Another really cool thing about the next Notes client
I forgot all about this until today.
The next Notes client is going to have built-in support for Microsoft TNEF files (winmail.dat.) I used to admin Exchange, so I know how easy it is to ensure that outgoing mail is in HTML rather than TNEF, so it always pisses me off when one of my Notes users gets a damn winmail.dat file.
It happens all the time too, from big multi-nationals too. Ugh. It’s always fun explaining that the winmail.dat is due to stupid admins and/or users. Grrrrrrrr….
Dunno if this will be native, so the conversion isn’t even seen, or if it’ll just be a viewer. But either way, it’s welcome.
Technorati tags: TNEF, Lotus Notes
February 1, 2006 @ 11:20 am
I was actually going to ask for clarification on that in the “Ask the Developers” session, but we ran out of time.
In the meantime, don’t forget about:
http://www.nsftools.com/tips/NotesTips.htm#extracttnef
February 1, 2006 @ 12:14 pm
Admins screw up mail configs with Domino too. I remember when we were doing interop between Domino and Workplace and discovered that one of the Domino servers had been configured to send all outgoing mail as plain text.
Also: remember OND files? They were file attachments from Notes that contained a single document in a Notes database. I haven’t seen one in years but I recall getting a few of these back in the Notes 4.x timeframe. Also, prior to R5, MIME content could optionally be stored as a file attachment.
February 1, 2006 @ 3:05 pm
Yeah Bob, but Plain Text is universally understood. Granted, there is no formatting, but it doesn’t encapsulate it in something that no one BUT Domino can read.
The fact of the matter is, it’s like 2 clicks for an Exchange Admin to fix, and the fact that every single week I have to deal with winmail.dat’s means that either:
A. Exchange Admins are just idiots in general OR
B. Microsoft is wrong for allowing internet mail to go out in that format at all
I actually vote for B. myself, because I WAS an Exchange admin and know many GOOD Exchange Admins, but damn. How hard is it to get this one setting right? Oh and I won’t even go into how many times I’ve had to prove to an Exchange admin that the problem is indeed on their side. Grrrrrrr….
-Grey
February 1, 2006 @ 5:50 pm
I’ve run into this problem. I think it’s more likely B from your previous comment as well, and is part of Microsoft’s “We want everyone to do it our way and to hell with standards” attitude.
I used to trade email frequently from an account rep with SBC when I was working for an ISP. If I opened my mail on my Linux laptop, I had to run a TNEF converter to read any attachments he sent me. If I opened it in Lookout Express on one of our office workstations, I didn’t have any troubles at all.
One would think someone as large as SBC would make sure this isn’t an issue, especially for an account manager dealing with ISP’s.
Take care,
Mike
February 1, 2006 @ 6:16 pm
@3 I didn’t mean to imply that there was anything wrong with plain text, just that if you’re sending rich text and relying on formatting, having recipients just get plain text is annoying and is a config issue that can be addressed easily.
February 1, 2006 @ 9:34 pm
This is one feature I wish they’d go ahead and bring out in a point release for 7 instead of waiting for the new client. Due to Murphy’s Law… it always seems that the winmail.dat files come in email messages for the CEO or one of the VPs at my company. These are usually the least technical users and have the hardest time understanding that the problem is on the other side… they just want their attachments. We’ve gotten to the point where when they get a winmail.dat file their admin assistants just forward it straight to me for decoding and I then re-attach the file and send it back.
I’ve tried talking to the folks sending the messages but they’re usually as technically behind the curve as our execs. The problem is that you can have this show up whether the client on the other end is exchange or outlook express… so sometimes there’s no technical people to talk to. Even the ones running exchange may not have a full time exchange person… MS has marketed their server software as easy enough to run without a technical staff so a lot of small businesses or professional organizations have had a consultant come in and set-up the server and then leave them to run it.
I haven’t tried implementing Julian’s solution yet… what ever we do has to be EXTREMELY user friendly or they’ll continue to forward messages to me to decode. That’s why I’d love to see it added to the OpenNTF mail template. I’ve tried giving the admin assistant’s a desktop winmail.dat decoder but the dang thing times out periodically and makes you go download a new version and that freaks them out.