Knowledge Base

Sending RTF with Attachment as MIME Loses Attachment

Article ID: 181953

Article Last Modified on 10/28/2006

Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 Standard Edition

This article was previously published under Q181953

SYMPTOMS

When you send a message with a MIME attachment from an Exchange client and have configured an Internet recipient to "Always send to this recipient as RTF", and that recipient uses a POP3 client, the recipient will not receive the attachment.

CAUSE

The MIME-encoded attachment is still present but is not accessible by the POP3 client (depending on the receiving client). This problem only happens when sending an attachment as MIME.

WORKAROUND

There are two ways to work around this problem:

Disable the option "Always send to this recipient as RTF" when sending an attachment to an Internet recipient using a POP3 client.
Do not include an attachment in an RTF message.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

MORE INFORMATION

Most POP3 clients do not understand Rich Text Format (RTF) used by Microsoft transport-neutral encapsulation format (TNEF). Consequently, the sender must turn off the option "Always send to this recipient as RTF", in order for the POP3 client to see the attachments.

Keywords: kbbug kbpending KB181953