TNEF(1)TNEF(1)NAMEtnef - decode Microsoft's Transport Neutral Encapsulation Format
SYNOPSIStnef [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 For‐
mat (hereafter, TNEF), which "wraps" Microsoft e-mail attachments.
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 specified 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".
Step 1 -- Configure ~/.mailcap
Mutt can't use tnef for its intended purpose until an appropriate con‐
tent type definition exists in ~/.mailcap . Here's a sample defini‐
tion:
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 argu‐
ments.
Step 2 -- Add The Filter To $PATH
Mutt can't invoke tnef if the filter isn't accessible via $PATH.
Step 3 -- Test Mutt
Use mutt to read a message that includes a TNEF attachment. Mutt will
note that an attachment of type "application/ms-tnef is unsupported".
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 con‐
firmation 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 conve‐
nient). So, to list the contents of a TNEF attachment prior to decod‐
ing it, press the "|" key and enter this command:
tnef-t
SEE ALSOmetamail(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.
Filter TNEF MIME Decoder TNEF(1)
