Why your email recipient is receiving a winmail.dat instead of a PDF

When emailing PDF files from your tax software, or DMS, some recipients may receive a winmail.dat file attachment instead of the PDF.

This issue can happen if Outlook is set to use the default settings, which not all email services can read. When the recipient is using an email client that can't decipher Outlook formatting, the email recipient will receive a plain text message with an attached winmail.dat file.

To resolve this issue, we recommend changing your Outlook settings to send emails as Plain Text or HTML. This will let almost any email client the recipient uses to have access to the attachment.

For Microsoft Outlook 2010 and later versions:

To change your default settings follow these steps:

1. Select the File tab, select Options, and then select Mail.
2. In the Compose in this message format list, select Plain Text or HTML, and then select OK.

For Outlook 2007 and prior, do the following in Outlook:

To change your default settings follow these steps:

1. From the Tools menu, choose Options, and then Mail Format.
2. In Compose in this message format, select Plain Text, and then OK.

Refer to How email message formats affect internet email messages in Outlook for more details.