E-mail recipient cannot open my Word document

Question

E-mail recipient cannot open my Word document

Cannot send a Windows user a Microsoft Word document that is recognized as such. If I use Mail's paperclip icon to attach a Microsoft Word 97-2004 document, and have "Send Windows-Friendly Attachments" checked, the attachment shows up in my Sent mailbox (mouseover) as Mime-type:application/octet-stream, with a generic (blank) icon. Firefox (on the other end) tries to handle it as an application. If I use Mail's paperclip icon to attach a Microsoft Word 97-2004 document, and uncheck "Send Windows-Friendly Attachments", the attachment still shows up in my Sent mailbox (mouseover) as Mime-type:application/octet-stream, but with a Word icon.

If I send an e-mail to myself and catch it through webmail (using Firefox), the attachment shows up as Untyped Binary Data. If I then download the attachment (still in webmail), it arrives on my desktop as a .doc file. After I double-click to open it and it opens in Word, and I then close it, the icon reverts to a generic icon and the next time I double-click, it opens in TextEdit.

The recipient has opened Word documents from me before, though not since I did the latest OS X and MS Office updates.

Any ideas? Thanks.

iMac (late 2009), Mac OS X (10.6.2)

Posted on Nov 18, 2009 4:36 PM

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Answer 1

V.K.

Level 9

56,192 points

Nov 18, 2009 4:44 PM in response to Lawrence J. Smith

I have no idea what's going on here but try zipping the document first before attaching it.

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Answer 2

etresoft

Level 9

56,596 points

Nov 18, 2009 5:11 PM in response to Lawrence J. Smith

What kind of e-mail account is this? POP/IMAP/Exchange?

I can't duplicate what you are seeing. I cannot get Word documents to appear as anything other than application/msword.

Really though, the application/msword or application/octet-stream is just a hint. If the recipient's computer understands the file based on the file name's extension, it should open, regardless of what the mouseover type says.

After I double-click to open it and it opens in Word, and I then close it, the icon reverts to a generic icon and the next time I double-click, it opens in TextEdit.

Are you clicking it from mail or have you dragged it to the desktop?

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Answer 3

K T

Level 7

23,889 points

Nov 18, 2009 5:34 PM in response to Lawrence J. Smith

Remember to not send a document that is simultaneously open in WORD - best way to avoid this is to do a zipped file as already mentioned, which, actually is the only way I ever send WORD docs any longer.

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Answer 4

Nov 18, 2009 7:37 PM in response to etresoft

This is a POP account. I am saving the incoming file to the desktop, and then double-clicking. Could my problem have anything to do with its not having a visible extension? (I thought that info was carried with the file, even when not displayed on the desktop.)

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Answer 5

etresoft

Level 9

56,596 points

Nov 19, 2009 6:49 AM in response to Lawrence J. Smith

Lawrence J. Smith wrote:
I thought that info was carried with the file, even when not displayed on the desktop.

Nope. Not anymore. The old days of resource forks and file type/creator codes are behind us. Every file needs an extension.

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Answer 6

V.K.

Level 9

56,192 points

Nov 19, 2009 12:18 PM in response to Lawrence J. Smith

Lawrence J. Smith wrote:
This is a POP account. I am saving the incoming file to the desktop, and then double-clicking. Could my problem have anything to do with its not having a visible extension? (I thought that info was carried with the file, even when not displayed on the desktop.)

the extension need not be visible but it must be present. if the extension is there but is simply hidden this should work fine.

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