Mail and Newsgroups displays the file’ names and icons in the attachment pane at the top right of the message window. To open the attachment, you double-click on the attachment name or icon. You computer will open the file if it has an application that can read or convert it.
When you attempt to access an attachment you will be asked whether you want to Open it (if you have a program on your computer that can read this type of file) or Save it to disk. If the attachment appears garbled when it opens or if Netscape prompts you to save the document to disk, then you probably don’t have the right software. This is the most common problem that people have with attachments.
The easiest thing to do is to find out what software and version the attachment was created with, then find somebody who has it.
If that doesn’t work, then things can get difficult. Many programs can convert other formats. If the attachment is a word processing document then try opening it using your word processing program’s Open command rather than just double-clicking on it. Microsoft Word can open just about any text document. Adobe Photoshop can open just about any graphic or image. However it is wise to note that documents from some high-end design, graphics and publishing programs can only be opened with the program that created it.
Failing all else, negotiate with the attachment’s sender. They might be able to use their program’s Save As… command to save the file in a format that you can open. That could be an older version of the same software; rich text format (rtf); plain or ASCII text. These options often result in a loss of formatting or significant change in appearance—though by this stage you probably won’t care about that!
Lastly, if the attachments is primarily text then ask that the
content be cut and pasted into the body of the e-mail message.
This effectively by-passes the whole attachments problem and
solves the problem by avoiding it completely.
