CentOS - Dec 2015 - Dealing with MS Outlook winmail.dat on Linux mail server

Dear All,

Does someone do anything on your Linux (or UNIX) mail servers to convert
darn proprietary MS Outlook winmail.dat attachments your users may receive
(occasionally if lucky) into readable e-mail format.

I know quick answer to my question (good quick answer would probably be:
just trash them). Still, being involuntarily immersed into corporate world
(even at Educational institution), I'd like to know what clever and wise
people do. I can refer my users to some free online converters and get
over with that. The only thing that makes me think about potentially
investing more effort into dealing with this garbage is: google mail just
seamlessly shows users such e-mails with all contents. And I'm really
reluctant to quietly outsource services we were providing on our servers
to google.

Thanks in advance for all your advises and input.

Valeri

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Valeri Galtsev
Sr System Administrator
Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics
Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics
University of Chicago
Phone: 773-702-4247
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

On Mon, 21 Dec 2015 12:48:18 -0600 (CST)
Valeri Galtsev wrote:
> Does someone do anything on your Linux (or UNIX) mail servers to convert
> darn proprietary MS Outlook winmail.dat attachments your users may receive
> (occasionally if lucky) into readable e-mail format.
I use tnef (from epel)

-- 
MELVILLE THEATRE ~ Real D 3D Digital Cinema ~ www.melvilletheatre.com

On 12/21/2015 10:48 AM, Valeri Galtsev wrote:
> Does someone do anything on your Linux (or UNIX) mail servers to convert
> darn proprietary MS Outlook winmail.dat attachments your users may receive
> (occasionally if lucky) into readable e-mail format.
the vast majority of 'winmail.dat' files are just formatting hints for 
the message body.  you can read the message without them.

anyone using a halfway newer version of Microsoft's Outlook stuff 
shouldn't be generating them at all if their mailer is properly configured.

-- 
john r pierce, recycling bits in santa cruz

On Mon, December 21, 2015 1:14 pm, John R Pierce wrote:
> On 12/21/2015 10:48 AM, Valeri Galtsev wrote:
>> Does someone do anything on your Linux (or UNIX) mail servers to
convert
>> darn proprietary MS Outlook winmail.dat attachments your users may
receive
>> (occasionally if lucky) into readable e-mail format.
>
> the vast majority of 'winmail.dat' files are just formatting hints
for
the message body.  you can read the message without them.

That's true, I've seen many of them like you describe, but the user who
asked me about it gets mail with images attached and buried inside
winmail.dat attachment.

I'm going to see what I can do following the direction Frank Cox pointed
(tnef).
>
> anyone using a halfway newer version of Microsoft's Outlook stuff
shouldn't be generating them at all if their mailer is
properly
> configured.
Properly configured, huh. Don't ask me what I think about percentage of
properly configured MS Windows mail servers in comparison with Linux, Unix
or Macintosh ones (yes, even Macintosh ones). I really don't want somebody
offended ;-)

Valeri
>
> --
> john r pierce, recycling bits in santa cruz
>
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>

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Valeri Galtsev
Sr System Administrator
Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics
Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics
University of Chicago
Phone: 773-702-4247
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++