Invoices and Payslips being sent as winmail.dat files

Sheree_6958471

We have just moved to Windows 10 and now when we send out invoices, payslips or other attachments out of Reckon Desktop (Accounts) some people are getting winmail.dat files rather than the PDF file that was sent.  This wasn't an issue prior to moving to Windows 10. 

Any fixes for this issue. 

Linda ABC

Hi Sheree - have you looked at this old KB article to see if you can resolve it?  https://kb.reckon.com.au/issue_view.asp?ID=2055

Sheree_6958471

Hi Linda, 

Yes I have tried those recommended fixes, did not fix the problem unfortunately.  Upon reading lots of articles, it seems to be an ongoing problem, with no solution that I can find.  Plenty of suggestions, but nothing has worked. 

Sheree_6958471

This only seems to be a problem when Reckon generates the email. If I save the invoice or payslip to my pc, then attach it to a non reckon generated email, it works fine. 

However this is a long work around for the 100's of invoices we send. 

Linda ABC

Can you advise which version of Reckon you are using and which email solution (if Outlook, which version?) and did you upgrade to a new PC with Windows 10 or is it the same PC and you have upgraded the OS to Windows 10?  

Sheree_6958471

We are using Reckon Accounts Enterprise 2019 Desktop.  Outlook is Version 2001 (Build 12430.20264).  We purchased new PCs with Windows 10 installed. 

Datarec

You stated: "Outlook is Version 2001"

Can you clarify the version of Outlook you are using?
Is that Outlook 2001, Outlook 2010, Outlook 2016 or Outlook 2019?

(Different versions of Outlook may have a slightly different process for adjusting the outgoing email format.)


The Reckon Accounts software will make use of the default email application to send the emails out.

"When messages are sent from Microsoft Outlook or Microsoft Exchange Server, there is a chance that the recipient will see the winmail.dat attachment if they don’t have their mail program set up to handle messages in the Microsoft Outlook Rich Text Format (TNEF). The Rich Text Format is different because it allows the display of different styles, fonts, and colors within the email. All of that Rich Text information is stored in the winmail.dat file, and Outlook occasionally attaches regular file attachments in the winmail.dat file as well."


The recipient ending up with a winmail.dat file instead of a PDF appears to be due to the email application that the recipient is using along with the email format used to send the email.

If you sent yourself a test invoice document do you receive it as a PDF or a winmail.dat?

Can you confirm whether only specific clients are affected or if all of them end up with the winmail.dat?

Do any of your clients successfully receive the attachment as a PDF?
What email application are they using?

For those clients who are receiving the documents encapsulated in a winmail.dat file, can you ask them to confirm what specific email application they are using?


Try the following steps:
https://lookeen.com/blog/how-to-prevent-outlook-from-sending-winmail-dat-attachments

After performing the steps indicated in that support article, test sending a new test invoice PDF document to an affected client.

If the problem persists, remove that specific client's email address from the Outlook autocomplete list.

https://www.technipages.com/outlook-clear-email-auto-complete-list

After performing the steps indicated in that support article, test sending second new test invoice PDF document to an affected client.

Confirm if the problem no longer occurs.

Sheree_6958471

It is Microsoft Outlook for Office 365, Version 2001.  This is what it tells me under "About Outlook". 

It isn't all clients that are affected. From what I can gather, it is only apple users ? then again I did a test email to a friend who uses apple and they could see the PDF file OK on their phone.  So it is not affecting everyone. 

I have changed the settings to only send HTML and still didn't stop it, I also tried it with Plain Text, still didn't stop it. 

I cleared the auto complete list, this still did not help. 

If I send myself an invoice, it works fine, yet I am sending from Outlook to Outlook.  

I  have done all the above "fixes", yet I am still having the issue. 

Linda ABC

Have you also read and actioned the appropriate parts of this article?   https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/290809/how-e-mail-message-formats-affect-internet-e-mail-me...

Datarec

The issue would be more likely to affect users who are using a non-Outlook email application to view the emails you sent them.

Since you are using Outlook for Office 365, we recommend you speak to your email Administrator to try:

1. Login to your Office 365 Portal (portal.office.com) using your Admin credentials.
2. Click the Admin icon.
3. Flip down the Admin sub-menu from the left-hand menu, and click Exchange. This will take you to your hosted Exchange admin page.
4. Click Mail Flow from the left hand menu.
5. Click Remote Domains from the top menu line. This will allow you to configure a specific set of rules for the offending recipient domains.
6. Click the Plus icon above the name field. This brings up a separate page that allows you to start the process of configuring the rules for the recipient domain(s).
7. Give the configuration a suitable name for the rule you're adding.
8. Add the fully-qualified domain name for the recipient that's having the problem with the winmail.dat attachments. As far as I can tell, the configuration should support wildcards .
9. About two-thirds of the way down the page, you'll find the "use rich text" setting - it will default to "Follow user settings". Change this to "Never".
10. For extra credit, you can change the default MIME encodings to Unicode (UTF-8) instead of Western (ISO)
11. Hit the Save button.

https://www.techguidereview.com/prevent-sending-winmail-dat-attachments-when-using-office365-and-outlook-2013-2016/

Or

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2487954/how-to-specify-the-email-message-format-that-s-used-for-external-recip

Sheree_6958471

Yes have been through this article. 

Sheree_6958471

Hi, 
Thanks for this, I have not tried this yet, so will do so. 

The only step I am not sure on is how to find out the fully-qualified domain name for the recipient ?

Sheree_6958471

Oh, I think this has worked !!!!

I just changed the settings as above for the default mail flow, leaving the domain name with the * in the field. 

Sent the invoice from Reckon, and they have received it as a PDF ! 

Datarec

Hi Sheree,

Thanks for confirming that the solution worked for you.

We've now created a new article 
https://community.reckon.com/reckon/topics/how-to-turn-off-tnef-to-prevent-recipients-getting-winmail-dat-attachments-for-outlook-for-office-365

Karen De Worsop

https://community.reckon.com/discussion/comment/20434273#Comment_20434273

https://community.reckon.com/discussion/comment/20434226#Comment_20434226

Finally found a fix that has worked. Thanks!

Datarec

Glad the solution works for you also.

We've added a Help article about this issue.

https://help.reckon.com/article/8sqebol1re-how-to-prevent-email-recipients-getting-winmail-dat-attachments-for-outlook-office-365