Can't send email attachment? Error message

travel_freak

Hi,

I hope someone might be able to help me with an email problem.

I tried sending one Word doc as an attachment to an email but the following error message came up:

"The message wasn't send due to an error.
Header limit exceeded or line too long.
This is probably because a message (.eml) attachment contains email headers that exceed the system size limit or a line that is too long.
Please remove the attachment and resend the message".

Please does anyone know what the problem might be and how I could fix it? It is happening only on my desktop but is fine on the laptop.

I don't know what the "header limit/line" is even...

Many thx in advance.

Jaffa.

What program are you using to send emails with on the desktop?

travel_freak

Hi,

I'm not sure what the "program" is. I'm using Vodafone dongle thingy for my internet connection. Then I use Firefox as my browser. I have an AOL email account and also a Hotmail.

I've tried to send the attachment from both AOL and hotmail but it won't let me.

However, when I switch to the laptop (still using Vodafone, Firefox and AOL/hotmail) I can send the attachment without any problems - very weird!!

travel_freak

Hi,

Just bumping this as I still can't manage to send attachments - please does anyone know of something I could try to fix this problem?

Many thx in advance.

kwikbreaks

I've no solution but a couple of questions and a suggestion which may narrow it down...

Can you send any attachments at all via the desktop - is it just this one which fails?

Could it be something to do with the name of the document? You could maybe try renaming it to something very short and simple to see if that works.

travel_freak

Hi,

Many thanks. Yes, I've tried renaming the document and sending any of a number of other Word docs (and Excel docs) but the same thing happens.

Someone suggested I try saving some text to a Wordpad doc and send that - this is the only thing which will work but definitely no Word or Excel docs. It used to send things fine but out of the blue it now won't. Am completely flummoxed as to why not!

kwikbreaks

Well the message doesn't suggest it but the only thing I can guess at is security - word and excel both support active scripting so are capable of carrying a malware payload (e.g. Melissa macro virus). IIRC Gmail blocks the sending of an exe or a zip/rar containing and exe but it does tell you why (sort of). Are you using the same antivirus on both machines? BTW I'm not suggesting your doc i in any way infected just that the filetype could be infected.

travel_freak

Hi,

Many thanks again - yes as far as I know it's the same antivirus on both the laptop and the problem PC - it's ZoneAlarm and all the freebie packages recommended here.

I got the PC after the laptop but basically downloaded exactly the same software and antivirus packages onto the PC as are on the laptop - this is what makes it so mysterious that it's only affecting the PC (and the PC used to be absolutely fine)...

Think I may be reaching for a hammer soon... !

buglawton

More specifically, there may be a setting in your antivirus that scans outgoing emails and attachments. If you disable that feature temporarily, might work. You need to do Help > About in your Email Program and post the Program Name and Version here, similar info needed on your Antivirus program (Zonealarm is not the one, it is a Firewall), your antivir may be AVG or something...

travel_freak

Hi Buglawton,

Many thanks for your message. I'm away from the bothersome PC now until the weekend but when I get back to it I will check the details you suggested and post on here in the hope you might be able to offer any further tips.

You are right, the antivirus must be AVG.

The only thing I can't fathom is why it should cause problems all of a sudden when I haven't changed anything (to my knowledge...!) since originally setting it all up when it worked okay ... bizarre!!

buglawton

Tools > Advanced Settings > Email Scanner > untick the Check Outgoing e-mail option and try. The behaviour of antivirus program can indeed change with no warning, as the virus signatures get auto updated frequently.