How do I use WinZip to process AOL email attachments?

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This article is being maintained as archived information. The AOL desktop, and specifically the email application, are no longer distributed automatically. If you are receiving files in your AOL email messages that download as .mim files you should switch to checking your mail with AOL's webmail. File attachments are handled better by AOL's webmail, usually eliminating this "encoding" issue.

WinZip can be used to decode certain email attachments (known as "MIME-encoded") that are not handled by AOL email services.

When you install the current release of WinZip using the standard installation options, the installation procedure automatically associates WinZip with MIME-encoded files. This will allow you to open a MIME-encoded file with WinZip simply by double clicking it in My Computer or Windows Explorer. We recommend that you use the current release of WinZip to decode your email attachment. You can open the About WinZip dialog to check your WinZip version.

Once you have the current release of WinZip installed, you can use it to decode the contents of MIME-encoded files, much as you would extract the contents of Zip files. Here is an example of how to decode files that are encoded within the .MIM file:

  1. Double click your MIME-encoded file after opening the folder where it was saved; it may be in your AOL downloads folder
  2. After WinZip opens, showing a list of the encoded files, click the 1-Click Unzip button
  3. If you are using Legacy toolbar/menus click the Extract button instead, choose the folder where you want the files to go, and click the Extract button

If you used 1-Click Unzip or if Open Explorer window was checked in the Extract dialog, WinZip will automatically open a folder window containing your decoded files.

For more information on downloading email attachments from AOL, look in AOL's Help area.

Related Articles:
How do I use UUencode/BinHex/MIME support?
Why aren't WinZip's email features working for me?
How do I compress and email files using WinZip and my email program?

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