Programming : PDF email Attachments received as winmail.dat

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PDF email Attachments received as winmail.dat

Printed From: www.exp-systems.com
Category: PDF reDirect
Forum Name: Programming
Forum Discription: VBA and Batch Tools to control PDF reDirect Pro
URL: http://www.exp-systems.com/Forum_exp/forum_posts.asp?TID=1100
Printed Date: 22 Nov 24 at 2:24AM

Topic: PDF email Attachments received as winmail.dat

Posted By: David_Carle
Subject: PDF email Attachments received as winmail.dat
Date Posted: 12 Dec 12 at 2:52PM

Hi Michel

We have a problem in that PDF reports that we send by email from MS-Access are received by some recipients (eg an iPhone) as a winmail.dat attachment, which cannot be accessed by the recipient. (Using PDF reDirect Pro v2.5.2)

I have tried the various settings in Outlook but it has no effect.

Also, if I send the email and pdf attachment directly from Outlook then it is received correctly as a PDF.

I don't see any settings in Preferences that could affect this. Are you able to make any changes to the "Use MAPI ..." settings so that emails are not sent in TNEF/RTF format?

Please have a look at the comment from Dmitry on

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Many thanks

David

Replies:

Posted By: David_Carle
Date Posted: 12 Dec 12 at 2:55PM

Looks like the URL was blocked

Search for

how to prevent sending "winmail.dat" in code

on social.msdn dot microsoft dot com

Posted By: Michel_K17
Date Posted: 12 Dec 12 at 7:02PM

Hi David,

OK. I'll take a look, and see what I can find out.

Cheers!

Michel

-------------
Michel Korwin-Szymanowski
EXP Systems LLC

Posted By: Michel_K17
Date Posted: 15 Dec 12 at 12:18PM

Hi David,

   Thanks for the pointer: I think I found the solution.

   First off, I started having problems with the simple MAPI option on Windows 7 machines, and eventuall I, added "SMTP:" in front of the e-mail addresses which allows e-mail addresses to be resolved in Win7 machines by using the full MAPI solution, but apparently adds the winmail.dat attachment for Outlook users (which I had not realized at the time).

   By following your tip, I found the following solution here:
http://www.2icsoftware.com/Support/Forum/tabid/110/aff/2/aft/1105/afv/topic/Default.aspx

   The highlights are:

Microsoft decided to no longer support the 'Simple MAPI' email system in Windows 7 (which is why I had to use the regular MAPI route).
The solution is to downgrade Mapi32.dll from version 1.0.2536.0 on Windows 7 machines to an earlier version which you can get from any Windows XP or Windows Vista machines.
The link above also provides a separate patch download which might be easier to use.

I plan to research this further for a permanent fix for PDF reDirect, however, I am concerned about me applying this fix as part of the normal installation of PDF reDirect. I believe that my preferred solution would be to make this fix available as a separate download, or a button in PDF reDirect ("Apply MAPI patch") with an "undo" feature and a "use at your risk" warning.

I hope this helps.

-------------
Michel Korwin-Szymanowski
EXP Systems LLC

Posted By: David_Carle
Date Posted: 12 Jan 13 at 10:33AM

Hi Michel

I installed the EmailPatch from the 2icsoftware.com site, and it installed a version of Mapi32.dll dated 04/08/2004 19:30 (it is 110KB vs the original version size of 75KB). Unfortunately, it didn't seem to make any difference. I sent an email to my iPhone and it still showed up as a winmail.dat attachment.

If you could add an option for 'Prefix email address with SMTP:' then I think this might be the solution. Any idea when you might be able to do this?

Thanks

David

Posted By: Michel_K17
Date Posted: 12 Jan 13 at 2:26PM

Hello David,

   I did some more research. I found a web site where a programmer mentioned that he was able to bypass this problem by placing the e-mail address in the "DisplayName" property instead of the address proper. In this case, he reports that the e-mail is sent as a plain text e-mail, and does not use the TNEF format (ie no winmail.dat file).

   Can you e-mail me your iPhone's e-mail address? I can send you a couple of test e-mails, and you can let me know which one works OK for you (if any).

   Send me your e-mail address to exp (at) exp-systems (dot) com.

   Thanks!

Michel

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Michel Korwin-Szymanowski
EXP Systems LLC

Posted By: Michel_K17
Date Posted: 12 Jan 13 at 4:22PM

Hello David,

   Please ignore the above request for your iPhone's e-mail address.

   I borrowed a friend's iPad and did the test - and confirmed that the change I described above fixes the problem.

   I will send you a fix shortly (today or tomorrow).

   Cheers!

Michel

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Michel Korwin-Szymanowski
EXP Systems LLC

Posted By: Michel_K17
Date Posted: 13 Jan 13 at 10:01AM

Hello David,

Here are the upgrade instructions to fix the iPhone winmail.dat problem:

Stop PDF reDirect (if running)
(optional) Open the Task Manager, and check to make sure that Capture.exe is not running.
Navigate to where your copy of PDF reDirect is currently installed, most likely as follows:

Windows (32 bit): C:\Program Files\PDF reDirect\
Windows (64 bit): C:\Program Files (x86)\PDF reDirect\

Rename the program "Capture.exe: to "Capture.old"

Note: you will get a warning from Windows asking if you are sure. The answer is "yes"

download the fix from here:

http://www.exp-systems.com/PDFreDirect/Download/Capture_v252_iPhoneFix.zip

Unzip to your PDF reDirect folder (step 3)

That's it! It should now work properly.

Cheers!

Michel

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Michel Korwin-Szymanowski
EXP Systems LLC

Posted By: David_Carle
Date Posted: 24 Jan 13 at 1:36PM

Hi Michel

Thanks for that. It seems to be working now. Have tested it on an iPad and also yahoo web mail.

One minor typo in your step 3 - the path for Windows 64 is likely to be C:\Program Files (x86)\PDF reDirect\
and not
C:\Program Files\PDF reDirect (x86)\

Thanks for your help.

David

Posted By: Michel_K17
Date Posted: 24 Jan 13 at 9:46PM

Hi David,

Thanks for the update: I am glad to hear it.

I fixed the typo as well: good catch!

Cheers!

Michel

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Michel Korwin-Szymanowski
EXP Systems LLC

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