what program to open e-mail attachment - .dat file

[lectrocrew]

Hi everybody,

I can't get this file to open:

File name: winmail.dat
File size: 32kb
File type: application/octet-stream


If I try to open this e-mail attachment I get a dialog box that says:

"Do you want to save this file or find a program online to open it"

  Options are:

 'Find, Save or Cancel'. If I click 'Find" I get this page:
http://shell.windows.com/fileassoc/0409/xml/redir.asp?EXT=dat

Does this automatically mean I don't have the software installed to open a .dat file, or is there another way I can open it?

I have Windows XP Professional, version 5.1.2600, SP-2.
Is more information needed about my PC?

Thank's for any help!
Mike 

[Broni]

There is no reason to open ".dat" file.
If you definitely want to, you can use Notepad, and it'll look like this:

// <!-- <mdb:mork:z v="1.4"/> -->
< <(a=c)> // (f=iso-8859-1)
  (80=ns:formhistory:db:row:scope:formhistory:all)
  (81=ns:formhistory:db:table:kind:formhistory)(82=Value)(83=Name)
  (84=ByteOrder)>

<(80=llll)(81=e$00m$00a$00i$00l$00)(82
    =b$00r$00o$00n$00i$001$00@$00c$00o$00m$00c$00a$00s$00t$00.$00n$00e$00t$00)
  (83=n$00i$00c$00k$00)(84=B$00r$00o$00n$00i$00)(85=q$00)(86
    =g$00e$00t$00 $00m$00a$00i$00l$00)(87=g$00e$00t$00m$00a$00i$00l$00)
  (88=t$00h$00u$00n$00d$00e$00r$00b$00i$00r$00d$00)(89
    =T$00o$00p$00i$00c$00T$00i$00t$00l$00e$00)(8A
    =W$00h$00a$00t$00 $00a$00 $00m$00e$00s$00s$00.$00.$00.$00M$00y$00 $00c$00o\
$00m$00p$00u$00t$00e$00r$00 $00c$00r$00a$00s$00h$00e$00d$00 $00l$00s$00t$00 $00\
n$00i$00g$00h$00t$00)(8B=T$00o$00p$00i$00c$00D$00e$00s$00c$00)(8C
    =B$00l$00a$00m$00e$00 $00i$00t$00 $00o$00n$00 $00Z$00o$00n$00e$00 $00A$00l\
$00a$00r$00m$00!$00)(8D=t$00a$00b$00 $00p$00l$00u$00s$00)(8E
    =s$00e$00a$00r$00c$00h$00b$00a$00r$00-$00h$00i$00s$00t$00o$00r$00y$00)

[tomshope]

I know you are not using Microsoft Outlook as your email client program, since this wouldn't be a problem if you were using it.

One solution to the problem is to visit http://www.biblet.com and download the WMDecode program found there (look about halfway down the page). This will at least allow you to decode the winmail.dat files and extract any useful attachments from them.

Other than this, there's not much you can do on your end to fix the problem, since it's not your email program generating the problem. If you just don't want to deal with the problem, the other approach is to reply to the individual who sent you the offending email and ask that they re-send the message, with the attached files, as a plain text message, not in Rich Text Format or HTML

[Broni]

tomshope
I wasn't aware of that program, but, as I can see from your link:

The winmail.dat file contains a formatted version of the message (which this program ignores) and any attached files.

So, it looks to me, like there nothing new to see in that ".dat" file, or...I'm reading it incorrectly.

[tomshope]

You are correct!
As it states all you can do is reply to the individual who sent you the  email and ask that they re-send the message, with the attached files, as a plain text message, not in Rich Text Format or HTML