Attachments received as winmail.dat files

In Outlook 97/98/2000, if you send e-mail formatted as Rich Text (RTF) to a person whose mail client does not support RTF, that person receives a plain text message and everything else will be wrapped up into an unreadable "winmail.dat" file.

There are two ways for Outlook users to prevent this from happening:

Option 1

1. When composing new messages, make sure to set the format to "Plain Text" (Format menu -> Plain Text).

Option 2

When sending to a recipient that you know has no RTF mail capabilities, modify the recipient's contact record to indicate this.

1. Go to your address book, click once on a contact name, and then click the "Properties" button.
2. Then, click on the folder tab that says "Name," and at the bottom of the window you'll see a checkbox that says, "Send e-mail using plain text only." Check this box,
3. Click Save.