Mail.app can't seem to render multipart/alternative messages.

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Level 1

8 points

Mail.app can't seem to render multipart/alternative messages.

I have had this issue for a while, and I think it's related to Mail.app 4.x as opposed to the version of the OS. Whats happening is that Mail.app will no longer render messages if they have a Content-Type of multipart/alternative. Several newsletters I subscribe to send in that format as oppose to Content-Type: text/html, which renders just fine. Mail.app 3.x was able to render these as you would expect to see them.

I know others folks are having this issue as well, and I'm wondering if there is a way to allow Mail.app
4 to render these again.

MacBook Pro, Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.1), MacPro1,1 2 x 3 GHz Dual-Core Xeon 8 GB GeForce 8800 GT 2 x DELL 2005FPW

Posted on Sep 23, 2009 9:41 PM

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Answer 1

Oct 1, 2009 3:32 PM in response to jdehnert

This problem was discussed at some length in http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=8356144#8356144.

The problem is that there's more than one way to represent the different parts of a multi-part message. Apple does it one way, and most of the rest of the Internet (and Microsoft Exchange, and lots of other systems) do it another. The result is the behavior you're seeing.

There are actually 2 related problems:
- mail.app doesn't properly display multipart/related messages. Apple can and should fix this.
- mail.app sends using multipart/mixed. It would be more compatible with the rest of the world if they'd use multipart/related.

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Answer 2

jdehnert Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 28, 2009 2:16 AM in response to jdehnert

Wow! I find it difficult to believe that no one else is having this issue, and that no one in Apple has seen this either.

Not a real helpful message, but perhaps it will get the ball rolling a bit.

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Answer 3

Sep 23, 2009 9:44 PM in response to jdehnert

Hi,

From the Mac Mail application Menu Bar, click Mailbox/Rebuild. This can take several minutes.

Caroyn 🙂

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Answer 4

jdehnert Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 24, 2009 1:00 AM in response to Carolyn Samit

I ran the rebuild. No change in behavior. I checked several new and old messages to be certain.

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