Why do some E-Mail attachments get converted into a .dat file?

Avatar
  • Answered
Sometimes we send a .pdf file attached to an E-Mail and the user cannot open the attachment because it has been converted into a .dat file.
Avatar
Arn
Hello Talismanip, Thanks for the question and sorry to hear you're having problems with the email attachment. If you post in the future, it helps to identify the email program that you're using and its version because this problem has been identified before. However, I'll take a guess and hope that the solution I present identifies and resolves your problem correctly. It's a problem that generally occurs with Outlook. Check out How to prevent the Winmail .DAT attachments article. It explains why it happens and how to resolve. Basically, the formatting commands that are included in your message are placed in the .dat file due to the receiving email client not being able to understand those commands. And this also happens to include attachments. If you happen to be using a Mac, there is also a link replace this text that talks about a solution for handling this issue as well. I hope this helps to resolve your problem! If you still need assistance, please let us know. Regards, Arnel C.