Hi radioflyerx-ga,
I remember when this happened to me. It's frustrating to not be able
to open files that a friend sends. Your friend has some learning to
do, there's no way around that. Without sitting at the receiving
computer to demonstrate what needs to be done, any answer will likely
be too complicated, but here goes...
In short:
1) There is nothing you can do during the send process that will make
your friends effort to open the attachments any easier.
2) Your friend needs an unzipping utility. This FREE utility will have
to be downloaded and then installed onto your friends computer, and
the options set (if not the default settings) so that the file types
you send will automatically trigger the opening of the utility. Then,
when your friend clicks on then attachment, the unzipper will do the
work with very little user intervention or prodding.
There's no way around downloading and installing this.
See this:
Why can't I open this email attachment?
http://www.freeagent.com/advice/techtools/attach.asp
It's a bit complicated, but down near the bottom is this: ..."If a
file hasn't been decoded by your email program (it has a .mime, .zip,
.sit, or .hqx extension), Aladdin Expander or StuffIt Expander can
probably decode it..."
Your friend needs to download this to the DESKTOP:
Alladin Expander
http://www.stuffit.com/expander/
..."StuffIt Expander easily expands and decodes all those files you
download from the Web or receive in your email. It quickly accesses
StuffIt™ files, unzips zip files created by WinZip® and other zip
utilities, plus decompresses tar, gzip and bzip files for Unix users.
Just drag, drop, and you're done! Expander works seamlessly with Web
browsers such as Internet Explorer™ and Netscape™. From BinHex to zip,
StuffIt to MIME, Expander accesses more formats, in less time, with
zero hassles..."
Then, your friend need to install the program onto the hard drive by
double clicking the downloaded file that is easily located on the
DESKTOP. Follow the instructions to install it. Just tell your friend
to click "NEXT" all the way through to the end, then select FINISH if
that is an option.
If there is an option to select file type associations, be SURE your
friend selects, at a minimum, the file types that you try to send that
have been a problem in the past.
Then open attachments. If it still doesn't work, your friend will have
to learn how to save attachments to the hard drive and then DROP them
into the expander by placing the cursor over the file, right clicking
and while holding the button down, literally DRAGGING the file over to
the Expander icon, then releasing. Then, navigate to the expanded file
(most likely on the desktop next to the first one) and double click it
to open.
There is no way around the learning curve. farzin-ga's comment on 07
Mar 2003 09:30 PST, will work as well and may be MUCH easier until
your friend learns how to download, install and unzip. It was this:
..."The solution to your problem is to select the "Run this program
from is current location" option when the "File Download" message
appears..."
When the attachment opens, your friend can RIGHT CLICK on the file and
SAVE it to the hard drive.
At your friends level of computer knowledge it's very difficult to
explain things without demonstrating. I sincerely hope this works for
you.
If your friend gets a pop-up box that asks what program to use, go to
this page:
Email Attachment that you can't open:
http://gwanderson.server101.com/Computer101/OpenWith.htm
This is for MACS:
Can't open email attachment??
http://www.mikegondek.com/creativetech/Stuffit/sit2.htm
The principles are the same no matter what type of computer you're
using:
..."So you've got an email file which won't open on the Mac. Happens
at Frankel everyday. Follow the 5 steps below, and in most cases you
can get it to work..."
--Cynthia |
