If you are a Mac user, have you ever received an email attachment called “winmail.dat”?

I’m not talking about spam; I mean an attachment you were expecting, from someone you know.

If you receive a winmail.dat file, which you can’t open on the Mac, here’s what to do:

1. Download the free application TNEF’s Enough and install it into your Applications folder.
2. Run the TNEF’s Enough application by double-clicking on it.
3. Drag the email attachment out of the email and drop it on top of the TNEF’s Enough icon in the dock.
4. Doubleclick the file in the bottom half of the window that appears.
5. The program will ask you where you want to save the new file; choose the Desktop or wherever is convenient.
6. Go to that location and open your file!

The winmail.dat problem has to do with the sender’s email settings; often the sender is using Outlook for Windows and his/her email is hosted with Exchange.

Image by Steven Taschuk from Flickr Creative Commons.