Winmail dat file
The infamous "winmail.dat" file!
The "winmail.dat" file is a temporary file created by Microsoft Outlook when it encounters a problem sending an email with a Rich Text Format (RTF) attachment. The file is usually around 1-2 KB in size and contains the contents of the email, including the attachment.
The problem occurs when Outlook tries to send an email with an RTF attachment, but the recipient's email client or server is not configured to handle RTF attachments. As a result, Outlook saves the email and attachment to a temporary file called "winmail.dat" and sends a plain text version of the email instead.
The "winmail.dat" file is usually located in the same directory as the Outlook executable (e.g., C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Outlook.exe) and is deleted automatically when the email is sent or when Outlook is closed.
If you receive a "winmail.dat" file as an attachment, it's likely because the sender's Outlook is having trouble sending the email with the RTF attachment. You can usually ignore the file or delete it, as it's not a valid email attachment.
To avoid creating "winmail.dat" files, you can try the following:
- Use a different email client or service that supports RTF attachments.
- Convert the RTF attachment to a different format, such as HTML or plain text, before sending the email.
- Check the recipient's email client or server settings to ensure they can handle RTF attachments.
- Contact the sender to ask them to resend the email with a different attachment format.