[Coral-List] MS Outlook/Word and coral-list

[Mike Jankulak]

On Oct 30, 2013, at 7:03 AM, James Hendee <Jim.Hendee at noaa.gov> wrote:

> [I can't figure out why, but the following keeps getting stuck in the
> Coral-List queue.  Hopefully it comes through this time!]

This will be another how-coral-list-works note, which I am sending to the whole list in case someone else finds it useful.  I last saw someone run into this same problem in May, so it comes up every few months.

The coral-list software rejects all messages with binary attachments -- images, PDFs, whatever.  We moderators are sent an alert when this happens, and usually we contact the sender and ask them to resend their post without the attachment.

The trouble comes when MS Outlook is your email client.  Either MS Outlook, or possibly MS Word if you additionally configure Outlook to use Word as your email "editor," will sometimes add invisible images to your message.  [How annoying is that?]  Outlook/Word uses these images to fine-tune the spacing, usually at the end of your message.

This was an attachment found in Georgina's recent posting attempts:

  Content-Type: image/gif; name="image001.gif"

Nobody can "see" this image unless they look at the email raw source.  Tricky!

If this kind of thing is happening to you, and you're using MS Outlook, try forcing it to compose your message in plain text.  Make sure it's not set to use MS Word as your email editor.  If all else fails, try using a different *client* (try Thunderbird, or maybe your email provider has a web-based email viewer?).  Although remember that you must continue to use the same email *address*, because if you send posts from an unsubscribed address then they will fall into the void.

regards,
Mike J+, coral mod team


-- 
Mike Jankulak, Systems Administrator, University of Miami / CIMAS
NOAA / Atlantic Oceanographic Meteorological Laboratory
4301 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, FL 33149 -- 305-361-4543