windmail.dat attachments are a
proprietary format used only by Microsoft Outlook. One
solution is for the sender to configure their copy of Outlook
to stop using that format, and use Internet-standard
formats instead. Instructions for doing so are in Microsoft's
Knowledgebase Article ID 138053
The short explanation is that Outlook should NOT be
configured to send messages in "Rich Text" format.
There are also tools that will allow you to decode
winmail.dat files. The best tool we've found
is available from AkeeSoft called WMViewer
for Windows.
Recognizing that there are times that you may need to send large attachments
or attachment types that are blocked, we have developed a web application that
allows you to upload your files to the Engineering webserver. After you upload
the files you email a weblink to the files instead of the files themselves. The
application also allows you to set different types of Gatorlink authentication in order
to secure your files. Access the attachment website at:
One other method is to zip the attachment using Winzip, PowerArchiver, or
other similiar program. However, zip files are one of the blocked
attachment types so you will need to change the extension of the
zip file to something different. For example, rename 'myarchive.zip'
to 'myarchive.blah.'
However, if you do this you will need to explain in the text of the email
that the recipient will need to change the extension of the
file back to zip in order to open the file.
If you send a link by right clicking on it in a webpage some
email clients add the text of the link as well as a .URL
attachment. URL attachments are a security problem because they
could allow arbitrary commands to be run on your computer. As a
result, this attachment type is blocked. The best way to send
links is to just copy the url and paste it into the body of an
email message.
There is a 10mb limit on the total size of an email message on the engineering
administration mail server. This means, for instance, that a message with a
9mb attachment is okay, but a message with two 6mb attachments will be blocked.
Recognizing that this limitation could present a problem, we have developed
a web application that allows you to upload large attachments to the Engineering
webserver for distribution. This application allows you to set different types of
Gatorlink authentication to secure your files as well. Access the attachment
website at:
No, we are not blocking these document types. We recognize that
we would be hurting the productivity and efficiency of our users
if these common document types were blocked. However, these
types of files can contain viruses. As a result, you should
always be careful when opening attachments that you were not
expecting. It is advised to check that you should have recieved
the attachment before opening it.
