You can use MT-NewsWatcher to post binaries to newsgroups too. Before you do this, please check that binaries are acceptable in the groups to which you are posting (they are not in most non-binaries groups), and that you are not breaking any copyright or other laws by posting such material. Also be sensitive to the preferred format for binaries in the target groups.



To attach a file to an outgoing message, choose Attach... on the File menu, or Show Details in the message window, and drag a file from the Finder into the list of attached files.

When you attach a file to a message, you will be presented with a dialog that allows you to choose encoding options for that file. This is the dialog that you will see if you have 'Send message with MIME' turned on in the Message Options preferences. If MIME is turned off, you will see a different list of encoding options.



First, in this dialog, you should specify a file name for this attachment, which will be the name used when sending the message. By default, this is the name of the file in the Finder. You almost always want to ensure that the filename has an appropriate file extension (e.g. ".gif" for GIF files, ".jpg" for JPEGs and so on). This is because non-Macintosh platforms use this file extension to identify the type of the file.

Second, you need to choose an encoding for this file. MT-NewsWatcher will have made a best guess for the encoding to use (making use of information from Internet Config). You will need to know a little about the format of Macintosh files to make an informed decision here.

Note: Macintosh files have two parts, or "forks" to them. The data fork is used to store the bulk of the file's data, for example the contents of a word processor document, the image data for GIF or JPEG files, or the contents of a text file. The resource fork is often used to store data used by applications when viewing files. When Macintosh files are transferred to other platforms, like Windows, it's often only the data fork which is important.

Sending with MIME

If you are sending with MIME turned on, then you get these options:

Encoding type Which forks are included Readable on Windows Use for files Plain text Data fork only Yes Text files only MIME data Data fork only Yes Images, sounds, movies (if flattened), Stuffit 4.5 archives AppleDouble Resource and data forks Data fork is, resource fork is not Files for which the data fork is readable on Windows, e.g. PhotoShop files AppleSingle Resource and data forks No Macintosh files (e.g. an application), Stuffit 5 archives BinHex Resource and data forks No Compressed Macintosh files

Use of BinHex in MIME-formatted messages is discouraged. You should use AppleSingle or AppleDouble, depending on whether the data fork of the file you are sending is in a format that people on other platforms can handle.

Note: When sending binary attachments in a MIME-formatted message, MT-NewsWatcher creates a message with a Content-Type of multipart/mixed, with the message text in a text/plain section, and the binaries in one or more sections of the appropriate MIME type (e.g. image/jpeg). If the message has to be split into multiple parts, then this message is enclosed in a message/partial envelope, and subsequent parts receive the appropriate message/partial headers.

Sending without MIME

If sending with MIME is turned off, these are your options:

Encoding type Which forks are included Readable on Windows Use for files Plain text Data fork only Yes Text files only Uuencode Data fork only Yes Images, sounds, movies (if flattened), Stuffit 4.5 archives BinHex Resource and data forks No Macintosh files, Stuffit archives

The choice here is easier; if you are posting files that are only useful to Macintosh uses, use BinHex, otherwise use Uuencoding.

At the bottom of the attachment dialog is an entry field in which you enter the maximum number of lines to post in a single part. If the article is larger than this number of lines after all the attachments have been encoded, then MT-NewsWatcher will post multiple parts. MT-NewsWatcher estimates how many parts will be required given the current line threshold.

Note: This estimate of the number of parts is accurate for most types of encoding. However, because BinHex encoding involves some extra data compression, the estimate with BinHex attachments should be considered an approximation.

When you are done choosing encoding options, click the OK button, and that file will be attached to your outgoing message. To see the list of attached files, Show Details on the message window, and click on the Attachments tab if necessary. To remove an attachment from this list, select it an hit the delete key. You can also double-click on an attachment to change its encoding options, or to remove it.