1.3 Overview

This algorithm organizes a hierarchy of rich message properties into a flattened structure that can be represented as a serial data stream. The typical format of a particular property within the stream is: identifier (which usually also includes type information), size (where not exactly determined by type), and data. In some cases, as described in this document, groups of properties or multiple-value properties include counts. Others might include padding to enforce a particular alignment of the data.

A typical scenario for using this algorithm is as follows. A TNEF Writer encodes rich properties into a serial data stream in order to transmit the properties through a messaging system that does not support those properties directly. By encoding the properties in TNEF, the properties that do not have direct representations in the underlying messaging system can be encapsulated during transport and then decoded by a TNEF Reader in order to make all the properties included in the original message available to the client application.