man tnef (Commandes) - decode Microsoft's Transport Neutral Encapsulaton Format

NAME

tnef - decode Microsoft's Transport Neutral Encapsulaton Format

SYNOPSIS

tnef [options] [FILE]

tnef {--help | --version}

DESCRIPTION

This manual page documents the tnef filter. tnef decodes e-mail attachments encoded in Microsoft's Transport Neutral Encapsulation Format (hereafter, TNEF), which "wraps" Microsoft e-mail attachements.

Unfortunately,thesewrappedattachmentsareinaccessibleto any e-mail client that does not understand TNEF. Fortunately, the tnef filter can be used by any MIME-aware client to unpack these attachments.

OPTIONS

-f FILE, --file=FILE
use FILE as input ('-' denotes stdin). When this option is omitted, tnef reads data from stdin.
-C DIR, --directory=DIR
unpack file attachments into DIR.
-x SIZE, --maxsize=SIZE
limit maximum size of extracted archive (bytes)
-t, --list
list attached files, do not extract.
-w, --interactive, --confirmation
ask for confirmation for every action.
--overwrite
when extracting attachments, overwrite existing files.
--number-backups
when extracting attachments, if file FOO will be overwritten, create FOO.n instead.
--use-paths
honor file pathnames specifieid in the TNEF attachment. For security reasons, paths to attached files are ignored by default.
--save-body FILE
Save message body data found in the TNEF data. There can be up to three message bodies in the file, plain text, HTML encoded, and RTF encoded. Which are saved is specified by the --body-pref option. By default the message bodies are written to a file named message with an extension based upon the type (txt, html, rtf).
--body-pref PREF
Specifies which of the possibly three message body formats will be saved. PREF can be up to three characters long and each character must be one of 'r', 'h', or 't' specifying RTF, HTML or text. The order is the order that the data will be checked, the first type found will be saved. If PREF is the special value of 'all' then any and all message body data found will be saved. The default is 'rht'.
--save-rtf FILE
DEPRECATED. Equivalent to --save-body FILE --body-pref=r
-h, --help
show usage message.
-V, --version
display version and copyright.
-v, --verbose
produce verbose output.
--debug
enable debug output.

EXAMPLE

The following example demonstrates typical tnef usage with a popular Unix mail client called "mutt". 


Mutt can't use
tnef
for its intended purpose until an appropriate content type definition
exists in ~/.mailcap .  Here's a sample definition:

Step 1 -- Configure ~/.mailcap

application/ms-tnef; tnef -w %s


This mailcap entry says that whenever the MIME content type:


application/ms-tnef


is encountered, use this command to decode it: 


tnef -w %s


The latter command string invokes
tnef,
specifying both the -w option and the attachment (created as a
temporary file) as command line arguments.


Mutt can't invoke

tnef
if the filter isn't accessible via $PATH.


Use mutt to read a message that includes a TNEF attachment.  Mutt will
note that an attachment of type "application/ms-tnef is unsupported".

Step 2 -- Add The Filter To $PATH
Step 3 -- Test Mutt

Press the "v" key to open mutt's "view attachment" menu.


Move the cursor over the TNEF attachment and press the enter key to "view"
the attachment.
Mutt will launch
tnef
and invoke it
using the command line syntax specified in ~/.mailcap (step 1).
tnef
then decodes all file(s) included in the TNEF attachment, prompting
for confirmation prior to creating an individual file (refer to
-w
option above).  
-w
is useful here because it gives the end user a chance to
view the filename(s) included in the mail message.


Note that Mutt's attachment menu also supports a pipe option, which permits
the user to pipe attachments to an external filter (how convenient). 
So, to list the contents of a TNEF attachment prior to decoding it, press
the "|" key and enter this command:


tnef -t



SEE ALSO
metamail(1),
mailcap(4),
mutt(1),
other email clients.

AUTHOR
Mark Simpson.

REPORTING BUGS
Report bugs to 
Mark Simpson <verdammelt@users.sourceforge.net>

OTHER REFERENCES
This web page:



http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q136/2/04.asp




describes how to configure Microsoft email clients so that the TNEF format
is disabled when sending messages
to non-TNEF-compatible clients.