winmail.dat

I received an email today from a user with Outlook.  The email contained an attachment called winmail.dat.  I tried to figure out how to view it in Thunderbird, and I couldn’t figure it out.  I finally was able to view it online in GMail.

First, I tried to install the LookOut extension, but it didn’t work.  I am guessing it doesn’t support new versions of Outlook.  I don’t know.

Then, I tried TNEF.  You can install it with “sudo apt-get install tnef”.  I downloaded the winmail.dat file and ran “tnef winmail.dat”.  The response was “Seems not to be a TNEF file”.

In synaptic, I noticed another program called ytnef.  I tried that: “sudo apt-get install ytnef”.  Again, “ytnef winmail.dat”.  Reponse was “ERROR: Signature does not match. Not TNEF.”.

Finally, I checked my mail online with Gmail, and it displayed the embedded image without even complaining about a winmail.dat file!

Sorry that is not much help, but it solved the problem for now.  Please comment if you know another solution.

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