Using E-Mail to Send and Receive Files

Sending Files by E-Mail (MIME)
Receiving (MIME) Files Attached to E-Mail
Receiving Uuencoded Files Through E-Mail

Sending Files by E-Mail (MIME)

Question: Is it possible to send and receive graphic, binary, or other files such as Word Perfect files through e-mail?

Yes... VTN's mail program (PINE) supports MIME - (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions), an Internet Standard for representing multi-part and multimedia data in email There is a mechanism for splitting messages into multiple parts and reassembling them at the receiving end. The parts may be nested and may be of seven different types: Text, Audio, Image, Video, Message, Application and Multi-part (nested).

You send a file them by attaching it to a regular e-mail message; you have to upload the file to your home directory first.

When composing the letter, position the cursor in the Attachment field of the header and use the 'Ctrl-J' command to attach the file to the message. You will either have to type in the filename (it's cAsE sensitive) or use 'Ctrl-T' to browse (and select) the file(s) in your home directory.'

Restrictions

You may find that a file is too large to send in one message. Or... if the recipient of the message does not have a MIME compliant mail reader you will have to uuencode the file and send it as text within the body of the message.

Receiving (MIME) Files Attached to E-Mail

Question: A friend sent me a program attached to an e-mail message. What do I have to do to run the program?

As you are viewing a message that includes an attachment, the menu bar will display a 'View Attachment' option. Selecting this option will allow you to select which part of the message you wish to view or 'Save' as a file in your home directory.

You should save the attachment and then download the file from your home directory.

If the file has been compressed you will have to uncompress it before you will be able to run the program. The Public Download Area of the Victoria Telecommunity Network has a recent copy of the most popular compression software.

CAUTION: make sure that you trust the source of the program or else don't run it. Running programs from unknown sources can easily introduce viruses onto your personal computer.


Receiving Uuencoded Files Through E-Mail

Question: I have been sent some midi files by email which are 'zipped and UUencoded. How do I unzip and decode them.

First... export the message to a file in your home directory...
Next... Download the file to your computer.

The next step is to decode the files using a uudecode utility.

Check the public download area of the Victoria Telecommunity Network [go pda].

Now you're ready to unzip the file. The Public Download Area of the Victoria Telecommunity Network has a recent copy of the most popular compression software.


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