'll be good for the future too.
regards
Tom
--------
You will be asked for feedback once this query is closed. All us techs love to get feedback:-) Thanks for using macosx.com
IF THIS IS YOUR QUESTION AND YOU WISH TO RESPOND, LOGIN HERE FIRST.
