OFFICIAL "This attachment cannot be displayed" in POP/IMAP email

[Matth3w]

This thread is for people having this issue, which mainly occurs with PDF documents. I hope that if we direct everyone having this problem to this one thread, and it becomes more and more common, maybe we can get some answers on this instead of sporadic threads with only a few responses each.

Before I go on, I wanted to point out and please ask people NOT to recommend different programs to open PDF files. This issue is NOT about the program used to open the PDF files, as this is definitely a problem with either the email client on the Android or the way the Android retrieves messages from the server. This is an issue no matter if you are using Documents to Go (full), Beam Reader, you name it.

Here is a description of the issue you may or may not be having:

You go to open a PDF document (sometimes other documents as well, not just PDF, but PDF is definitely the most prevalent) and the email client (purportedly a problem with both K9 and the stock email application) and it says "Fetching Document" followed (after a long time) by ""This attachment cannot be displayed."

PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION:

Here is how you know if your issue is the one being discussed in the thread or something entirely different:

If you check the same email on your home computer, save the file to the desktop, and re-email it to yourself in a new email and it works, you have the issue. Otherwise, it might be something as simple as installing a different document reader.

PROBLEM DESCRIPTION:

The issue, as far as I have found in hours of trying to research this via Google and other Android websites, is that if a file is automatically generated (for me, I only notice this problem from my travel agency that auto generates my itinerary in PDF format), and/or has the file name contained within << *.pdf >>, this causes the problems. There could be more problems, or I could not be entirely understanding what is causing the problem, but thus far, this is what I have found.

SOLUTIONS:

The only solutions that I have found thus far are not really what I would call solutions to the problems, but rather, bandaids.

1) If you are getting this problem because it is a travel agency auto generating like in my case (probably rare, but worth mentioning)...downloading the program TripIt and forwarding your PDF flight itinerary to them works perfect.

2) It somewhat defeats the purpose of having a phone to check PDF documents, but if you save it to your computer and re-email it to yourself, you can 99% of the time now view the PDF document for some reason.

3) At least one user has reported that using K9 instead of the default application will solve the problem.

REFERENCES:

https://supportforums.motorola.com/m...1D92B9DA.node0

Why are so many capabilities left off this phone? - Android Forums

This attachment cannot be displayed...HELPPPP

Problem opening PDF documents

Those using Documents to Go (Full)



Below are some search terms that have nothing to do with the thread, but I'd like people to be able to easily find this thread...

motorola droid android documents to go beam reader cannot can not open pdf documents can't cant This attachment cannot be displayed fetching

[Matth3w]

I added this to my blog today

[pdxrealtor]

Only one reply to this thread since 1/10???

How can this not be all over the web?

I got the newest Galaxy S phone, downloaded touch down and just like back in December when I had the Droid and then the Eris I cannot open certain attachments.

They come through as "X-AOL-XXXXXXXX where XXXXX is random in the attachment title.

I've tried the native email app as well, without success.

Pictures from my wife's BlackBerry come through like this and I get random .PDFs like this.

I just tried to forward from the home computer to myself and sure enough all the attachments show up fine after this.

Goutham from touch down email app was going to look at an error log but now I am not sure if it's even worth the time as it seems like an Android problem.

I like the phone, but i got it as a an email attachment reader 1st. If there isn't a fix the phone goes back.

Any further information on this?

[FunN4Lo]

I have auto generated reports posted to a pass word protected website in pdf that I need access to. The reports will not open from my Droid. If I email them to myself from a PC, I can open the attachment with my Droid. Does this meet your scenario ?

[pdxrealtor]

So you're saying you are accessing .PDFs from a website and your Droid won't open them?

I've never had that problem but I can't say that I've opened a lot of .PDFs from the web..

[BayouFlyFisher]

Only one reply to this thread since 1/10???

How can this not be all over the web?

I got the newest Galaxy S phone, downloaded touch down and just like back in December when I had the Droid and then the Eris I cannot open certain attachments.

They come through as "X-AOL-XXXXXXXX where XXXXX is random in the attachment title.

I've tried the native email app as well, without success.

Pictures from my wife's BlackBerry come through like this and I get random .PDFs like this.

I just tried to forward from the home computer to myself and sure enough all the attachments show up fine after this.

Goutham from touch down email app was going to look at an error log but now I am not sure if it's even worth the time as it seems like an Android problem.

I like the phone, but i got it as a an email attachment reader 1st. If there isn't a fix the phone goes back.

Any further information on this?

There have been almost no responses to this thread because it's a non-issue. Go to the first post in this thread and read the linked threads.

Then get K-9 and a quality PDF reader like Documents 2 Go. Those two apps seemed to solve almost everyone's problem. Other issues were tied to the type of email server or even the way the email attachment was named.

You need to look at what is causing the problem on your phone because it isn't Android. All the rest of us are receiving and reading PDF's.

Good luck with your issue.

[pdxrealtor]

Only one reply to this thread since 1/10???

How can this not be all over the web?

I got the newest Galaxy S phone, downloaded touch down and just like back in December when I had the Droid and then the Eris I cannot open certain attachments.

They come through as "X-AOL-XXXXXXXX where XXXXX is random in the attachment title.

I've tried the native email app as well, without success.

Pictures from my wife's BlackBerry come through like this and I get random .PDFs like this.

I just tried to forward from the home computer to myself and sure enough all the attachments show up fine after this.

Goutham from touch down email app was going to look at an error log but now I am not sure if it's even worth the time as it seems like an Android problem.

I like the phone, but i got it as a an email attachment reader 1st. If there isn't a fix the phone goes back.

Any further information on this?

There have been almost no responses to this thread because it's a non-issue. Go to the first post in this thread and read the linked threads.

Then get K-9 and a quality PDF reader like Documents 2 Go. Those two apps seemed to solve almost everyone's problem. Other issues were tied to the type of email server or even the way the email attachment was named.

You need to look at what is causing the problem on your phone because it isn't Android. All the rest of us are receiving and reading PDF's.

Good luck with your issue.

I figured out what the problem is, but I have not figured out how to fix it. You're right, it's not an Android problem. Thinking back, and now that I know what is happening, this was going on with my BlackBerry as well.

I have a mail.com account and an exchange account. I forward all email from mail.com to my exchange account. Anyone who sends me an email with an attachment to my mail.com address will render the attachment useless on my mobile device.

I can send myself an email to my mail.com account and the attachment in that email is useless.

Problem found... now how to fix it??

[BayouFlyFisher]

What I'm doing now may work for your Mail.com account. Instead of forwarding it to the exchange account, go to your Gmail account online. There you can add the mail.com account to the Gmail account. Gmail will then poll the mail.com account on a frequency that is determined by the account activity. High activity decreases the polling frequency and low activity increase polling frequency. Even with very low frequency the account will be polled at least every 5 minutes. These emails will be pushed to the Gmail app as soon as they are received by the Google. It isn't real-time push, but it's pretty close.

As I said, I'm doing it now and have been for the past 2-3 weeks and I've had no issues at all. I've go two pop3 accounts, one with very high frequency and one with very low frequency emails, and both have been working perfectly. As a side note, I think this has also saved me some battery usage during the day.

Good luck.

[FunN4Lo]

So you're saying you are accessing .PDFs from a website and your Droid won't open them?

I've never had that problem but I can't say that I've opened a lot of .PDFs from the web..

PDX Realtor? Hmmmmm...The web based pdfs I have issues with are real estate based documents. Maybe the same ones?!?

[pdxrealtor]

I don't access any .PDFs on the web accept if I were to be browsing a website that had a .PDF document. Most Real Estate docs I open on the web I can only access them from a desk top using internet explorer.


Now I'm second guessing my earlier statement of this going back to the blackberry. I've been messing with this since 9 this morning non-stop.

I have my iTouch in front of me and it opens all attachments regardless. I wish I had the Blackberry here...... I know the Blackberry wouldn't open or show attachments sometimes, but I have no idea if it was under the same circumstances.

About to uninstall Touchdown client and try the native Android client.