How do you open a dat file?

Just today I received two dat files as attachements that came with an email and the site suggested by stauthomas, http://www.winmaildat.com/
worked great.
One turned out to be an Excel file, and the other was a PDF.

I have added to my favourites as this happens all to regularly for me.

Cheers

(Windows XP) Right click the file choose 'OPEN WITH'. You'll get a caution prompt just click 'OPEN WITH' tab. Highlight the circle 'Select program from list' Click OK. Make sure the Box that says 'Always use the selected program to open this kind of file' is UNCHECKED. Choose 'NOTEPAD' and Bob's your Aunty's live in lover.

DAT is pretty much a generic extension, so it really depends.
Some programs will use DAT to store binary data, and these files cannot be viewed at all...

Try opening .dat files in notebook or MS Word. Works for me every time.

The Sender had used Rich text format or HTML format.You can wither download the WMDecode program from the following site: http://www.biblet.freeserve.co.uk/ and try to decode the attachment.

The other solution is to ask the sender to re-send the mail with the attachment in a Plain text message.This can be done as follows:

1. Create a new email message as you normally would, but before sending it,
2. Choose Format->Plain Text from the menu bar.
3. Now send your message.

For further information; you can refer the following link - http://facstaff.gpc.edu/~jbenson/resource/winmail.htm.

I received an email with attachements that were .dat files and was unsuccessful in opening them with all the other posts I read. However, I was able to download the 30 day Trial Software for product listed below and after filling out the questionaire & agreeing to the terms & conditions, I right clicked on the .dat file that was now on my desktop and selected the option for "Quick View Plus". All was well with the world after that :)

It was simple and didn't require any additional steps (other than Print).

http://www.avantstar.com/.../...kViewPlusOverview

Good luck!

Be cautious you know what you are doing. Any DAT file on your computer should not be opened, because this could damage the function of your computer.
If notepad does not work, you could try the freeware PSPad:
www.pspad.com/

If the .dat file is an email attachment (quite often named winmail.dat) the chances are high, that it is an TNEF encoded email attachment. If you want to open one of those .dat files you can use an online converter like http://www.winmaildat.com .

There is a software called Quickview, opens almost anything. Use the demo, enjoy.

http://www.avantstar.com/Products/Quick_View_Plus/QuickViewPlusOverview

I followed toe-tag's instructions but it wouldn't open, probably as the files i'd received (by e-mail) were photo's. So when I came to the bit "select program from list" I chose Windows Picture & Fax Viewer and that worked fine.

How do I open a DAT file that is a 30meg MOVIE? I tried changing the extension to WMV. No good.

Thanks for your help.

i have dat files from yahoo messenger...and I can't open them. Any suggestions as to how to open them and what they might be?

Is it supposed to be a movie file?

most of the .dat files do open with the methods told above..
but i have some dat files which were used by a friend of mine during coding of a dictionary software...it forms the database of words...
but i need to decode it and alter it...can anyone help...i can mail the files if required ???

hi
I am trying to open a .dat file extension in Notepad but it shows JUNK output. Can anyone tell me the solution.
thanks

How do you open a .dat file that acts as an archived conversation for Yahoo Messenger?

Depends what program the .dat file is. May different types of databases use .dat file as an extension. You won't be able to open those unless you know what type of dat file it is used for and associate the correct program with it.

To anyone trying to open a .dat file, copy it to your desktop, (if its already on your desktop, rename it) and right click its properties and edit the prefix to anything like .jpeg or .gif or .txt or whatever your fav wordprocessor saves files as.

.mp3 or .wav if you thinks its a music file.

.mpeg etc etc for a video file.

if none of those work, then its been sent by someone using an old wordprocessor, which if you dont know what it is, your fragged.

Share your answer...

how do you guy open a DAT file but it's a music file..I try Window media player and other converter like Xilisoft but some of the music in the dat file was missing...not a fully extraction of the DAT file...Is there any software I can extract the completely all the files in the DAT file

Dat file is mainly a movie files which you can open with the help of Window Media player...

Right click on that dat files, then click on open with ,
then select window media player to open it ..

Takte

instead use http://www.voydo.com/convert/

I received a .dat file from my sister-in-law who was sending a photo. Using the right click method on the file and choosing Picture Viewer from Quicktime I was able to open the picture.

I initially tried notepad but 50% was garbled so I opened it with MS word and viola! :) everything was in order.

I have the same question as Bloodchains. How do you open .dat files that are archived conversation from Yahoo Messenger?

Coco

Try Word Pad - most .dat files are just text files.