Vista - Unable to open attachment

Received a contact's mail with an attachment I cannot find an association for
in "Set Association": it's a DAT File, which is not in my Vista listings,
apparantly. How do I set an association to open this type of file"
--
delraybuzz

A DAT file could be just about anything. If an attachment arrives
without any file extension and without a meaningful MIME content type,
it will appear in WLM as a DAT file. This can happen when an attachment
is forwarded through multiple mail systems such as an AOL user
forwarding to a Hotmail user who forwards to someone else.

You'll need to save the attachment and then rename it with the correct
extension.

For that, you'll need to determine what kind of file it is. The best
would be to ask the sender.

If you can't get that information from the sender, then see
the Identifying Attachment File Types and Setting File Associations
section of
Decoding Internet Attachments - A Tutorial
http://pages.prodigy.net/michael_san...e.htm#identify


--

Mike - http://pages.prodigy.net/michael_santovec/techhelp.htm



"Buzz" <delraybuzz@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:74CB14F4-8854-453E-946D-8F3AAE221DA0@xxxxxx

I was given a scenario in which the attachment had been forwarded so many
times by so many people in so many different mail systems that it had lost
it's extension by the time you received it. It therefore was defaulted to
..DAT file.
If that applies to you, save it to a folder, re-name it to .pps , then try
to open it.
I had exactly the same situation, and it worked for me.
Otherwise, yes, remind your friend not to send .dat file attachments to you.
t-4-2

"Buzz" <delraybuzz@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:0DA5E966-A769-4876-B469-120B0CC0CB90@xxxxxx

I can understand what you're saying and it's an interesting point to be
remembered, but in this case it was an original gem of a poem written for an
adoring family! Thanks, though, for the information.
--
delraybuzz





"t-4-2" wrote:

If the cause of the dat file is due to the aforementioned reasons or originates at the senders end, then you'll still need to know
the original file extension, detach the dat file, change the file extension prior to opening in an application that supports the
original file type.

--
...winston
ms-mvp mail

"Buzz" <delraybuzz@xxxxxx> wrote in message newsDA0B3EE-BF3E-4418-BBF9-191B2095901D@xxxxxx

"Buzz" <delraybuzz@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:0DA5E966-A769-4876-B469-120B0CC0CB90@xxxxxxThere used to be a problem with the way Outlook handled attachments when
not sending in plain text. Outlook was is? the only mail client able to
read its own attachments when in this mode, others see it as a .dat
attachment as you seem to be. The only known solution is for the outlook
sender to compose his/her message in PLAIN TEXT and resend it.
NB Outlook not Outlook Express.
This is an Outlook problem not WLM. It is possible that it has been
fixed later revisions. I cannot comment on those. If it hasn't its about
time it was.

--
Wisdom and experience come with age, they say, but I wish I could
remember the darn question

You are probably thinking of the WINMAIL.DAT issue when sending from
Office Outlook program using RTF.

The issue still exists. For additional information, see the MS-TNEF
WINMAIL.DAT Attachments section of
Decoding Internet Attachments - A Tutorial
http://pages.prodigy.net/michael_san...de.htm#ms-tnef

However, in that case, the WINMAIL.DAT attachment is not visible in WLM
unless you look at the message source. Like Outlook Express, WLM goes
out of its way to hide WINMAIL.DAT attachments.


--

Mike - http://pages.prodigy.net/michael_santovec/techhelp.htm



"GbH" <Geoff_Hannington@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:eq4i219yJHA.1416@xxxxxx