Solution for "This attachment type cannot be viewed on your device"

**nashvillerookie** · 01-22-2010, 02:51 PM

I have downloaded Sheet to Go and have the Blackberry Attachment Service. I still can't view excel spreadsheets. Any ideas?

**jeffh** · 01-22-2010, 02:53 PM

Do the spreadsheet file names end in .xls? If you are getting them from Mac users, the file extension may be missing.

**nashvillerookie** · 01-22-2010, 02:55 PM

I'm sending excel files from my PC.

**jeffh** · 01-22-2010, 03:06 PM

Emailing them to yourself, or copying them using Mass Storage Mode? Emails use the attachment service, files on the media card use Sheets to Go. There was another user last night with the same problem. My last suggestion was a battery pull. He didn't post again, so I don't know if that solved his problem or not.

**nashvillerookie** · 01-22-2010, 03:07 PM

I'm trying to open an attachment to an email. Battery pull didn't work...

**jeffh** · 01-22-2010, 03:14 PM

What are your symptoms? Do you get an error message? Does anything happen?

**nashvillerookie** · 01-22-2010, 03:17 PM

"This attachment type cannot be viewed on your device" appears when trying to open the attachment.

**jeffh** · 01-22-2010, 03:29 PM

That's the message you get when either you don't have the attachment service installed or the file extension is wrong. If you look in Options / Advanced Options / Modules, do you have net_rim_bb_attachment?

**nashvillerookie** · 01-22-2010, 03:37 PM

BlackBerry Attachment Service is listed in my Applications list.

**jeffh** · 01-22-2010, 03:40 PM

That's twice now I've been stumped by the same question. It works on my Tour. I just emailed an .xlsx file to my BlackBerry email address and when I click the attachment, I get the option to view it or open it with Docs To Go. Is it possible your email service is mangling the file? Is it very large? If you have more than one email service on your BlackBerry, send the file to a different inbox and see what happens.

**nashvillerookie** · 01-22-2010, 03:53 PM

I only have 1 mail account to send the attachment. The excel file is not big at all. This has really got me stumped. I appreciate your brainstorming.

**Branta** · 01-22-2010, 04:05 PM

I think I get this kind of problem with long filenames. See if it helps to avoid spaces and too many characters in the name.

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Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

**nashvillerookie** · 01-22-2010, 04:30 PM

Even my excel "test" file won't open. Sigh....

**jeffh** · 01-22-2010, 04:42 PM

What version of Excel are you using?

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**nashvillerookie** · 01-22-2010, 04:56 PM

It turns our to be a Microsoft Outlook issue involving winmail.dat files. I made the following changes to "Plain Text" and presto:

Prevent Winmail.dat Attachments from Being Sent in Outlook

To prevent Outlook from attaching winmail.dat when you send an email:

* ›› Step by Step Screenshot Walkthrough

* Select Tools | Options... from the menu.
* Go to the Mail Format tab.
* Under Compose in this message format:, make sure either HTML or Plain Text is selected.
* Click Internet Format.
* Make sure either Convert to Plain Text format or Convert to HTML format is selected under When sending Outlook Rich Text messages to Internet recipients, use this format:
* Click OK.
* Click OK again.

Thanks for everyone's help!

**jeffh** · 01-22-2010, 05:07 PM

Thank you for finding and posting a solution. I'm going to rename this thread and move it to the How To and FAQ forum later this evening.

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**hasta** · 01-28-2010, 04:57 PM

I don't even show "modules" under that menu.

**azie** · 01-30-2010, 06:21 AM

I have the same problem. xls file can't be viewed with Sheet to go

**FRC-Retail** · 03-12-2010, 03:15 PM

I can't find the "blackberry attachment service" file in my application list can I download one? I also looked in Options / Advanced Options / Modules,
And don't have "net_rim_bb_attachment" file? How do I proceed from here?

Thanks

**jeffh** · 03-12-2010, 03:52 PM

You need to install the OS that you have on your Tour on your PC. If you don't have the OS exe, you can get it here: Verizon BlackBerry Software Updates. Download the exe to your PC desktop. Double-click the exe. That will install the Tour OS as an application on your PC. Then you can run the App Loader and check the box for the BlackBerry Attachment Service. The App Loader will install it on your Tour.