Whisper or Shout

March 26th, 2009 by Romelda

Are you running Mac OS X? Does This icon link look familiar? If yes, then you know how frustrating this little icon can be. You probably don’t know WHAT this icon means exactly, but you know FOR SURE, that whatever was supposed to be attached to your email from a friend is coming in to you email in this crazy file type. Plus, you can NEVER open the darn file either right?

Well, here is a little info about what that is exactly, and why you can’t open it, and some blessed information for you so you CAN finally open these files.

What the heck is a TNEF file anyways? TNEF stands for: Transport Neutral Encapsulation Format (TNEF) and it was introduced by Microsoft to package information for sending messages across the Internet. That’s about all the information you need to know about the actual file type, because what we do know is they are a pain in the butt, particularly if you are one of the cool new Mac converts and have pc-enabled friends of old. They try to send you cool pics, files etc., and you get nothing but frustrated because you keep getting attachments called winmail.dat and miss out on what everyone is emailing back and forth about.

There is hope! Thanks to Josh Jacobs. He has created an awesome little piece of software called TNEF’s Enough and it is a free download. You can download TNEF’s Enough from Josh’s site.

Simply install it into your Applications folder, and whenever you receive a winmail.dat file from hell, simply launch TNEF, download the winmail.dat file from hell onto your desktop, then click and drag the file over the TNEF icon in the dock. And voila you will have a new folder and/or files on your desktop. Really easy and works great. Trust me – I test-drove it.

Now to deal with your pc-enabled friends. They should keep in mind you’re on a pc and they can in fact control whether or not they send out TNEF email attachment files.

Here are the instructions for enabling or disabling TNEF in Microsoft Outlook (straight from Microsoft Support)

Controlling TNEF in Mail Messages

TNEF can be controlled in three places, and is different depending on your installation of Outlook (Internet Mail Only, or Corporate or Workgroup).

• Global: Changing your default mail format to Plain Text or HTML will help ensure that TNEF is not sent unless an Outlook feature needs it.
• Per Message: If the message is a Rich Text Format (RTF) message, and you are using the Internet Mail Only (IMO) installation of Outlook, you can turn on or turn off TNEF for one message at a time.
• Per Recipient: You can specify in the recipient’s e-mail address to not send TNEF, so that a recipient always receives plain text versions of the message.

To Specify Mail Format in Internet Mail Only Installation

Global Change

To turn off TNEF:

1. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Mail Format tab.
2. In the Send in this message format list, select Plain Text or HTML, and then click OK.

To send in TNEF:

1. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Mail Format tab.
2. In the Send in this message format list, select Microsoft Outlook Rich Text Format, and then click OK.

Per Message Change

To turn off TNEF:

1. Open the message.
2. On the File menu, click Properties.
3. On the General tab, clear the Send in Microsoft Outlook Rich Text Format check box.

If your default mail format is HTML or Plain Text, you will not see the check box. Per message control of TNEF is only available for Rich Text Format messages.

To send in TNEF:

1. Open the message.
2. On the File menu, click Properties.
3. On the General tab, select the Send in Microsoft Outlook Rich Text Format check box.

Per Recipient Change

To turn off TNEF:

1. Create an Outlook contact for the recipient, if one does not already exist.
2. Type the e-mail name of the recipient in the E-mail box of the contact.
3. Select Send using plain text to turn off TNEF.

By selecting the check box, it ensures that TNEF will not be used for any messages to this recipient.

To send in TNEF:

1. Create an Outlook contact for the recipient, if one does not already exist.
2. Type the e-mail name of the recipient in the E-mail box of the contact.
3. Clear Send using plain text, to turn on TNEF.

Leaving the check box cleared does not mean that TNEF will be used for all messages. It means that if TNEF is necessary, it will be used.

To Specify Mail Format for Corporate or Workgroup Installation

Global Change

To turn off TNEF:

1. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Mail Format tab.
2. In the Send in this message format list, click Plain Text or HTML, and then click OK.

To send in TNEF:

1. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Mail Format tab.
2. In the Send in this message format list, select Microsoft Outlook Rich Text Format, and then click OK.

Per Message Change

TNEF cannot be specified on a per message basis in the Corporate or Workgroup installation of Outlook.

Per Recipient Change

In the Contacts Folder

To turn off TNEF:

1. Locate the recipient in the Personal Address Book.
2. Double-click the recipient’s e-mail address.
3. Clear the Always send to this recipient in Microsoft Exchange Rich Text Format check box, and then click OK.

To send in TNEF:

1. Open the recipient’s record in the Contacts folder.
2. Double-click the recipient’s e-mail address.
3. Select the Always send to this recipient in Microsoft Exchange Rich Text Format check box, and then click OK.

In the Personal Address Book

To turn off TNEF:

1. Locate the recipient in the Personal Address Book.
2. Double-click the recipient’s e-mail address.
3. Clear the Always send to this recipient in Microsoft Exchange Rich Text Format check box, and then click OK.

To send in TNEF:

1. Locate the recipient in the Personal Address Book.
2. Double-click the recipient’s e-mail address.
3. Select the Always send to this recipient in Microsoft Exchange Rich Text Format check box, and then click OK.