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Problem opening Microsoft Office & PDF Email attachments

Just got a Motorola Razr. Having a problem opening Microsoft Office (e.g. Work, Excel) and PDF Email attachments. Receive message "winmail.dat Unsupported file type". Can open jpg files. I have Quick Office, which is suppose to enable you to do this, but does not seem to make a difference. Wonder if it is an Android 2.3.5 issue. I used to have a Blackberry and this was not an issue. This is a showstopper for me and I will return the phone if I can't read Microsoft Office and PDF files attached to emails. My email server / client is Verizon.

I would appreciate any recommendations.

Comments

SteelerFan

You may need the paid version to open the email attachments. I use Docs2Go and really like it. I did pay for it. Can you open a Word file without using email?

NYCUser

QuickOffice came preloaded on the phone and I know I can create a document on it so I did not go out and buy a paid version. Certainly willing to pay for Docs2Go if it solves this problem. Do you open attachments using Docs2Go from your Verizon email or Gmail? I want to use Verizon email only.

Thanks for your response

SteelerFan

Yes, I was able to open and save an Excel spreadsheet with it. I hope it works for you, you can try it as soon as you buy it and return it if it doesn't.. I did not use a VZ email account.

Good Luck

JohnB_VZW

Thank you SteelerFan for your suggestion. I appreciate you taking the time to help out our fellow community members.

@NYCUser,

Are you still unable to open email attachments? Are you unable to open all attachments? How big are the attachments? Quick Office attachments are limited to 500KB. If they are larger files you will not be able to open them on your device.

If the attachments you are trying to open are smaller then 500KB and you are still unable to open, please post back and I will be more than happy to further assist you.

nickelle

I just got my Droid Razr last week and I was able to open the attachments and save them (excel, word & pdf files) and now I can't. It comes up with the same message that the other member gets. A .dat file that says it is not supported. Any suggestions? And they are under the file size required also.

jpc105

I tried Quick Office and gave up. I have used Doc2Go on the Treo and two different Droid phones. I know it's not free, but the cost will save you a lot of aggravation. Docs2Go is fantastic.

crystallet

Hope this is one of those "better late than never" scenarios.

The problem sounded familiar, and it's one that's been around for a long, long time. I don't think it's a Razr problem, or a Droid problem, but it is about email clients. I've had similar issues with email on computers.

The problem starts with Outlook's RTF format. It saves the document's formatting info (bold, underline, etc.) and other info in the winmail.dat file, and some email clients simply can't decode it.

The sender can change the format of what they're sending, though, and I believe that the most recent versions of Outlook can change those format setttings on a person-by-person basis (don't want to start a rumor here because I could be wrong about that).

Just copy and paste the error message into Google (or your preferred search engine, and you'll see some info that might be helpful.

pmokover1

Does the 500KB limit apply to all programs - like Docs2Go - or is it just a limit for QuickOffice?

I am having the same problem as the original poster. I am unable to open any Word, Excel, PowerPoint or PDF email attachments. I have QuickOffice that was pre-installed on my Razr.

Peter

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