[X4U] Strange Mail behavior with attachments

[Michael Elliott]

I typically use an AOL account as my primary e-mail address.  (Yes, I  
know...but I've had the same e-mail address for nearly 15 years, and  
I don't want to change it).  I recently configured Apple Mail to  
access AOL's IMAP servers, and it seems to work OK for my purposes.

However, I noticed that I received an e-mail from a coworker in which  
she made a reference to an excel spreadsheet attachment.  In Mail,  
there is no attachment visible:  no disclosure triangle, no icon of  
the attached file at the bottom of the e-mail, and no "paperclip"  
icon to click and download the attachment, and no "attachments tab"  
to click on.

I opened AOL's client program, and the attachment is there and could  
be downloaded, no problem.

What's really weird is that I then forwarded the email to both my AOL  
address and my .Mac address.  I did this from both the AOL client and  
Mail.  Then, in Mail, I opened my .Mac email account.  The attachment  
was there, no problem.  But when I opened my AOL e-mail from within  
Mail, there was no attachment!

I'm guessing that there is something specific about AOL's interaction  
with Mail that is screwing things up.

Has anybody every run into this? Any suggestions?

Michael