Zipped attachments

[Bill Robertson]

Our email servers automatically block .zip attachments to messages, both
inbound and outbound.

With Outlook in Windows, we can get around this for internal messages by
changing the file extension to something else, and then changing it back
again at the receiving end.

This doesn't work with Entourage, but it may not be Entourage's fault, but
the Mac OS (10.4, on my machine, but 10.3 on another user's machine.)

If I change the zip to something like zip_ for instance, when I attach it to
a message either the Mac OS or Entourage is appending another .zip, so I end
up with foo.zip_.zip, which gets blocked at the server.

The reason I suspect the OS may be doing it is that in the file access
dialog with which I select the attachment, the file is labeled as a zip
archive, even though the name is not correct. Something internal to the file
itself is recognized by the OS as a zipped file.

Anyone know how to stop this from happening, or some other work-around?

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

The reason I suspect the OS may be doing it is that in the file access
dialog with which I select the attachment, the file is labeled as a zip
archive, even though the name is not correct. Something internal to the file
itself is recognized by the OS as a zipped file.

Yes - somehow... Renaming the file in the FInder can lead to a tricky
problem. The FInder already knows it's a zip file and when you play with
the extension adding a _ at the end, it assumes you made a mistake
(since it doesn't know .zip_) and corrects the name to myfile.zip_.zip
with the last .zip being invisible in the Finder (you can see it by
selecting the file and pressing command-i to see information bout the
file.

Try using a known extension like .txt instead. The FInder should ask you
whether you really want to change the extension of the file.

Corentin

 

[Matthew Smith]

Our email servers automatically block .zip attachments to messages, both
inbound and outbound.

With Outlook in Windows, we can get around this for internal messages by
changing the file extension to something else, and then changing it back
again at the receiving end.

This doesn't work with Entourage, but it may not be Entourage's fault, but
the Mac OS (10.4, on my machine, but 10.3 on another user's machine.)

If I change the zip to something like zip_ for instance, when I attach it to
a message either the Mac OS or Entourage is appending another .zip, so I end
up with foo.zip_.zip, which gets blocked at the server.

The reason I suspect the OS may be doing it is that in the file access
dialog with which I select the attachment, the file is labeled as a zip
archive, even though the name is not correct. Something internal to the file
itself is recognized by the OS as a zipped file.

Anyone know how to stop this from happening, or some other work-around?

There is a preference setting (in Compose for Ent 2004) for appending
the file type. I am not sure which version of Entourage started
providing this feature.