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After sending an e-mail to someone, can the receipient of this e-mail change the file that was originally attached to a different file?

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Your question is vague; what do you mean by “change the file”? Change its type? Change its content? What type would the file be? Once you receive an email and download the attachment, you can do different things to the respective file(s), so be more specific. – Alex Mar 26 '12 at 21:00
My question is concerning an Excel file that I sent to a reciepient....When they recieved the file, I was wondering if there is a way they can change the attachment to show that a different file was sent? When I say change the attachment, I mean change the attachment to look like I sent something else? Thanks!! – Julie Mar 26 '12 at 21:43
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I’m not sure whether it’s technically possible or not, but to be absolutely sure that doesn’t happen, I'd suggest you send it in Cc or Bcc to someone else. It might be possible to make it look like it came from you, but it can be proved that it wasn’t you who sent it (server logs etc.). – Alex Mar 26 '12 at 21:54

closed as off topic by Eight Days of Malaise, phwd♦ Mar 27 '12 at 21:01

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1 Answer

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Yes, they can change the file to anything they want to. You cannot force them to forward a specific file during a forward.

The reason for this is due to you losing control of the content sent out when they're creating their own email.

The only way to mitigate this is to use a resource online that you control and not depend on email attachments.

My Suggestions - Dropbox Public/shared folder.

The public folder wouldn't be good for sensitive files, but the shared folder can be locked down to only people you invite to view the folder/file via email (they'd have to have a dropbox account as well, which is free).

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They did not forward the file to anyone. When they showed me the e-mail I sent, with the Excel file attahced, I'm almost positive that was not the file I attached. I was wondering If they could make it look as if I sent another file (on my original e-mail)....basically attached another file to my original e-mail I sent. – Julie Mar 26 '12 at 22:09
@Julie yes, they can make it look like you sent a different file. However, your sent history should be able to clean that up if there's any question about the original file sent. – Dez Mar 26 '12 at 22:27
Do you know how they can attach a different file to my original e-mail....and still look like I snet it? – Julie Mar 26 '12 at 22:34
They could have set their "Sent by" field to your email and just copy/pasted all of your original text into the email. Some email providers allow you to spoof the sent by. Also, your email accounts sent history should be able to clear all of this up. If the machine/account you sent it from doesn't have the same record then something got changed. – Dez Mar 26 '12 at 22:41

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