presents:

JTNEF - Java TNEF package

Download

Latest release:

JTNEF 2.1.0 (6.1M - includes source code and dependencies) - What's new?

Previous releases:

JTNEF 2.0.0 (3.2M - includes source code and dependencies)

JTNEF 1.9.0 (2.8M - includes source code and dependencies)

JTNEF 1.8.0 (143K - includes source code)

JTNEF 1.7.0 (139K - includes source code)

JTNEF 1.6.0 (138K - includes source code)

JTNEF 1.5.0 (128K - includes source code)

JTNEF 1.4.0 (127K - includes source code)

JTNEF 1.3.1 (112K - includes source code)

JTNEF 1.3.0 (101K - includes source code)

JTNEF 1.2.3 (94K - includes source code)

What is TNEF?

Transport-Neutral Encapsulation Format (TNEF) is Microsoft's non-standard format for encapsulating mail which has any non-plain-text content or properties (such as rich text, embedded OLE objects, voting buttons, and sometimes just attachments). Whether or not a given message is encoded using TNEF is determined by the Outlook default settings, per-recipient setting, Exchange Server settings, and message type and content.

Once a TNEF message is used, the entire message, including all the original attachments and properties, is encapsulated in a single attachment of mime type "application/ms-tnef" added to the message to be sent over the Internet. This attachment is usually named "WINMAIL.DAT", and when sent to any non-MS mail client, is useless, and makes access to the original message attachments impossible.

What is the Java TNEF package?

The Java TNEF package is an open-source implementation of a TNEF message handler, which can be used as a command-line utility or integrated into Java-based mail applications to extract the original message content.

It has been in use in many production systems around the world for over a decade, including products by small start-ups, large open-source service providers, and well-known multinational corporations.

How do I use the Java TNEF package?

The Java TNEF package is written in pure Java, runs on JDK 1.5 or later, and requires no special installation - just add the jar file to your classpath.

It is also available on Maven Central at the artifact coordinates net.freeutils:jtnef:1.9.0.

If you are an end user getting strange attachments named "WINMAIL.DAT" or "ATT00001.DAT", instead of other expected attachments, you can simply run the net.freeutils.tnef.TNEF class from the command line to extract the original attachments from such a TNEF file.

If you are a Java developer working on a mail client or server, and need to handle TNEF attachments (because whether you like it or not, they're out there in real-world messages), you have several choices:

  1. Low-level: you can use the TNEFInputStream class to read TNEF attributes, which are the basic unit in a TNEF stream, and do with them as you please.
  2. Middle-level: the net.freeutils.tnef package gives you access to the entire TNEF content through simple Java objects representing the underlying TNEF data structures. You can use these classes to access all TNEF attributes and MAPI properties that were sent with the message.

    For example, you can choose to implement voting buttons or receipt notifications in your Java application by finding and interpreting the appropriate MAPI properties. This requires knowledge of the MAPI properties and their meaning.

  3. High-level: The net.freeutils.tnef.TNEF class is a simple example of using these middle-level classes to display the message properties and extract the attachments. You can use it directly from your application, or just browse the source code for an example of how to do things yourself.

    The net.freeutils.tnef.mime package gives you high-level access to the TNEF message using the JavaMail API. The TNEFMime class is a simple example of using these classes, and allows you to extract a TNEF attachment from a mime message (which can then be processed using the TNEF or TNEFMime classes) or to convert a TNEF attachment or a message containing a TNEF attachment to an equivalent standard mime message with the original header fields and attachments, including read receipt notification conversion and contact to vCard conversion, etc.

    The net.freeutils.tnef.msg package contains a .msg file parser. The Msg class uses the Apache POI library and provides a simple API for parsing a .msg file into a net.freeutils.tnef.Message instance for access to its MAPI properties and attachments.

If you're interested in the format of the PR_RTF_COMPRESSED MAPI property, please read on here.

What's New?

In version 2.1.0:

In version 2.0.0:

In version 1.9.0:

In version 1.8.0:

In version 1.7.0:

In version 1.6.0:

In version 1.5.0:

In version 1.4.0:

In version 1.3.1:

In version 1.3.0:

In version 1.2.3:

In version 1.2.2:

In version 1.2.1:

In version 1.2:

In version 1.1:

In version 1.0:

License

The JTNEF Package is provided under the GNU General Public License agreement.
For non-GPL commercial licensing please contact the author. If you like it, why not give something back?

13aWWmQqkiYnpkWT7QmE9khnpuuuG48U7o

Contact

You can contact the author via e-mail at:

support@freeutils.net

Please write in with any bugs, suggestions, fixes, contributions, or just to drop a good word and let me know you've found the JTNEF Package useful and you'd like it to keep being maintained.

For updates and additional information, you can always visit the website at:

www.freeutils.net