Email photo as attachment, not embedded, in iOS 14

What people seem to be missing is the fact that the way Apple is embedding the image in the html body of the email means it is also losing all the EXIF data, filename etc.

This is NOT an Outlook problem - It is a problem with Apple changing the way their built in mail client handles photos and its incredibly stupid. They have done it before, then fixed it and now they have broken it again.

myernesto wrote:

Want photos to be attachments, not embedded it emails. What is the solution

By the International Internet Standards that govern email creation and exchange, all files (photos, images, etc.) are always sent as attachments. Period.

Now, other than the old plain-text (text/plain) email format—that was going extinct even back in the ‘90s—these attachments can be formatted inline with formatted text. (As I say, this capability has been around since the early ‘90s. Actually the latter ‘80s.)

In fact, the most common such rich-text format uses the same HTML formatting used by webpages.

Unfortunately, though, there is a very tiny subset of email clients (consisting, as far as anyone has been able to demonstrate, so far, of a single email client and its derivatives) that actually prevent their users from performing bulk attachment operations (such as bulk-saves) based only upon the way said email clients choose to display (format) received emails.

Since Apple does not own any of this very tiny subset of email clients, they have, quite simply, no ability to fix this issue.

The only true fix will be once these email clients are fixed, so they allow their users to perform the bulk attachment operations (such as bulk-saves), that all other email clients provide to their users, upon the very same received emails!

Unfortunately, using these email clients—as if their misbehavior is “as it should be”—rather than demanding that their creator fix them, will simply postpone any real progress in this attachment issue.

Do you use Outlook (or its derivatives [the web interface to MSN is one such Outlook derivative]) as your email client, Mystified-OZ?

Are you actually trying to bulk-save the images/pictures? Or are you judging based upon appearances alone? (This is key, such as in judging GMail, whether you use the web interface or the GMail App, or any other email client.)

(Even using “Save as” HTML, in Outlook, demonstrates that the email, from Apple Mail, includes the images/pictures as attachments. [Outlook used to {and may still} have a way to see the raw email—headers and all. I used that, quite a bit, when I was learning the International Internet Standards governing email creation and interchange. It is all text, but the various “parts” are separated by textual “tags”. It is easy to use this to compare to the standards. However, Outlook’s “Save as” HTML is the simplest demonstration, for those that are not familiar with what they are looking at, in the raw email text.])

Have you made sure that the pictures you take on your iPhone are set to be “Most Compatible”, rather than “High Efficiency”? (I wouldn’t be surprised if the 14.4 update may have changed this to “High Efficiency”.)

(I use “High Efficiency”, myself. It is a far more recent International Internet Standard than JPEG. Unfortunately, there are companies that want their users to pay more for compatibility with this newer and superior standard.)

Welcome, Lotus9999, to Apple Support Communities!

Unfortunately, you, like so many others, appear to be judging based only upon appearances, rather than actuality or functionality.

1. All files, that are any part of an email, are always attachments. There is simply no other choice! (This is as required by the International Internet Standards that govern email creation and interchange.)
2. Therefore, the only differences you are observing are purely appearance: the way the email is formatted and displayed by any given email client.
3. Now, if it were not for the very tiny subset of email clients that—for whatever reason, known only to their creator—prevent their users from performing bulk attachment operations (such as bulk-saves), under certain conditions (again, known fully only to their creator), there would never be any functionality issues, whatsoever!
4. As a result, the only actual fix is to get the creator of that very tiny subset of email clients (consisting of only a single email client and its derivatives, so far as anyone, within the Apple Support Communities, has been able to determine, so far), to fix this issue in their software.
5. Anything else will be an utterly fragile workaround, subject to breaking with any tiny change in the web of interactions involved in transferring emails. (This is, actually, the very reason this issue has ever popped up—whether with iOS 14, as well as with various previous iOS versions.)

As a result, of all the above, there is, actually, no “fix” that is within Apple’s power or authority.

The best thing for all affected parties to do is to petition the creator of that very tiny subset of email clients with the actual user issue (items 3 and 4), to fix their email clients.

Trying to get a non-responsible party (Apple) to “fix” this is an exercise in futility.

Here’s the test you should perform:

Simply try any set of email clients on your received emails (that appear to have «pictures» «embedded within the body of the email»), and see which ones allow you to vs. prevent you from, performing bulk attachment operations (such as bulk-saves) upon said emails.

In other words, a functionality test vs. an appearance only test.

Now. What do you find?

Lotus9999 wrote:

Halliday wrote:

Welcome, terrapinny, to Apple Support Communities!

As I wrote to Lotus9999:

«…»

I could try to do that, but before doing so, I would ask you to actually read and understand the subject of this thread. …

I have been following this and many «thread[s]» like it since September of last year.

I, and several others (most of whom, unfortunately, have given up on people that refuse to learn: one even recommended that I, too, give up on y’all) have analyses this forward-backward, top-to-bottom, front-to-back, side-to-side, etc.

…

Not being able to bulk save pictures is a big pain, but if you had properly read the original title, you would have known that is simply a symptom / the side effect of the underlying problem – to which ironically, you've provided no solution.

I'll make it easy for you and paste it here: "Q: Email photo as attachment, not embedded, in iOS 14"

Once again, you are focusing upon superficial appearances (and the accompanying circumstantial “evidence”).

This is actually not new to iOS 14. It has “popped up” many times over the years, with various iOS versions.

Once again:

«

1. All files, that are any part of an email, are always attachments. There is simply no other choice! (This is as required by the International Internet Standards that govern email creation and interchange.) [In other words, there is no such thing as «embedded». There is only «attachment». Ever!]
2. Therefore, the only differences you are observing are purely appearance: the way the email is formatted and displayed by any given email client.
3. Now, if it were not for the very tiny subset of email clients that—for whatever reason, known only to their creator—prevent their users from performing bulk attachment operations (such as bulk-saves), under certain conditions (again, known fully only to their creator), there would never be any functionality issues, whatsoever!
4. As a result, the only actual fix is to get the creator of that very tiny subset of email clients (consisting of only a single email client and its derivatives, so far as anyone, within the Apple Support Communities, has been able to determine, so far), to fix this issue in their software.
5. Anything else will be an utterly fragile workaround, subject to breaking with any tiny change in the web of interactions involved in transferring emails. (This is, actually, the very reason this issue has ever popped up—whether with iOS 14, as well as with various previous iOS versions.)

As a result, of all the above, there is, actually, no “fix” that is within Apple’s power or authority.

The best thing for all affected parties to do is to petition the creator of that very tiny subset of email clients with the actual user issue (items 3 and 4), to fix their email clients.

Trying to get a non-responsible party (Apple) to “fix” this is an exercise in futility.

Here’s the test you should perform:

Simply try any set of email clients on your received emails (that appear to have «pictures» «embedded within the body of the email»), and see which ones allow you to vs. prevent you from, performing bulk attachment operations (such as bulk-saves) upon said emails.

In other words, a functionality test vs. an appearance only test.

Now. What do you find?»

As I pointed out in items 3 and 4:

«3. Now, if it were not for the very tiny subset of email clients that—for whatever reason, known only to their creator—prevent their users from performing bulk attachment operations (such as bulk-saves), under certain conditions (again, known fully only to their creator), there would never be any functionality issues, whatsoever!»

«4. As a result, the only actual fix is to get the creator of that very tiny subset of email clients (consisting of only a single email client and its derivatives, so far as anyone, within the Apple Support Communities, has been able to determine, so far), to fix this issue in their software.»

If the issue were truly about appearances, there would be no problem, except whatever appearance you wish.

As is so often the case, one must read beyond the superficial, to get down the the actual substance of the concerns.

If you have no issue beyond the appearances: no actual issue of functionality, then why are you so emotionally involved? Why is the appearance so important to you?

CJCragg wrote:

Every[one] seems to be saying “Outlook won’t allow....” etc. But it always did until IOS 14. It’s Apple who changed something. …

Actually, if you investigate further, you’ll find that this issue has repeatedly “popped up”, with earlier iOS versions, over many years.

The problem is that any “fix” that doesn’t correct the «Outlook won’t allow…” etc.» is but a fragile workaround, subject to being easily broken by any tiny changes in the web of interactions involved in transferring emails.

This is what lead to every case of this issue repeatedly “popping up”, with earlier iOS versions, over many years, including the change to iOS 14.

… In the meantime, I will use the short video work around, …

Whatever workaround works for you… until it breaks, as it will (almost) inevitably do.

… but sadly, I don’t think we will expect a change from Apple from what people are saying.

Since Apple has no control over the very tiny subset of email clients (consisting of a single email client and its derivatives) that prevent their users from performing bulk attachment operations (such as bulk-saves), under conditions known only to its programmers; there are no actual fixes Apple can accomplish.

The best Apple can accomplish are workarounds, and, as such, they would be very fragile, as previously explained.

No. I wouldn’t expect Apple to willingly fall for such a “trap”. (I know, as a programmer myself, I wouldn’t want to be in such a situation.)

Send photo to recipient (or yourself) from iPhone as usual.

In Outlook (that’s what I use),

1.      Left-click select the image embedded in your

email

Note the tiny squares appearing at the edges

that indicates the photo is now selected

2.      Then right-click the image, and

3.      “Save as Picture” in your choice of format

4.      Save it where you choose on your computer drive

5.      The photo can be edited as usual.

I too had this problem, and I finally called Apple support. Walla!

Dear Halliday,

Your wish is my command. Here is proof that your hypothesis is invalid. I took a screenshot of one of your replies that arrived in my email. Then then used the upload button and selected the built-in "Mail" app in iOS 14. The draft email that you see has the picture *embedded* into the email. The email has not been sent. It has not traversed the internet. It has not hit a Microsoft Exchange nor 365 mail server. It has not been opened in Outlook. Yet the picture is not attached. The picture is embedded in the body of the email. I sent it to both my gmail and 365 accounts. Whaddya know - it arrived embedded instead of attached. I just happen to have an old iPhone running iOS 12.5.1. I used the same process to add a picture to the built-in email app. I sent the email to both my 365 and gmail accounts. It came as an attachment. Seems like your theory is debunked. Please stop blaming Microsoft. Please stop blaming any email client that is not the one supported by Apple. As you can see, I have tested. I have also reached out to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) https://www.ietf.org/about/who/ Other than reply the same canned response ad nauseam on this thread, what have you done to try to solve this? I have thoroughly proven this using the Scientific Method (Observation, Question, Hypothesis, Experiment, Analysis, Conclusion). If you need help with running an experiment, please tell me your experiment. I am here to be a lab rat.

I just purchased a new iphone, which uses iOS 14 - and have encountered the same issue everybody else has - where all photos are embedded. Just awful. ....... My old phone (iphone 6) is on a lower IOS - and it still works fine, sending my photos as attachments. When I called Apple about it, they acknowledged that IOS 14 removed the ability to send photos as attachments, which is ridiculous.

I sure hope Apple listens and offers an update that restores the ability to send pics as attachments.

Has anybody found a work around to this? I haven't been able to go through the 45 pages of comments to see. So, if someone could post a work around that allows me to send photos as email attachments, I would greatly appreciate it.

Ran a test. Sent an email from my iPhone using the Apple mail app, using a Gmail account. I then opened that email in Apple mail and compared it to opening the email in Gmail.

Results are that Gmail views the email attachment in the way that everyone wants, the Apple mail app views it as an image in the email body.

This means that the Apple Mail iOS app is the one deciding to view the attached image in this odd and annoying way.

Welcome, snowmelt, to Apple Support Communities!

In both cases «the photo[s] will be attached.» There simply is no other way.

The only thing that changes is the «formatting».

There are two sorts of issues:

1. One is the pure issue of appearances. However, if the only thing someone is concerned about is «appearance»—even if one considers such to be a usability/«functionality» issue—then their path is quite clear: they can:
   1. Choose an email client that provides the ability to produce whatever «appearance» they desire.
   2. Provide Apple with Feedback on what email formatting features they desire.
2. The other goes beyond pure appearances, and, ultimately, is an issue of functionality, that is not just appearance based: this issue has been narrowed down to the very tiny subset of email clients (consisting of email clients all programmed by one company: not Apple) that prevent their users from performing bulk attachment operations (such as bulk-saves), under certain conditions only fully known by their programmers. (We have but certain clues.)
   1. So long as those email clients are not corrected, all one can ever have are fragile workarounds, subject to being easily broken by any tiny changes in the web of interactions involved in transferring emails.

The course one should take depends upon which category of issue you consider needs attention.

In addition to the workarounds that I mentioned in my last post to you, it's really important that you send a message to Apple asking the company to reverse the change it made to IOS 14.

An Apple senior manager confirmed to me that a change was made in IOS 14 that stopped people from being able to send emails as attachments through the mail app. Everybody is this thread is highly annoyed and frustrated with this change - which is why we're hoping a lot of people will contact Apple and ask it to reverse the change.

Yes, a senior Apple manager confirmed to me that Apple made a change in IOS 14 that stops people from being able to send pics as attachments using the mail app. Period. This is a fact.

I have two iphones right now - one that is on IOS 14 and one that isn't. The older one that's on IOS 12 still allows me to send pics as attachments. The IOS 14 one sends the pics embedded. Pretty straight forward.

So Apple is the only one that can fix this problem - if it chooses to reverse the change it made to IOS 14.

Martin_Williams wrote:

…

If from the outset someone had just said simply “Yes, Apple have made a change in IOS14 that now stops you doing what you want to do” rather than what appeared to be copied and pasted responses then I’m guessing all of the ranting would have ended long ago. …

(Emphasis added)

The problem is that that claim (the emphasized portion) is demonstrably untrue:

1. Anyone that doesn’t use that very tiny subset of email clients (consisting of a single email client and its derivatives), have no such problems.
2. Anyone and everyone can invalidate that claim, against the International Internet Standards governing email composition and interchange, by simply performing the definitive test found in my comment at https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251807601?answerId=254806789022#254806789022.

… I now appreciate Apple are aware of it and may or may not do anything about it and if I don’t like it ... tough I guess. …

… My reference to somewhere that users could voice their opinion collectively, the link you suggested on allows individuals to communicate and not speak as a group so sorry if I was unclear on that. …

If what you want is some “gripe” chat area that Apple will pay any attention to, then, I’m sorry, but I’m reasonably certain nothing of that sort exists.

… What I’m getting at was the blaming of a “tiny subset of ......” just wound everyone up as it was in Apples power to fix, they just choose not to and that’s fair enough. …

I’m sorry, but after the first two months (so, by the end of October 2020) of people lodging this complaint about email attachments, it became abundantly clear that only those that received their emails using a very tiny subset of email clients (consisting of a single email client and its derivatives), had any substantive issue (beyond purely appearances).

Since this issue involves a failing of a third-party software product, Apple’s «power to fix» this is, essentially, zero. (The best they could do would be to implement fragile workarounds, in order to attempt to fit within the imposed constraints of a poorly programmed third-party product.)

I’m certainly not going to blame Apple for not wanting to “play” such a loose-loose “game”.

… As customers we make our choices, whilst as a business of 115,000 users all on Outlook that is not something I can change but to remove iPhones from our list of corporate devices as it’s not fit for OUR purposes is our choice however a shame for Apple as the iPhone is a preference but not a necessity. …

Unfortunately, you are completely ignoring a far more fruitful avenue for a true fix to this issue: use the power of «a business of 115,000 users all on Outlook» to get this software “up to snuff”. (It’s International Internet Standards compliance hasn’t been advanced since before 2010, or worse.)

When I worked for a State Government agency, I routinely found issues in various software we used, and went to the respective companies and got them to fix their software.

They were usually quite responsive.

(Admittedly, I didn’t, then, see this issue in Outlook, or I would have taken the issue right to Microsoft.)

… As an insignificant user we were hoping to find a solution on this platform but sadly that’s not available this time

We, your fellow users, are sorry about that.

Minashiro wrote:

I honestly don’t get it. The value of your posts in this thread (yes, I’ve read all of it previously) have been consistently in the negative: instead of trying to help people out, or giving just useless advice that doesn’t work, you actively derail the conversation into completely unrelated direction. Guess I’ll never understand why people get a kick out of such behavior.

1. All photos sent in email are sent as attachments, regardless of the device or app sending them. ALL PHOTOS ARE ATTACHMENTS.
2. Some email clients that receive emails choose to display them inline (which is OK), with no way to detach them as a group (which is bad design), in violation of international standards. Apple has no control over how badly designed email clients manage received photos sent by Apple devices that conform to standards.

The correct solution is to use only email clients that receive messages correctly according to those standards.