I've been running into various issues with sending PDF attachments to PC users. I send out a PDF newsletter once a month and, for the last couple of months, several of the recipients notified me that they didn't get the attachment. Since I send to everyone at once, it seems that the attachments are getting stripped out for just a handful of the recipients.

I then re-sent the e-mails to those who didn't get the attachment, only I Zipped the PDF before sending it. This seemed to work fine.

Since sending them a Zip file worked better, this month I sent two PDFs to everyone in a Zip file. (The newsletter and an election ballot.) I've had three people tell me they couldn't un-zip the files. One person could but couldn't open one of the PDFs!

Anyone have any idea as to what is going on and how to avoid all the issues? (Besides requiring everyone on my mailing list to switch to a Mac!)

Michael

Can you put the PDFs on a website and send them an email telling them where to download the files? Some AV software will strip emails with just about any type of attachment. Just about every file type has at least a few vulnerabilities. You won't be able to make everyone happy. Some AV software will drill down into ZIP files, while others will skip it. Some will just strip the zip file altogether.

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MacResource User Map: [www.zeemaps.com]#

Yes, I can have them posted on our website. That's a thought.

When you say AV software, what are you referring to? (When I see AV, I think of audio visual and I don't think that's what you mean. )

I thought 'audio visual' at first, too, then realized he meant "antivirus". It's not something us Mac users are accustomed to thinking about. Either that or we're just dating ourselves.

A link to a web host is safest bet. Unfortunately, it seems zipping on Macs can produce flakey results for some PC users. Then there's a problem with Mac resources files being included in the email if you don't zip.

I make it a point to keep a PC available and networked to my work Macs. I transfer critical files to the PC and zip on it followed by emailing from the usual, standard M$ app like Outlook or OE. Never have problems like that.

You can get a cheap PC for this stuff. I learned a long time ago that if you gotta deal with the MS PC world ( I do all day long), save yourself time and headaches and just use their garbage for the MS centric stuff.

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JoeM

Ah, now that makes sense. Antivirus software is a pain in the butt! I help a friend who has PCs networked and we've gone through three different versions to find the one that works most effectively yet doesn't screw everything else up!

Thanks.

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JoeM
You can get a cheap PC for this stuff. I learned a long time ago that if you gotta deal with the MS PC world ( I do all day long), save yourself time and headaches and just use their garbage for the MS centric stuff.

I've thought about buying a cheap PC laptop but I just couldn't bring myself to do it!

Thanks for the info.

Michael



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/20/2008 12:42PM by magicmikey.

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JoeM
. I transfer critical files to the PC and zip on it . . .

Or you could use Clean Archiver which strips out the DS_Store files and custom Mac icons: [www.versiontracker.com]

What about using Mail and checking the box for Windows friendly attachments?

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What email app are you using?

Are you using the default encoding or have you explicitly set it to use Windows-compatible encoding?

MS apps dropped AppleDouble support awhile ago. 'Got to use Windows/Base64.

I am using Mail.app and it is set for Windows friendly attachments.

Maybe it's the inline html attachment screwing it up.

Go to your Mail pref's and find the plain text option under "Composing."

Use it for awhile and see if you still get complaints.