Tomoko & other fellow polluters,
> Those of you who are computer experts! Is there any setting in Outlook
Express
> or MS e-mail clients to prevent the winmail.dat attachments? I ask this
> question I could possibly generate these things myself.
[Dave Bulger]
Yes, there is an explanation and an answer, albeit a somewhat awkward one.
H'yar it is.
The problem:
MS Exchange clients (Outlook, et al) store properties for each & every
recipient in the Contacts database internally. One of these properties is
a "un-raw text" flag used to determine if the output sent by the client
(Outlook, et al) is to contain formatting information or not. If this flag
is set, the client sends out the "WINMAIL.DAT" attachment with each & every
post, and if it's un-set, it doesn't. Uncle Bill Gates, in his
center-of-the-universe mentality, hath decided that the default for MS
Exchange clients is to set the flag and send the garbage regardless of
whether the recipient is interested in it or not. Far be it from Uncle
Bill to adhere to MIME standards! (Yeah, I don't like it, and I'm an
MCSE!)
Under normal circumstances the recipient, be it Outlook or Eudora, etc.,
simply either uses or ignores the additional data. If I send an email
_directly_ to Jan or George or John, their client pretends the WINMAIL.DAT
info isn't there, and the receiving reader never see it. The listserv
software, however, isn't that bright. It takes the additional data as an
extension to the post and includes it in the digest/redistributed email,
infuriating and bulking up digest-ers. There's a joke in there
somewhere... I participate on lists where the software is aware of this
and doesn't append the WINMAIL.DAT file, but the software running the OM
list isn't there yet, man.
When you hit the <Reply> button to send a clever response to a post
received from the list, Outlook doesn't apply the properties you have set
in the Contacts database to the response email, and with the WINMAIL.DAT
flag set to true by default, sends the garbage along with your post to the
list.
The solution:
Press the <Contacts> button in Outlook. Double-click on the entry you have
for the OM list. Right click on the email address shown for the contact
and select PROPERTIES. Make really, really sure that the "Always send to
this recipient in Microsoft Rich Text Format" box is NOT checked. Press
the APPLY button. Press the SAVE AND CLOSE button. The configuration
portion of this is done.
Here's the awkward part. When you want to reply to a post from the list,
press the REPLY button as usual, but don't accept the default reply-to
address. Delete this!!! Press the TO: button and specifically select the
entry you have in the contacts database for the OM list. This ensures that
Outlook KNOWS that you don't want this going out in MS-RTF.
While this is a pain to get used to, you'll find that people like you more,
send you gifts and 300mm lenses, allow you to date their
sons/daughters/sisters/brothers, and in general think you're a pretty good
person.
HTH!
I hereby put this missive in the public domain for all and sundry to save &
send to their favorite polluter. I'm sorry for the length of both this
note and this thread. Hopefully we can put it to rest.
Rgds,
Dave
< This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
< For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
< Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >
|