This document will explain sending and receiving E-Mail attachments. Through this document, we will also explain how to view common types of E-Mail attachments you may receive. There are also suggestions on what to do if your mail gets stuck while receiving a big E-Mail message.

Contents
Part One: Explanation of E-Mail attachments
Part Two: File Types commonly received in E-Mail
Part Three: Sending and Receiving attachments
- Netscape Navigator 3
- Netscape Communicator 4
- Eudora Light & Eudora Pro
- Inbox - Microsoft Exchange & Outlook 97
- Outlook 98/Outlook Express
- Pine
- Mutt
Names and Numbers

E-Mail is designed to send information quickly and efficiently via the Internet. You can also send small files, including Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, etc. via E-Mail. However, because it was never meant for large files to be transferred with it, it can "choke" on big E-Mail attachments. Because of this, programs such as FTP (File Transfer Protocol) are much better suited for sending large files. Another alternative is "posting" big files in the web for download. That's usually the easiest way for other users and friends to download these larger files. While we won't be covering the setup of web page files here, you can request our web page setup document from our helpdesk via E-Mail. Their address is support@core.com. Or visit our Web Space Basic Info document.

When you attach a file to E-Mail, it has to be converted to a format that the E-Mail program can read. They are usually converted to certain text formats. When you receive the E-Mail in your E-Mail program, it converts it back to its original state and asks if you'd like to open it or if you'd like to save it to your hard drive. Usually, E-Mail programs will use MIME (Multiple Internet Multimedia Extensions), UUENCODE and BinHex as a means of converting the file to a format the program will recognize. Not all standard E-Mail programs support all of these conversion methods. If you have problems with using one of these encoding methods, try using one that your E-Mail program supports.

Netscape Navigator and Communicator, Eudora Light and Eudora Pro, Outlook, and Outlook Express all support MIME.

Because it is so difficult to deal with attachments over 2 megabytes in size, the support we offer is to remove those messages from your account on our end. Depending on the size of your attached file, it will take a lot longer to send or receive these larger messages than transferring the file through other means, such as FTP or over the Web. We also recommended that both parties (the sender and receiver of the E-Mail) use the same E-Mail conversion method (e.g. MIME, UUENCODE, etc.) to send and receive E-Mail attachments. That way, if you both use the same method, the chances of problems arising with the attachment will be minimal.

Another unfortunate side effect of sending files through E-Mail is that when you send attachments, the final size of the E-Mail you send can be significantly larger than the actual file size you're sending. This is because the encoding method used to convert the file into text uses up additional space. That means, when you try to send a large file in your E-Mail, the actual size of the E-Mail message could potentially be 10-25% larger. This can cause problems for the person receiving the message for several reasons. Some Internet service providers limit the amount of mail you can have stored in your account. Some also limit the size of individual E-Mail messages. Also, slower modems may get "stuck" receiving a big E-Mail message, causing all the mail to be stuck.

If you have problems opening a file attachment, it may be because you do not have the program you need to correctly view the file. For example, if you received a WordPerfect file in your E-Mail, you need to have a program on your computer that is capable of viewing WordPerfect files. In case you don't have WordPerfect, you still might have another program, like Microsoft Word that is capable of viewing WordPerfect files. If you are unable to open a file, the best thing to do is reply to the person who sent you the attachment, and ask them what program they used to create the file they sent you. They should be able to let you know the program they used to make the file. Also, if you've received an attachment as just garbage text (a bunch of random, incoherent characters), then either person sending you the message did not send it correctly, or your mail program can't read the encoding. Make sure your mail program can read MIME, then reply back to the person and ask them send the attachment as a MIME attachment. If you have problems with using MIME or a compatible conversion method, we suggest getting an E-Mail Checker, a basic E-Mail program that support the different encoding methods. Probably the best place to look for E-Mail checkers is Tucows.

There are some basic file types you'll likely see when retrieving or saving your E-Mail attachments. These are useful to know, so you can determine what program you need to open the file. On windows machines, file extension are used to determine what kind of file it is. A file extension is usually three characters long, and it is always at the end of a file name, proceeded by a period (even if it is hidden). For example, a file called help.txt has a .txt extension. Since txt is the extension for a text document, we know that we can use notepad, a text editor, to open it.

Macintoshes are a little smarter, they do not use file extensions to tell it what kind of file it is. Instead, the Macintosh inherently "knows" what the file type is. The downside of this is that when the computer "forgets" the file type, it can be a mess to fix. Fortunately, that does not happen much.

Below is a list of common file types you'll probably receive in E-Mail:

AVI files are video files that are commonly used on the Internet. Windows should open and run these when you double click on the file. If it won't open automatically, you'll want to use the Media Player application to view these files. On a Macintosh, you'll have to download a program to run AVIs.

MOV files are QuickTime movies used on Windows and Mac machines. If you are using Netscape version 3.0 or higher, it comes built in with a QuickTime plug-in that will correctly view these movie files. You can also download QuickTime to view these by going to the Apple QuickTime Web Site.

MPG files are another type of movie and video files commonly used on the internet. You may need to download a viewer that lets you view these movies right in Netscape.

BMP files are picture files native to Windows. On Windows machines, you can double click on the file to view it. If you get an error message or if Windows won't open it automatically, you can use the Paint program included with Windows 95. Windows 98 should automatically open and view the file for you. You can also use Paintbrush included with Windows 3.1. BMP files are usually very large or much larger than .GIF and .JPG files. It is better to use .GIF or .JPG because they compress the files to make them smaller to send via E-Mail.

JPG files are picture files that are compressed (smaller). The size of the file depends on two things: the size of the image (height x width) and the quality of the image. These kinds of files can be viewed with any Internet web browser.

GIF is another type picture file, with a twist. GIF files are smaller than BMP's, but do not have the quality/ compression adjustment options like a JPG. Instead, a GIF can be a static image (like a regular photograph), or can be an animated picture (works exactly like a cartoon or slide show). These animated GIF's do not require any special plugins and can be viewed in any Internet web browser.

WAV files and MIDI (.mid) files are sound files often used on the Internet. Double click on the file to listen to it. Again, if you have problems with opening these files, you can use Media Player, which is included with Windows 3.1 and Windows 95/98. Otherwise, you can download a program to listen to these files.

ZIP is the most common method used on Windows and other non-Macintosh computers to compress (reduce the size of) one or more files. That makes it faster to transfer or distribute those files. You will need a program to open or UnZip these kinds of files to gain access to the files that are inside the ZIP. One program that would allow you to do that is WinZip (http://www.WinZIP.com/)

SIT files are compressed files for Macintosh computers. The program typically used to use these kinds of files is called "StuffIt" (http://www.AladdinSys.com/)

PDF is a special kind of document that is saved in a "universal" format that can be read on any kind of computer. You'll need a proprietary program such as "Adobe Acrobat Reader" to view the document. Acrobat Reader can be downloaded from the Adobe WebSite.

DOC files are most often Microsoft Word files that you can use and view on Windows and Mac machines. If you have Word installed, simply double click on the file and Word will open the file automatically. If you don't have Word installed, you can either download a free Word viewer from the following sites:
Windows 95/98/NT
Windows 3.1
Macintosh

An alternate suggestion is to E-Mail the person who sent you the Word document and have them save the file in a format that is compatible with a program you have on your machine.

EXE files are programs that run on Windows/DOS machines. They can simply be double-clicked or run from your E-Mail program; they will start automatically.

There are several places you can download viewers and plug-ins for these, and other files you may receive. Here are a few places you can go:
http://home.netscape.com/plugins/
http://www.shareware.com
http://tucows.net

Netscape Navigator 3
To send an attachment in Netscape, select File -> New Mail Message. Fill in the To:, Subject: and body fields of the message. Then click on the Attach icon and select File. Now, browse your directories and files to find the file you want to attach. Double click on the file. Click on the 'Send' button to send the message. This may take a while to send depending on the size of the file.

To use an attached file on an E-Mail you've received, first click on the E-Mail message itself to view it. Towards the bottom of the mail message, you'll see where it shows the file name in blue color. Click on the filename once. You'll have an option to open it with the program it was saved under, or you can simply save the file to your hard drive or floppy disk. Sometimes you also will have an option to choose More Info. Do not use the More Info button. Please choose one of the other options. If you click or double click on the filename and it opens up with a Open With... dialog box, Netscape Mail did not know which program you wanted to use to view the program. You likely don't have the correct program to view the E-Mail attachment. See Section 1 for details on how to get the correct program. Now, make sure you have the correct program to view the E-Mail attachment; open the program and open the file. You can also save the file on your computer by clicking on the file with your right mouse button and clicking on Save As...

Netscape Communicator 4
To send an attachment in Netscape Communicator, click on the File menu and choose New -> Message. Fill in the To:, Subject: and body fields of the E-Mail. To attach the file, click on the paper clip icon and choose File. Browse your directories and files to find the file you want to attach. Double click on the file you want to send. Click on the 'Send' button to sent the message. This may take a while to send depending on the size of the file.

To use an attachment you received in an E-Mail, click on the E-Mail message. Click on the paper clip and click on the file listed. You'll have an option to open it with the program it was saved under, or you can save the file to your hard drive or floppy disk. Sometimes you also will have an option to choose More Info. Do not use More Info. Please choose one of the other options. If you click on the filename and it opens up with an Open With... dialog box, Messenger Mailbox did not know which program you wanted to use to view the file. You likely don't have the correct program to view the E-Mail attachment. See Section 1 for details on how to get the correct program.

Eudora Light & Eudora Pro
To send an attachment using Eudora Light 3.0.x or Eudora Pro 3.0 or 4.0, click on File -> New Message. If you're using Eudora Light 1.4.4., or 1.5.2, or 1.5.4 click on the New Message icon on the toolbar. Fill in the To:, Subject: and body fields of the message. Then, click on the Message menu and click Attach File. Browse your directories and files to find the file you want to attach. Double click on the file you want to send. Click on the 'Send' button to send the message.

To use an attachment you've received in E-Mail, double click on the E-Mail message. If you're using a version of Eudora greater than 1.5.4 you'll see an icon in the body of the message showing the file that is attached. Double click on the icon to open the file in the program it was saved in. You can also click on the icon with the right mouse button and click save as. If you're using a Mac, you can hold the Control key down while you click on the icon. If you're using Eudora Light 1.4.4., 1.5.2, or 1.5.4 the attachment will automatically be saved in your \EUDORA\ATTACH directory on your hard drive after you received your new mail. Then, use My Computer on Windows95 or WindowsNT, or File Manager on Win3.1 or your Hard Disk on a Mac to locate the file.

Inbox - Microsoft Exchange & Outlook 97
To send an attachment, click on the File menu and click New --> Message. Fill in the To: Subject: and body fields of the message. To attach the file, click on the Insert menu and click File. Browse your directories and files to find the file you want to attach. Double click on the file you want to send. Click on the 'Send' button to send the message.

To use an attached file, double click on the E-Mail message. There will be an icon towards the bottom that shows the attached file. Double click on the icon to open the program associated with the attached file. You can also click on the icon with the right mouse button and left click save as. This will save the file to your hard drive wherever you choose. If you click or double click on the filename and it opens up with a Open With... dialog box, your mail program did not know which program you wanted to use to view the program. You likely don't have the correct program to view the E-Mail attachment. See Section 1 for details on how to get the correct program.

Outlook 98/Outlook Express
To send an attachment, click on the File menu and click on New -> Mail Message. Fill in the To:, Subject: and body fields of the message. To send your attachment, click on the Insert menu and click on File. If you're using a Macintosh, click on the Add Attachments icon and locate the file on your hard disk. Browse your directories and files to find the file you want to attach. Double click on the file you want to send. Click on the 'Send' button to send the message.

To use an attachment you've received in E-Mail, double click on the E-Mail message. If you're using a Macintosh, click on the Attachment icon at the top and click on the file(s) listed in the menu. At the bottom of the body, you'll see a small extra window at the bottom with an icon or icons in it. You can either double click on the icon to open the file in a program or you can click on the icon with the right mouse button and click Save As to save the file to your hard drive. If you click or double click on the filename and it opens up with a Open With... dialog box, your E-Mail program did not know which program you wanted to use to view the program. You likely don't have the correct program to view the E-Mail attachment. See Section 1 for details on how to get the correct program.

Pine
To send an attachment, hit the 'C' button to compose a new E-Mail message. Type in the To: field normally, and go down to the 'Attchmnt' field and type in the name of the file you want attached from your shell account. Fill in the Subject: field and type the body of your message. Hit Ctrl-X to send the message.

To use an attachment, click on the E-Mail message and hit enter to view it. Click 'V' and then highlight the attached file and hit 'S' to save the file to your shell account directory. When it asks for what file name you want to save it as, just hit enter to choose the default.

To download that file to your computer, exit out of PINE and go back to the main CoreComm Main Menu. Click 'F' for File Transfers, and then 'D' to download a file, then 'Z' to use the Zmodem protocol. Then type in the same file name that you saved it as and hit enter. You then need to use your communication software to start the downloading process to your computer. Consult your software manual on how to start the download.

Mutt
To send an attachment, click 'A' to attach a file, and click the question mark key '?' to see a list of files. Highlight the file you want to send and hit the enter key to attach it. Then, send the message like you normally do.

To use an attachment, view your E-Mail message and hit 'V' to view the attachment(s). Highlight the file you want to use and hit 'S' to save the file. At the bottom of your screen, it will show the filename of your attached file. Hit enter, and it will be saved on your shell account.

To download that file to your computer, exit out of Mutt and go back to the main CoreComm Main Menu. Click 'F' for File Transfers, and then 'D' to download a file, then 'Z' to use the Zmodem protocol. Then type in the same file name that you saved it as and hit enter. You then need to use your communication software to start the downloading process to your computer. Consult your software manual on how to start the download.

Primary DNS:	209.153.128.4
Secondary DNS:	169.207.1.3
POP Mail Server:	[See additional information]
NNTP News Server:	news.core.com
SMTP Mail Gateway:	authmail.core.com*
E-Mail Address:	login name@core.com
CoreComm's Home Page:	http://home.core.com
CoreComm's FTP Server:	my.core.com
IP Address & Gateway:	Dynamically allocated

*Your E-Mail application must support the Authenticated SMTP protocol in order to use this SMTP Server. Instructions for updating your existing E-Mail program can be found here. If you are setting up an E-Mail program for the first time, please follow our step-by-step instructions for the most popular packages found here.