Sending Files through the Internet using Email

In most of the cases there is no problem sending annexed files on Internet e-mails. You just click on the programs Icons and the file will be attached into the email. But sometimes the receiver has some problems to open the file then we need to change some things.

The Problem

Different mail programs use different encoding methods. The various encoding systems are:-

• UUCODE - used by UNIX Mail and earlier versions of Microsoft Mail/Exchange Server
• MIME or BASE64 (a Component of the MIME system) - this is becoming the most commonly used system in the latest mail software packages
• BINHEX - widely used in the Apple Macintosh world

Some newer versions of Eudora and Microsoft Mail Exchange (and probably others) provide an option to choose from the different encoding methods. If you and your email partners use the same software, that's easiest. If you use different software, but the same encoding method, again everything should be fine. When you receive a message containing attached files, you can use them directly.

How the attached file appears depends on your email software. The attachments may appear as an icon, which you can double-click to open, or right click and "Save Attachment to a File". However if the sender and the receiver use different email software, they may be using different coding methods. In this case the mail recipient will see a lot of nonsensical text in his mail message that looks something like this:-

Don't despair. You can usually read these files by decoding them with a 3rd-party program.

The Solution and/or Workaround

1 Use compatible email programs at both ends if possible

The first preference is for both sender and receiver to use the same program, or ones that both use the same encoding method - then attachments work perfectly, and you don't need to do any extra work.

2 Otherwise - use a 3rd party program to decode the attached file

If you get nonsensical text in email messages with attached files as shown above, you can often use a 3rd party program to decode and extract the information, and put it in a file for you.

There are shareware software products which can encode and decode files. A search on the Internet will identify the latest versions of these, as they tend to appear and disappear regularly. For example, the shareware XFERPRO decodes UUENCODE files. If you want to send a message with a UUCODE attachment, the WINCODE program can be used.

Give the uucoded file the same name as the original file, but with extension .UUE. Attach it to the message you are sending. The recipient will receive the uucoded file as part of their email message, and can save it to a file and decode using their uudecode program.

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Last revised: March 19, 2008