Something weird started happening yesterday on my wife's computer (XP pro):
When right-clicking a word document in explorer and going to sent to-->mail 
recipient, Windows Live mail opens as usual, but the attached file now has a 
.._doc extension instead of .doc.

I have received such attachments in the past and ascribed them to the 
ignorance and clumsiness of the senders, but this apparently happens indeed 
as an error on the part of Windows, Live Mail, or some other agent.

Any ideas?

(I posted this also on the Windows file system forum)

thanks,
Danny

Afaik, Windows Live Mail is not capable of renaming an attachment by inserting an underscore as the first character of an 
attachment's file extension.

-- 
  ...winston
  ms-mvp mail

"Danny" <Danny@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:92C6E0CE-C3E2-4915-915C-A9EE86F829ED@microsoft.com...
> Something weird started happening yesterday on my wife's computer (XP pro):
> When right-clicking a word document in explorer and going to sent to-->mail
> recipient, Windows Live mail opens as usual, but the attached file now has a
> ._doc extension instead of .doc.
>
> I have received such attachments in the past and ascribed them to the
> ignorance and clumsiness of the senders, but this apparently happens indeed
> as an error on the part of Windows, Live Mail, or some other agent.
>
> Any ideas?
>
> (I posted this also on the Windows file system forum)
>
> thanks,
> Danny 

"Danny" <Danny@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:92C6E0CE-C3E2-4915-915C-A9EE86F829ED@microsoft.com...
> Something weird started happening yesterday on my wife's computer (XP pro):
> When right-clicking a word document in explorer and going to sent to-->mail recipient, Windows Live mail opens as usual, but the attached file now has a ._doc extension instead of .doc.
> 
> I have received such attachments in the past and ascribed them to the ignorance and clumsiness of the senders, but this apparently happens indeed as an error on the part of Windows, Live Mail, or some other agent.
> 
> Any ideas?
> 
> (I posted this also on the Windows file system forum)

I understand this will happen if the file name contains a period. Probably a defence mechanism for systems that will choke on files that have periods elsewhere than between the filename and the extension. I'm not sure where the conversion period>underscore takes place. It shouldn't matter: the recipient has to specify a filename when he saves the attachment.
-- 
Noel 

This is a quirk/bug in WLM when a file has multiple periods in a row 
anywhere in the file name.  Every other one is replaced with an 
underscore.

If you use the Send to Mail Recipient in Explorer or another program, 
the substitution happens when the file is attached to the mail message 
and will show in the message composition window.

If you use the Insert, File as attachment, or drag-and-drop the file 
into the message, it gets attached with the periods and no underscores.

When WLM receives a message with the multiple periods, it will do the 
substitution when showing the file name or saving the file.

The real problem comes when there are an even number of periods between 
the base file name and the extension. That cause the period next to the 
extension to get changed to the underscore.

In the case of the file your wife is sending, to avoid future problems 
with that file, rename it removing the extra periods.

-- 

Mike - http://TechHelp.Santovec.us



"Danny" <Danny@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message 
news:92C6E0CE-C3E2-4915-915C-A9EE86F829ED@microsoft.com...
> Something weird started happening yesterday on my wife's computer (XP 
> pro):
> When right-clicking a word document in explorer and going to sent 
> to-->mail
> recipient, Windows Live mail opens as usual, but the attached file now 
> has a
> ._doc extension instead of .doc.
>
> I have received such attachments in the past and ascribed them to the
> ignorance and clumsiness of the senders, but this apparently happens 
> indeed
> as an error on the part of Windows, Live Mail, or some other agent.
>
> Any ideas?
>
> (I posted this also on the Windows file system forum)
>
> thanks,
> Danny 

Michael,
 Thanks for the education!!

-- 
  ...winston
  ms-mvp mail

"Michael Santovec" <michael@santovec.XXX> wrote in message news:e6Pahzp1KHA.260@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> This is a quirk/bug in WLM when a file has multiple periods in a row 
> anywhere in the file name.  Every other one is replaced with an 
> underscore.
> 
> If you use the Send to Mail Recipient in Explorer or another program, 
> the substitution happens when the file is attached to the mail message 
> and will show in the message composition window.
> 
> If you use the Insert, File as attachment, or drag-and-drop the file 
> into the message, it gets attached with the periods and no underscores.
> 
> When WLM receives a message with the multiple periods, it will do the 
> substitution when showing the file name or saving the file.
> 
> The real problem comes when there are an even number of periods between 
> the base file name and the extension. That cause the period next to the 
> extension to get changed to the underscore.
> 
> In the case of the file your wife is sending, to avoid future problems 
> with that file, rename it removing the extra periods.
> 
> -- 
> 
> Mike - http://TechHelp.Santovec.us
> 
> 
> 
> "Danny" <Danny@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message 
> news:92C6E0CE-C3E2-4915-915C-A9EE86F829ED@microsoft.com...
>> Something weird started happening yesterday on my wife's computer (XP 
>> pro):
>> When right-clicking a word document in explorer and going to sent 
>> to-->mail
>> recipient, Windows Live mail opens as usual, but the attached file now 
>> has a
>> ._doc extension instead of .doc.
>>
>> I have received such attachments in the past and ascribed them to the
>> ignorance and clumsiness of the senders, but this apparently happens 
>> indeed
>> as an error on the part of Windows, Live Mail, or some other agent.
>>
>> Any ideas?
>>
>> (I posted this also on the Windows file system forum)
>>
>> thanks,
>> Danny 
> 
> 

Bingo!

Gentlemen,
Thank you very much. 
Indeed, I did not notice the second period between filename and extension. 
Now I too can 'educate' those who send me such attachments. The problem is 
that those people who inadvertently put a period after the filename are the 
least likely to understand what they are doing wrong...

Danny

"Michael Santovec" wrote:

> This is a quirk/bug in WLM when a file has multiple periods in a row 
> anywhere in the file name.  Every other one is replaced with an 
> underscore.
> 
> If you use the Send to Mail Recipient in Explorer or another program, 
> the substitution happens when the file is attached to the mail message 
> and will show in the message composition window.
> 
> If you use the Insert, File as attachment, or drag-and-drop the file 
> into the message, it gets attached with the periods and no underscores.
> 
> When WLM receives a message with the multiple periods, it will do the 
> substitution when showing the file name or saving the file.
> 
> The real problem comes when there are an even number of periods between 
> the base file name and the extension. That cause the period next to the 
> extension to get changed to the underscore.
> 
> In the case of the file your wife is sending, to avoid future problems 
> with that file, rename it removing the extra periods.
> 
> -- 
> 
> Mike - http://TechHelp.Santovec.us
> 
> 
> 
> "Danny" <Danny@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message 
> news:92C6E0CE-C3E2-4915-915C-A9EE86F829ED@microsoft.com...
> > Something weird started happening yesterday on my wife's computer (XP 
> > pro):
> > When right-clicking a word document in explorer and going to sent 
> > to-->mail
> > recipient, Windows Live mail opens as usual, but the attached file now 
> > has a
> > ._doc extension instead of .doc.
> >
> > I have received such attachments in the past and ascribed them to the
> > ignorance and clumsiness of the senders, but this apparently happens 
> > indeed
> > as an error on the part of Windows, Live Mail, or some other agent.
> >
> > Any ideas?
> >
> > (I posted this also on the Windows file system forum)
> >
> > thanks,
> > Danny 
> 
> 
> .
>