Attaching files embedded in body of email message

Hello Cliff.

The Tiger Mail.app uses RTF/HTML and although image attachments appear inline or viewed in place within the body of the message by default, these type of attachments have always been sent as true attachments to the message with previous Mail.app versions prior to Tiger.

I haven't experienced the same with Tiger Mail but this may be due to using RTF instead of Plain Text.

Are you including the file extension for all attachments and using Send Windows Friendly Attachments when sending a message to a recipient using Windows?

Try using Plain Text instead of RTF.

You're welcome.

Image type attachments appear inline or viewed in place by default with the Mail.app but are sent as true attachments to the message especially when using Plain Text and not RTF. I'm not aware of a method for embedding an image within the body of a message when using Plain Text or without HTML composition.

Depending on the recipient's email client and available preference settings, such attachments may appear inline or viewed in place within the body of the message when the message is opened and/or as attached files which must be opened separately for which we (or the Mail.app) has no control over.

Hi, I don't think you've grasped the problem, which we have experienced too.

Yes image files do appear inline, which is not an issue. However some of our client are unable to get the images out of the email message because at their end the images appear embedded into the email and cannot be saved to their computers (except in some cases as a bitmap file)

Sorry but I have grasped the problem.

If you are using Plain Text to compose a message, it is impossible to embed an image.

To embed an image requires HTML composition.

RTF with Tiger Mail is RTF/HTML but you cannot compose complex HTML within the body of a message. If you are using RTF, this may be a problem with the recipient's email client not being able to read the RTF used by the Mail.app properly.

If the same occurs when using Plain Text to compose a message, I'm at a loss.

Cliff, I've had to deal with the same issue when I switched to Mail. I have a client who ℹ likes to get html-formatted mail and (ii) needs to receive jpegs of design ideas as attachments, not as embedded files. As others have noted, the one negates the other in Mail. To ensure that your jpeg or whatever arrives as an attachment, and not embedded, the message has got to be plain text. If this hasn't worked for you, there may be a signature or something that's forcing it to be rich text. Send yourself a test message and check the source to see if it's really plain text or rich text. Mail's compulsion to embed attachments is a collossal pain and something I wish to blazes that they'd address.

If you are using Plain Text to compose a message, it is impossible to embed an image.

The problem is with terminology. It is impossible to "embed an image" no matter what you do with an email. Images are always attachments; whether it appears within the flow of the mail message or not is simply a matter of how the receiver's mail program decides to display it. The HTMLness or non-HTMLness of the message has nothing to do with it -- except that it's possible for an HTML message to refer to an attached image. A plain text message can still have an attached image displayed inline.

The sender's mail program suggests whether to display an attachment inline using Content-Disposition. Many standards-compliant mail programs will heed the suggestion. However, if the receiver can't save the file because it is shown inline, the only problem is that the receiver's mail program is broken.

Apple Mail, unfortunately, is really quite bad when it comes to message composition and allows you almost no control over anything in the outgoing message. So, unfortunately, although it's perfectly possible to work around the flaw in the receiver's mail program by setting Content-Disposition to "attachment", you can't do it with Apple Mail. The problem is that the receiver's email program is badly designed, and Apple's mail program doesn't allow access to what you would need to work around the other program's flaws.