Job Applications + gMail + Thunderbird + PDF = bad, bad news...
August 23, 2006 7:56 PM Subscribe
HELP! Job applications + gMail + Thunderbird + .PDF = screwed up attachments
...why!? what's wrong?
I've been applying for jobs and, like any good wanna-be-techie, like to send my documents (cover letter + resume) in .PDF files with the thinking they are the most universal.
BUT ALAS...there is a problem. It seems that of the 5 cover letters (attached .PDFs) I've sent in the past week, 4 of them got screwed up by gMail or Thunderbird, but the resumes (.PDFs attached on the same email *all* went through).
My setup:
1. write cover letters in MS Word/XP
2. print to .PDF with CutePDF
3. attach cover letter to plain text email in Thunderbird which accesses gMail through "smtp.gmail.com".
> > > it goes wrong when I try to check out the sent mail/attachments in gMail. The screwed up files (all with longish names, ie "My Name - Cover Letter for The Job with The Company.pdf") show up in gMail under the following file names:
1. Ð’I:ipart/mixed; boundary="------------040502040503040509020206"
2. øZÅ7ipart/mixed; boundary="------------080500050905060508010809"
3. à„1ipart/mixed; boundary="------------050307060509070902030303"
4. 0f®9ipart/mixed; boundary="------------070207050804030909000000""on Internship.pdf"
5. @u2:
(when i tested this by sending to my yahoo mail account, yahoo shows the screwy file as named "file.bin")
but all are the correct file size (~50-70K), and can be viewed with "view as HTML"; just not downloaded and viewed like normal....EXCEPT if I use Thunderbird to read my sent mail (or download the files as sent to another email account I have in Thunderbird).
....sooo, you have any ideas? has this happened to you? how can i fix this (it only seems to happen when thunderbird is involved, so i could use gMail alone, but dont like the compose interface)?
thanks.
I've been applying for jobs and, like any good wanna-be-techie, like to send my documents (cover letter + resume) in .PDF files with the thinking they are the most universal.
BUT ALAS...there is a problem. It seems that of the 5 cover letters (attached .PDFs) I've sent in the past week, 4 of them got screwed up by gMail or Thunderbird, but the resumes (.PDFs attached on the same email *all* went through).
My setup:
1. write cover letters in MS Word/XP
2. print to .PDF with CutePDF
3. attach cover letter to plain text email in Thunderbird which accesses gMail through "smtp.gmail.com".
> > > it goes wrong when I try to check out the sent mail/attachments in gMail. The screwed up files (all with longish names, ie "My Name - Cover Letter for The Job with The Company.pdf") show up in gMail under the following file names:
1. Ð’I:ipart/mixed; boundary="------------040502040503040509020206"
2. øZÅ7ipart/mixed; boundary="------------080500050905060508010809"
3. à„1ipart/mixed; boundary="------------050307060509070902030303"
4. 0f®9ipart/mixed; boundary="------------070207050804030909000000""on Internship.pdf"
5. @u2:
(when i tested this by sending to my yahoo mail account, yahoo shows the screwy file as named "file.bin")
but all are the correct file size (~50-70K), and can be viewed with "view as HTML"; just not downloaded and viewed like normal....EXCEPT if I use Thunderbird to read my sent mail (or download the files as sent to another email account I have in Thunderbird).
....sooo, you have any ideas? has this happened to you? how can i fix this (it only seems to happen when thunderbird is involved, so i could use gMail alone, but dont like the compose interface)?
thanks.
Response by poster: [from the poster] good question:
yes, recipients are having this trouble. I first realized the problem when one of the HR people responded asking that I send the cover letter again as it had not worked the first time. I also have emailed it to myself, from gMail to Yahoo!, and had this problem (but NOT when viewing Yahoo *with* thunderbird [w/ yPOPS]).
posted by chefscotticus at 8:18 PM on August 23, 2006
yes, recipients are having this trouble. I first realized the problem when one of the HR people responded asking that I send the cover letter again as it had not worked the first time. I also have emailed it to myself, from gMail to Yahoo!, and had this problem (but NOT when viewing Yahoo *with* thunderbird [w/ yPOPS]).
posted by chefscotticus at 8:18 PM on August 23, 2006
Best answer: if i've found my own answer (i have!) and post it here in response to my own question, does it mean that my posting to MeFi was a success?
from thunderbird help zine: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Attachments_renamed
posted by chefscotticus at 8:39 PM on August 23, 2006
from thunderbird help zine: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Attachments_renamed
posted by chefscotticus at 8:39 PM on August 23, 2006
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by winston at 8:11 PM on August 23, 2006