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Winmail.dat attachments

As of recently, Microsoft attachments are coming in as winmail.dat files when I go through the email icon to get to my mailboxes. (Using gmail, the attachments come through fine.) From what I understand, this was intentional with the last ios upgrade. Wonder if there is a chance of "fixing" this? It is inconvenient to have to go to multiple places to check different types of email accounts. It was great being able to do everything I needed through the one mail icon.

iPad 2, iOS 6.1.3

Posted on Jun 28, 2013 2:43 PM

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Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Jun 28, 2013 2:53 PM

You might have the sender(s) resolve the issue as explained here:

iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch does not display attachment in email


This article is aimed at Mac Mail, but you may find it informative as well:

Mac OS X Mail: What is a winmail.dat attachment?

152 replies

Oct 22, 2013 12:24 PM in response to everyusernametaken

Been having this problem since 'upgrading' to iOS7 on ipad 3 (retina)


I have tried sending a PDF in HTML, Rich Text, and Plain Text from my work account and all types just show up as Winmail.dat on my ipad. So sick and tired of seeing the suggestion that is in every thready about this:


You might have the sender(s) resolve the issue as explained here:

iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch does not display attachment in email


I have posted in other thread about the issue too. No help given.


Anyone have any ideas?

Oct 30, 2013 1:26 PM in response to everyusernametaken

I have to say; iOS7 is annoying. I've found nothing useful about it.


In any event, I just downloaded this app: WinMail.dat Viewer for iOS 7 and it's working great! It cost 99 cents and was well worth it.


So far I can open Excel files that have come in as WinMail.dat attachments. I will test it out on the other attachments I get. I'm hopeful!


Hope this helps!

Nov 2, 2013 2:21 PM in response to everyusernametaken

Hey,

Problem solved. It was easy : )

Just change your email format to 'Plain Text' or 'Text Only' or 'Text' depending on what email program you are using.

I was trying to send myself an email contact from Outlook and although it was attached as a .VCF file when I received it on the iPhone it had morphed into the dreaded winmail.dat file. I was sending with Outlook and the default email type is HTML and the iPhone doesn't know what to do with it or apparently, how to get the attachment from it.

I just changed my email type to Plain Text and it came over as the VCF file I needed.

Really Nice:

To add all your Outlook contacts to your iphone select all your contacts and then use the option to forward them as V-Cards. When the email comes up be sure to change the format to Plain Text. Then send it to an address on your iPhone. You will have to add each of them one by one or.....

In Outlook select all the V-Cards and press Copy. Create a new folder on the desktop and Paste them into it. Then go into a cmd prompt by typing cmd at a Run prompt (Windows Key plus R), navigate the command prompt to where you saved your V-Cards and use this command:

COPY *.VCF ALLCARDS.VCF

This will create on file with all the V-Cards. Now just attach this single file, being sure to change the format of the email to Plain Text again, and send it to your iPhone.

Now when you open the email it will ask you if you want to add all the contacts at once. I choose the option to Merge the Contacts since it creates new ones for those that are new anyways and updates those you already have.

This is the solution to getting winmail.dat files on your iPhone, or anyplace for that matter!

No app needed.

Nov 7, 2013 10:23 AM in response to Strawj

To say its an Outlook problem is passing the buck. If what you are saying is true then sure, Outlook is sending it as Winmail.dat. However there was no problem before the iOS7 upgrade, and then one after with no apparent change from outlook. It's reasonable to assume that Apple changed something in their OS to make this start happening.


Why is iOS mail suddently not playing nice with Outlook after a major update? You'd think they'd take the time to make that interaction seemless considering how many people use Outlook, especially in commercial settings.

Nov 11, 2013 4:08 AM in response to everyusernametaken

"winmail.dat" emails are a result of an Outlook server not configured correctly which needs to be corrected on the sender's side and upgrading iOS should not have caused the problem.


I have developed an iOS app which will enables you to open winmail.dat attachments on iPhone and iPad which may be helpful to you.


Here is the app store link: http://taps.io/winmail.


I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from my recommendation or link.

<Edited by Host>

Winmail.dat attachments

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