XCLN: Text Files Sent from Macintosh via IMC are Corrupted

• Microsoft Exchange Server, version 4.0
• Microsoft Exchange Macintosh client, version 4.0

SYMPTOMS

When you create a text file on a Macintosh and attach it to a message that you send from the Microsoft Exchange Macintosh client over the Microsoft Exchange Internet Mail Connector (IMC), the file might contain extra characters at the beginning of the file. This will occur when the IMC is set up to use MIME to encode messages.

CAUSE

This problem is caused by the IMC converting these files to a MIME Content- Type of Text/AppleFile instead of Application/AppleFile.

WORKAROUND

• Strip the .TXT extension from the file before sending it.
• Run ResEdit against the .TXT file before sending it. This will add a Resource Fork and will be sent as a correct AppleDouble file.
• Always send to the recipient in RTF format. This sends all messages in a Application/MS-TNEF format which works fine if your sending to a system that understands this MIME type, usually another IMC.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in version 4.0 of Microsoft Exchange. This problem was corrected in the latest Microsoft Exchange 4.0 U.S. Service Pack. For information on obtaining the service pack, query on the following word in the Microsoft Knowledge Base (without the spaces):

   S E R V P A C K

MORE INFORMATION

The two major MIME types for Macintosh files are AppleSingle and AppleDouble.

When they are sent over the IMC, you should see the following: