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Microsoft Entourage and TNEF attachments
MacFixIt reader Matt completed some testing at his company to figure out why Entourage users were getting their e-mail attachments converted to TNEF files.
He writes "The bottom line is that e-mails sent internally using our Exchange 5.5 mail server were ALWAYS converted to TNEFs. The solution appears to be upgrading to a more current version of Exchange server, Exchange 2003.
"Our guru's analysis: OK, here's what I believe the problem is, and I also believe it is "by design". In other words, there is really no solution to this problem at this time.
"First, the quick fix: If you or your Mac users receive a message with a TNEFF attachment and need to get at it, use Outlook Web Access.
"Now, the what I believe the 'problem' is: All Exchange is is a database where all mail and attachments are stored (oversimplification, but basically true). All data is stored in ESE (Extensible Storage Engine) format inside the database. The conversion from TNEF to an Internet standard mail format only happens when data is transferred between the Information Store and another service (like the Internet Mail Service). Thus, mail with an attachment sent from an internal account to an internal account never leaves the Information Store, and no conversion happens. This is "By Design", unfortunately and as far as I'm aware can't be changed. Why mail with an attachment sent to an external account or from an external account is OK is because it is transferred between the IMS and IS, where conversion does occur.
"To make a long story short -- unless your mail application is TNEF-aware, mail between internal users will have this TNEF problem. Work around it by using OWA. Exchange 2003 has a streaming file associated with each database, where Internet-native MIME format data is stored, thus solving the problem you're currently experiencing with internal-only mail."
So it appears that reverting to Entourage X (if you're using Exchange 2000) and waiting for an acknowledgment of the issue and fix from Microsoft, or upgrading to Exchange 2003 are the most viable solutions at this point.
Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.
Resources
A Mac user could also use the freeware "TNEF's Enough" to take care of the
problem:
http://www.joshjacob.com/macdev/tnef/
- by jelockwood September 14, 2004 3:24 AM PDT
- This bug has been around for years. So long in fact (longer than
- Like this Reply to this comment
-
(3 Comments)Mac OS X has been shipping) that a special utility has been written
(TNEF's Enough) to convert TNEF attachments back to the real file
(as indicated in another comment).
These attachments typically appear as a file called winmail.dat
This problem is NOT due to MS Exchange as it happens even on a
network not running Exchange at all.
The problem is due to Outlook for Windows (not Outlook Express).
It only happens if Outlook is configured to send messages in HTML
or RTF format. If Outlook sends messages as plain text the
problem does not occur.
Ludicrously, even Outlook Express for Windows cannot process
the TNEF attachments.
I don't know about Entourage 2004 but earlier versions also did
not cope with TNEF files.
TNEF attachments are almost as bad as a virus or spam due to the
number of support calls they generate. Microsoft's solution of
course would be to have everyone in the entire world running (and
paying for) Outlook for Windows (which is not free unlike Outlook
Express).
What I don't understand is why other email client authors have not
conceded to the inevitable and built TNEF support in to their
programs. If Josh Jacob can write a standalone utility to decode
TNEF (a plug-in also exists for SquirrelMail) then why cannot
Apple, Eudora, etc. do the same directly within the client?