Winmail Opener 1.4 - Winmail.dat Decoding Tool

Winmail Opener makes it easy to read messages that come in those pesky winmail.dat attachments, and you can extract enclosed files just as swiftly, too. Tighter integration with email programs — most importantly Outlook Express, which does not even show winmail.dat attachments — would be nice.

Email should just be easy. They should open normally and contain attachments that can be saved or run easily. Usually, that's just how email works. Until you get an empty message that has but a sole attachment: winmail.dat.

Since the emails is from a trusted source (and lacks, as far as you can see, what they termed "social engineering), you figure it could be a virus but maybe it is not. You do some research and find that pesky winmail.dat is produced by Outlook as a kind of mishap. That knowledge does not help you open the file, get to read the message contained in it or access the file enclosures. Winmail Opener does.

Accepting any winmail.dat attachment or file dropped unto it and letting you drag enclosed files out of it, Winmail Opener provides that access in a very elegant and handy manner, too. Of course, you can also open attached files right from Winmail Opener, and any rich text message parts are displayed in it.

If you need to open winmail.dat files frequently or want to process a batch in one go, Winmail Opener can be used from a command prompt (or from other programs).

It's a pity Winmail Opener does not integrate directly with email programs that do not decode winmail.dat attachments. Outlook Express is a problem in particular since it hides these files from view and access and you have to go through a somewhat laborious procedure to extract winmail.dat and drop it on Winmail Opener.