Page 1 of 1

SOLVED: How to open winmail.dat

Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2017 4:02 pm
by mister_v
Hi,

I got a mail from a friend,
and the only thing in it is winmail.dat. (and some small text)

I'm pretty sure it is not a virus.

How do I open this file?
I opened it with a text editor
there is some text but most is gibberish.

Re: How to open winmail.dat

Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2017 4:28 pm
by Chris
This happens when there is problem with sending/recieving the mail.

info from microsoft:
The Winmail.dat file is used to preserve Rich Text formatting. Outlook uses it when sending a Rich Text-formatted message. During transport, the content of the message may be changed, preventing the receiving client from being able to read the formatting instructions. In other cases, the receiving client does not use or recognize the winmail.dat file.
There is a site that will open the winmail.dat file for you:
http://www.winmaildat.com

If you are on (debian/ubuntu) linux,
you can install tnef, that will open the file.

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install tnef

tnef winmail.dat
it will extract all files that are stored in the winmail.dat into the current directory.


For windows there is Winmail.dat Reader (not tested by me)
http://www.winmail-dat.com


On apple you can use Letter Opener 9 (also not tested by me)
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/winmail ... 7373?mt=12

Re: How to open winmail.dat

Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2017 6:33 pm
by mister_v
Thanks this solved my problem.