Alan's HINTS & TIPS - Why some attachments don't work

Welcome to Alan's Hints 'n Tips

Why some attachments don't work - Part 2

To be able to view or use something that has been attached to an e-mail you MUST have the appropriate MATCHING software on YOUR computer.

If someone sends you an attachment which is a file made on a wordprocessor, then you must have a similar wordprocessor on YOUR computer to be able to view it. In some cases like a file with a .DOC suffix it can most times be viewed with WordPad which comes with Windows®. Mircosoft's Office 2007 has an added format of .DOCX which I know nothing about, but, several people have already found that earlier versions of MS Office won't open these files. However, there are many more wordprocessing and publishing programs out there now and this makes for some problems with sending examples to other people.

First some things that should open without trouble

Things that should open in your Internet Browser
Any file with the suffix .html .htm or .mht (more on .MHT files).
Picture file with the suffix .bmp .gif .jpg .wmf
Things that use Microsoft Media Player 2.
Windows Media file including - .asf - .asx - .wm
Windows Media audio file including - .wma - .wax
Windows Media audio/video file including - .wmv - .wvx
Video file .avi
Audio file .wav
Movie file (MPEG) - includes .mpeg - .mpg - .mpe - .m1v - .mp2 - .mp2v - .mpa
MP3 Format Sound - includes .mp3 - .m3u
MIDI file - includes .mid - .midi - .rmi
Indeo Video File - .ivf
AU Format Sound - includes .au - .snd

Also Quick Time files with .mov and .qt format and AIFF Format Sound with suffix of .aif - .aifc and .aiff if these are 'ticked' in your Media Player options.

Note that earlier versions of MS Media Player may not open all of these formats.

OTHER SUFFIXES and what they belong to.

.doc - This belongs to Microsoft® Word but also by some other software providers.
It should be noted that versions AFTER Word 7 (MS Office 95) will not open satisfactorily in the early version(s), producing a certain amount of 'garbage' on your screen.
Microsoft do have a program called Word 97 Viewer which allows you to view the later files with some success, but is ONLY a viewer, you can't use it to create documents.

Various viewers are available from; http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/search.asp? by entering the 'Search Using' option of 'Keyword Search' and entering 'Viewer' for the 'Keyword' then choose your own operating system. In the 'Show Results for' area, select 'Archive (older than 12 months)'. Click 'Find It' and select the required viewer from the list. Mircosoft's Office 2007 has an added format of .DOCX which I know nothing about, but, several people have already found that earlier versions of MS Office won't open these files.

.mdb - This belongs to Microsoft® Access (Database) part of MS Office.

.pps - This belongs to Microsoft® Power Point Presentations but unfortunately some of the later files cannot be opened on early versions.
Microsoft do have a program called PP Viewer 97 which allows you to view the later files with some success, but is ONLY a viewer, you can't use it to create presentations. PP Viewer 2007 is now available with better capabilities to match the later PowerPoint program.
See the information above under .doc for obtaining a viewer from Microsoft®.

.pub - This belongs to Microsoft® Publisher which is just that, a program which allows you to make a huge variety of documents including greeting cards, flyers, brochures, posters, and the list goes on.

.wps - This belongs to Microsoft® Works and once again there are incompatibilities between the later versions and Word V3.0 and earlier. 'Garbage' appears on your screen if you get a file from a later version but most of the text is usually visible somewhere down the document between all the little square blocks.

.xls - This belongs to Microsoft® Spreadsheet (part of MS Office).
.xlt - This is a Microsoft® Spreadsheet template (part of MS Office).