Mail corrupts PDF attachments

I've had this problem for a while now, usually on older emails i've kept in my inbox, but it's started happening on more recent emails now and is becoming a real nuisance. Basically, sometimes, when i go to view or download a PDF attachment, preview tells me "Couldn’t open the file. It may be corrupt or a file format that Preview doesn’t recognize." I'm using gmail through imap on Mail. The attachement itself is fine though. I can download the attachment through gmail itself and preview displays it fine. Also, mail displays the inline preview as a small black box.
Any ideas why mail is corrupting my attachements? i've already tried rebuilding all my mailboxes multiple times, and deleting and redownloading all my messages, but the problem hasn't gone away.
Thanks for any help.
Message was edited by: zig_k

zig_k,
How did you re-download the messages? Did you remove the account then re-add it? What I would do is Move the files and folders I list below to the desktop. Then re-setup mail.
com.apple.mail.plist from the Macintosh HD -> User -> YOUR USER -> Library -> Preferences
com.apple.mail.downloads.plist from the same folder as above
& the Mail folder in Macintosh HD -> User -> YOUR USER -> Library
If all works you may delete the files. The plist files hold settings like were you store your notes and todos. And the mail folder is a copy of all you mail. You can go through it if you like.
Hope that helps,
Weston

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