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Instructions in this article apply to Outlook 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, 2007, 2003; and Outlook for Office 365.

When, How, and Why Winmail.dat is Created

If Outlook sends a message using the RTF format for bold text and other text enhancements, it includes the formatting commands in a winmail.dat file. Receiving email clients that do not understand this code display it as an attachment. Outlook may also pack other file attachments in the winmail.dat file.

Prevent Winmail.dat Attachments from Being Sent in Outlook

To prevent Outlook from attaching a winmail.dat file when you send an email:

1. Go to File.

2. Select Options.

3. In the Compose messages section, select the Compose messages in this format dropdown arrow and choose either HTML or Plain Text.

4. In the Message format section, select the When sending messages in Rich Text format to Internet recipients dropdown arrow and choose either Convert to HTML format or Convert to Plain Text format.

Prevent Winmail.dat Attachments in Outlook 2007 and Outlook 2003

To make sure Outlook 2007 to Outlook 2003 do not attach winmail.dat files:

1. Select Tools > Options.

2. Go to Mail Format.

3. Under Compose in this message format, choose either HTML or Plain Text.

4. Click OK.

Disable Winmail.dat for Particular Recipients

The standard settings for outgoing mail formats in Outlook can be overridden for an individual email address. If a recipient still receives a winmail.dat attachment after you have made the settings changes, reset the format for individual addresses.

1. Make sure the email address is not in your Outlook Contacts.

   Outlook 2019 and 2016 currently offer no way to change sending preferences for email addresses that are assigned to an address book entry.

2. Open an email from the desired email address or start a new message to it.

3. Under Internet format, select Send Plain text only.

1. Search for the desired contact in your Outlook Contacts.

2. Double-click the contact's email address or right-click the desired email address, then select either Open Outlook Properties or Outlook Properties.

3. Under Internet format, select either Let Outlook decide the best sending format or Send Plain Text only.

4. Click OK.

Extract Files from Winmail.dat without Outlook

If you receive winmail.dat attachments with embedded files, extract them using a winmail.dat decoder on Windows or OS X.

Did you receive an email attachment named winmail.dat or winmail? Here’s a brief explanation of what this file is and instructions for opening it.

Winmail.dat Reader For Mac Free Download

Winmail.dat files are sent by people using Microsoft Outlook as their email application. Under certain circumstances Outlook will encode attached files, like Word or PDF files, in this winmail.dat format.

Update May 2012: If you need to open winmail.dat files on your iOS device (iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch) try Winmail File Viewer which currently costs 99 cents in the iTunes Store.

Update February 2017: In November 2015, an iOS version of TNEF Enough was released by the developer of TNEF Enough.

Mac users can open the winmail.dat file using a free application (donations accepted) and extract the files hiding inside. Unfortunately, this application has a goofy name which is TNEF’s Enough.

Here are instructions on how to open the winmail.dat file:

• Save your winmail.dat file on your Desktop.
• If you use Mac OS X 10.6 or later then download the most current update of TNEF’s Enough version 3. If you use Mac OS X 10.5 then download TNEF’s Enough ver 2.2. If you use OS X 10.4 or earlier then download TNEF’s Enough ver 2.0.
• By clicking on one of these links, you’ll download a .zip file which contains TNEF’s Enough inside. Your Mac should automatically open the .zip file so you should see TNEF’s Enough sitting in your Downloads folder.
• Move TNEF Enough into your Applications folder.
• Double-click it to open, then go to the File menu and select Open…
• Select the winmail.dat file which you previously put on the Desktop.
• You’ll then see a window listing the embedded files which are the files that you actually want.
• Click on each file, one at a time, and click the Save button.
• Save these files to your Desktop or any other desired location.
• Quit TNEF’s Enough.

Winmail Dat Viewer

You’re done. You can now throw away the winmail.dat file since you’ve extracted all of the files from inside it.

Winmail Dat Reader For Mac Download

If you’d like to read more about how and why this happens please read this Microsoft Support article or this other article. These articles also provide instructions that you can pass on to the Outlook user who sent you the winmail.dat file so he or she can make changes to no longer send you winmail.dat files. Essentially, they have to edit their record for you in their Contact list to indicate that you should only receive plain-text emails.