Mail corrupts PDF attachments

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Level 1

10 points

Mail corrupts PDF attachments

I've had this problem for a while now, usually on older emails i've kept in my inbox, but it's started happening on more recent emails now and is becoming a real nuisance. Basically, sometimes, when i go to view or download a PDF attachment, preview tells me "Couldn’t open the file. It may be corrupt or a file format that Preview doesn’t recognize." I'm using gmail through imap on Mail. The attachement itself is fine though. I can download the attachment through gmail itself and preview displays it fine. Also, mail displays the inline preview as a small black box.

Any ideas why mail is corrupting my attachements? i've already tried rebuilding all my mailboxes multiple times, and deleting and redownloading all my messages, but the problem hasn't gone away.
Thanks for any help.

Message was edited by: zig_k

Macbook Pro SR 2.4 GHz, Mac OS X (10.5.6)

Posted on Apr 15, 2009 2:02 PM

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Answer 1

Apr 23, 2009 2:12 PM in response to zig_k

I am having a similar problem. I am using a third party email and access it through Apple Mail. But I think it has nothing to do with the app. Basically all of the pdf and zip attachments that I receive from gmail users shows as corrupted. In reality though they are empty - 0Kb. I even tried downloading them via the webmail access (using a browser), but it's the same - 0Kb. I don't even know what to do.

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Answer 2

zig_k Author

Level 1

10 points

Apr 26, 2009 2:34 PM in response to Jacob Dolinsky

I'm pretty sure my issue is related to the app itself. Using the gmail website, i can download attachments fine, and with other local mail clients, like Thunderbird, i don't have an issue either. anyone else see this??

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Answer 3

Apr 27, 2009 6:25 AM in response to zig_k

zig_k,

How did you re-download the messages? Did you remove the account then re-add it? What I would do is Move the files and folders I list below to the desktop. Then re-setup mail.

com.apple.mail.plist from the Macintosh HD -> User -> YOUR USER -> Library -> Preferences
com.apple.mail.downloads.plist from the same folder as above
& the Mail folder in Macintosh HD -> User -> YOUR USER -> Library

If all works you may delete the files. The plist files hold settings like were you store your notes and todos. And the mail folder is a copy of all you mail. You can go through it if you like.

Hope that helps,
Weston

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Answer 4

zig_k Author

Level 1

10 points

Apr 27, 2009 6:19 PM in response to westongallagher

Weston,

thanks for the pointers. I've tried deleting the plist files and mail directory and then having mail re-download all my messages before. The result is that different attachments get corrupt, but i still can't get all my attachments to download properly.

Message was edited by: zig_k

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Answer 5

Bonyo

Level 1

6 points

May 27, 2009 6:01 AM in response to zig_k

I have this problem too. And I have it for a while. Today I just found out again that one of my attachments is corrupt. The thing is when I went to Gmail online with safari the attachment is totally fine. Please help.

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Answer 6

Bonyo

Level 1

6 points

May 27, 2009 6:07 AM in response to Bonyo

OK I found some solution but still apple needs to fix their junk.
Go to your home folder/library/mail downloads. Find the files that are corrupt. Quit Mail. Delete the files. Start mail and do rebuild.

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Answer 7

Bonyo

Level 1

6 points

May 27, 2009 6:23 AM in response to Bonyo

well it did no actually help.

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Answer 8

May 31, 2009 12:12 PM in response to zig_k

Hi zig,

Did you ever find a solution to this?

I am now having a similar problem as I migrate e-mail through IMAP from a pc to a mac.

The files and attachments are all fine on the gmail web interface but when they synch to the mac the attachments are corrupt or replaced with a winmail.dat file.

Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers

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Answer 9

May 31, 2009 1:24 PM in response to R. R. Andrew

Well, I found out the answer to the winmail.dat problem.

But, I still have a pdf corruption problem on a separate computer so still looking for some help.

Thanks

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Answer 10

Jun 16, 2009 3:57 AM in response to R. R. Andrew

I am also having this issue, sometimes with jpegs, sometimes with PDF files, in Mail. Anybody find a solution to this?

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Answer 11

Jul 4, 2009 7:58 AM in response to KissTheSky

I am having this problem with a Google Apps gmail account (connecting via IMAP). None of my messages were corrupt (and I did not have this problem) until I upgraded the HDD in my MBP and after installing 10.5 from the install DVD, I transferred all my information from a Time Machine backup of my old HDD...I wonder if something got messed up along the way...

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Answer 12

Aug 14, 2009 4:55 PM in response to zig_k

I have the same problem. Corrupt attachments in Mail but not if I login to gmail using the web interface. Seems to happen with some .doc files as well. Occasionally, I get a little black box at the bottom of the e-mail rather than the usual icon representing the attachment. I've tried rebuilding gmail imap account and the offending mailbox several times (which takes a very long time), without results. I'm wondering if it has to do with my very slow download speeds in Gmail IMAP which have been noted by others. I also wonder if reducing the number of connections to gmail imap would help (which cannot be done in Mac Mail.app, as far as I know).

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Answer 13

Aug 31, 2009 4:22 PM in response to zig_k

My problem is very similar, but slightly different. When I attach PDFs and .DOC files to outgoing mail, I frequently get a reply saying "Hey you didn't attach anything." The reply will sometimes have a bunch of gibberish at the bottom, which leads me to believe that the file is getting included in the email, but somewhere along the line is mis-translated into a text file instead of preserved as an attachment.

I'm using Google Apps IMAP with the Mail 4.0 application.

When I go to the browser window in Safari and manually attach it, there's no problem.

Haven't had the incoming mail problem, just outgoing.

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Answer 14

Aug 31, 2009 5:14 PM in response to Mark Ankcorn

Mark,

I think you are likely to find that if you compose and send in Plain Text, the message and attachments will get there. If instead you are composing and sending with Rich Text Format, the RTF is triggering a SPAM filter between you and the recipient, and the server is altering or removing the attachments.

Ernie

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Answer 15

Sep 3, 2009 1:43 PM in response to Ernie Stamper

I'm having the same issue -- large PDFs in Gmail IMAP get corrupted after downloading in Apple Mail. I've tried rebuilding my mailbox several times, removing the whole account from Mail and re-downloading everything. I had hoped that Snow Leopard would make things better, but no luck. I can access these attachments fine in Thunderbird, Gmail web, but they're corrupt on my Mac when downloaded through IMAP in Mail.

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