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10.5: Send 'real' attachments in Mail messages Apps
OK, this is totally out there in the semi-obvious open, but it's so nice to finally have it! If you'd rather send real attachments, instead of inline images, here's how.

While not in the middle of sending an email from Mail, go to the Edit » Attachments menu, and revel in the new 'Always Insert Attachments at end of Message' option.
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10.5: Send 'real' attachments in Mail messages | 15 comments | Create New Account
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10.5: Send 'real' attachments in Mail messages
Authored by: osxpounder on Tue, Nov 27 2007 at 3:27PM PST
Great news; good tip. Thanks! That was a good move on Apple's part.

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10.5: Send 'real' attachments in Mail messages
Authored by: banfiz on Tue, Nov 27 2007 at 3:42PM PST
Great. Now if we only had an option to have all attachments display as an icon as well without the need of 3rd party extras.

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10.5: Send 'real' attachments in Mail messages
Authored by: capacity on Tue, Nov 27 2007 at 4:02PM PST
Is there a filetype for which control/right-clicking and selecting "View as Icon" doesn't work?

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10.5: Send 'real' attachments in Mail messages
Authored by: aqsalter on Tue, Nov 27 2007 at 7:17PM PST
It's not that it doesn't work.
It's that you have to do it for _every_ attachment you insert.
I'd rather the default be that it shows as an icon and then i can view inline if I want.

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10.5: Send 'real' attachments in Mail messages
Authored by: Mac Berry on Wed, Nov 28 2007 at 3:29AM PST
Also, try dragging the icon to somewhere else in the message - it'll snap back to being inline :(

AND, it doesn't arrive as an icon at the other end anyway, even if you do have it display as one. Mail.app really is quite stupid in this regard - try attaching a photo and a single page pdf, then choosing medium or small for the photo size - the pdf will resize as well! Idiotic!

Also, try printing an e-mail with attachments (not just pictures). There's no way to stop it printing the attachment as well as the body, and what's worse, the body will often re-size to match the attachment size, and be totally unreadable.

The number of Windows users I get complaining that they can't open the pictures I send is ridiculous. Why on earth they can't just be sent as simple attachments is beyond me.

Mark

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10.5: Send 'real' attachments in Mail messages
Authored by: mbenchoff on Wed, Nov 28 2007 at 8:19AM PST
For your issue with Windows users, do you have "Always Send Windows-Friendly Attachments" checked in the same Edit->Attachments menu? I'm running 10.5, but IIRC, it's available in 10.4 as well...and 10.3 and earlier was too long ago for my feeble memory.

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10.5: Send 'real' attachments in Mail messages
Authored by: Mac Berry on Wed, Nov 28 2007 at 12:20PM PST
I do thanks, yes.

I think the issue isn't so much that the Windows users can't open the attachments, it's that because they appear inline (and this hint still puts them inline - just inline at the end of the message), they try double clicking on them, and nothing happens.

OK, so they're stupid Windows users of course, but given that most people are Windows users, why can't Mail have an option to send attachments the way virtually every other e-mail client does?

Plus, for pictures you don't want actually inline in the body, or for other documents like pdf's, it's so much cleaner to have icons attached than images.

Mark

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10.5: Send 'real' attachments in Mail messages
Authored by: sezme on Wed, Nov 28 2007 at 4:55PM PST
Actually, the 'Windows friendly' option still often results in photos that appear inline and don't appear as attachments. The answer I've found is to make sure the message is sent as plain text rather than rich text.

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10.5: Send 'real' attachments in Mail messages
Authored by: Mac Berry on Thu, Nov 29 2007 at 1:46AM PST
True, but that in turn destroys any formatting I've included (no, I don't want to start an argument re plain text vs. rich text/HTML in e-mails!) and need to retain.

Another workaround is to zip up the attachments before sending, but the real solution is for Apple to get it right.

Mark

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10.5: Send 'real' attachments in Mail messages
Authored by: spicyj on Tue, Nov 27 2007 at 4:11PM PST
But now, I can't see the things I've attached. (Unless I'm missing something…)

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10.5: Send 'real' attachments in Mail messages
Authored by: Bakari on Tue, Nov 27 2007 at 5:18PM PST
Cool. I really need this hint. thanx

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10.5: Send 'real' attachments in Mail messages
Authored by: pwharff on Wed, Nov 28 2007 at 11:06AM PST
Obvious but an awesome hint. I didn't see until I saw this hint. Thank you!

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10.5: Send 'real' attachments in Mail messages
Authored by: zooids on Wed, Nov 28 2007 at 11:48AM PST
Found a small bug with this. With this selection chosen, you cannot attach vCards to a message. I wonder if there are other file types that don't work too...

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10.5: Send 'real' attachments in Mail messages
Authored by: yalag on Thu, Nov 29 2007 at 10:23AM PST
yea but then how do I see my list of attachments?????????????????????????

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10.5: Send 'real' attachments in Mail messages
Authored by: macademic on Tue, Jan 15 2008 at 7:01AM PST
http://forums.macworld.com/thread/96377

"Apparently if you try to attach a file when the "always insert attachments at end of message" setting is activated, and there is not text in the body of the message, it doesn't work. I have filed a bug report with Apple."

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