xenial (1) tnef.1.gz

NAME

       tnef - decode Microsoft's Transport Neutral Encapsulation 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 attachments.

       Unfortunately, these "wrapped" attachments are inaccessible to 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 content type definition exists in
       ~/.mailcap .  Here's a sample definition:

              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.

   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  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.