Email photo as attachment, not embedded, in iOS 14

Yes - it was the same when I left feedback. The problem definitely began with iOS 14. My daughter, who stayed on 13.7 on my advice until the bugs in 14 had been sorted out, had none of these problems. I wonder whether PC users can sort easily by using a non Exchange E-mail server address, whereas Mac users cannot because of the operating system they use?

Technology advances. Email was always a (rather poor) workaround for sharing images when there was nothing better; email is the wrong way to send large numbers of photos. It’s like trying to drive screws with a hammer or nails with a screwdriver. There are many much better ways to securely share photos than email, most of them free unless you are sending thousands: Google Photos, Dropbox, Box.com, Livedrive Briefcase, iCloud Photo sharing, Shutterfly, etc. And all of these are much more secure than email, as they can’t be intercepted by bad people, unlike email. And all of these alternatives are supported on all phones, all tablets, and all computers.

But if you want to continue doing it the out-of-date way you still can by simply installing an email client that allows the attachments to be downloaded, as I demonstrated with Mac Mail. Or many others. Just not Outlook.

Unfortunately, text2, the only true solution is in Microsoft’s corner, so long as you use their products.

Anything and everything else is a workaround—working around the issue with Microsoft Outlook—and, as such, is bound to be less convenient.

So far, the simplest workaround is to have Apple Mail send outgoing email through just about any Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) server other than a Microsoft Exchange server, even if the target email address will be on a Microsoft Exchange server, and viewed through a Microsoft Outlook email client.

I’m not at all sure why this workaround seems to work, and I expect it will “break”, eventually, as practically all workarounds do.

If I were y’all, I would use the intervening time to find a more permanent solution, possibly including pressuring Microsoft to fix Outlook, so it doesn’t inappropriately restrict your, the user’s, ability to perform bulk attachment operations, simply because Outlook has chosen a certain way of rendering (displaying) your email.

Maybe, someday, Microsoft will update Outlook so it treats all your attachments as the attachments they are, independent of how Outlook chooses to render (display) your received email, Teggerman.

You don’t need to «understand [the] SMPT protocol», other than to know that this is how an authored email is sent out, from your authoring email client (like Apple Mail), to an outside email server (like a Microsoft Exchange server).

The simplest workaround seem to be to send your outgoing email to just about any email server besides a Microsoft Exchange server, even if the ultimate destination will be on a Microsoft Exchange server. (Google’s servers seem to work well for the outgoing SMTP server.)

None of us seem to know why this workaround actually works. It’s the fact that it does seem to work that suggests a possible change in SMTP.

No

iphone 12 pro

wont even attach with gmail app

you must open sending email then attach photos . Picking photos then opening gmail app no longer works .

they both either way come out in body mail .

what ? Is this the excuse makers club ?

As explained by many of us, Mystified-OZ, the photos are attached, regardless how any given email client may choose to render (display) said received email.

The only issue is that a tiny subset of email clients (Microsoft Outlook being the only one I know of, so far) prevent users from performing bulk-operations, like bulk-saves, when said email client chooses to render (display) received emails with attached photos inline with text (even if there is no text to render [display]).

You seem to continue to confuse how things look with how things function. (Perhaps that very same cognitive issue is what lead to the misbehavior of Microsoft Outlook.)

Scamp468 wrote:

Haha - exactly. This thread has been all about problems of attaching photographs to emails post iOS 14. But photos are just one of many types of file that people wish to transfer electronically simply by attaching to e-mails and then the recipient selecting them in bulk or individually by way of the listed attachments. Whatever the iOS purists are telling the rest of us thickos, this issue has only arisen because of iOS 14 - Apple has changed its coding. Microsoft is being blamed for doing nothing. Why should they? Everything worked great for years. Maybe MS does have to do an update to deal with it, but it isn't heir fault. The matter should have been discussed with them before the change was made.

Apple changed nothing, with regard to «attaching photographs to emails» nor «attaching to e-mails» any of a myriad other file types.

Only Microsoft Outlook changes how «the recipient select[s] them[the attachments] in bulk or individually by [whatever] way [it provides, or doesn’t provide, for dealing with] the … attachments [including whether they provide any list thereof]», based solely upon how Outlook chooses to display (render) the received email.

Sure. There was a change in either the default way Apple Mail formats authored emails, or in the implementation of a newer version of the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) Internet standard used to transfer email from Apple Mail to your chosen SMTP email server (going to a Microsoft Exchange email server seems to be the only troublesome link, here), or both; that seems to have triggered the issue that already existed in Microsoft Outlook.

Yes. Y’all are encouraged to send Feedback to Apple, via their Feedback webpages.

However, there is simply no guarantee that changing the default authoring format, in Apple Mail, will actually solve the issue.

It might, but no guarantee!

(As for Apple changing the implementation of a newer version of the SMTP Internet standard, I highly doubt that Apple will back-out of such a change, simply because Microsoft hasn’t made the transition, yet.)

Just because a change that Apple made triggered a preexisting issue within some third party software, does not imply Apple’s change was illegitimate. In fact, it is quite likely that Apple’s change is more in compliance with current Internet standards than Microsoft’s well known penchant for “dragging their feet” on Internet standards compliance.

Actually, Dizzbling, any and all workarounds have one thing in common: don’t transfer directly from Apple Mail to Microsoft Exchange servers via the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP).

So far, everything and anything that avoids that transfer, avoids the problem.

That’s why we think there has been an update in the SMTP Internet standard, that Apple has implemented, but Microsoft has not.

Of course, if Microsoft Outlook wouldn’t disallow users from performing bulk attachment operations (such as bulk-saves), merely due to how Outlook chooses to render (display) received emails, this would still not be a problem: no other email clients are so “backward”!

Hi, I tried it again today and it works ...

first test is with the signature with a photo.

test 2 is with the same photo but without the signature.

the app is outlook for iOS. As you can see the first has an embedded photo, the second the photo is attached.

have a nice day.

Mystified-OZ wrote:

Your just wasting time here . Post complaints on Reddit , Consumer reports , computer magazine sites etc

While such will get more exposure, such is still not the best advice.

The best route is to provide Apple direct Feedback, through their provided Feedback mechanisms.

In this case, it would be Feedback on Apple Mail, which is a component of the Operating System (OS).

It will also help if y’all will actually ask for changes that will make sense to the technical people involved:

1. Asking that files (or photos, specifically) be attached will get you nowhere, since they already are.
2. Asking that Apple make changes to compensate for flaws in Microsoft Outlook and/or Microsoft Exchange will help provide the right sorts of changes, but is unlikely to motivate Apple business or technical people.
3. Asking Apple to “back out” of Internet standards is unlikely to get anywhere.
4. Being anything but completely explicit about what you are trying to accomplish, using their software, will be less than effective. (However, this is likely to obtain the [probably unseen/unheard by y’all] response that y’all are using the wrong tool for your desired purposes.)

This is ******** isn't?. Now I didn't want to go through 28 pages of flames arrogance and chest beating. Reading one or two pages was enough.

Here is my workaround that may help out.

I take the photos I want to get to my computer and send them through WhatsApp to my partners WhatsApp. I then open WhatsApp on my laptop and save the pictures I sent my partner. Then "Delete images for all".

Yes I lose a **** of a lot of quality, however I get my pictures in an easy to work with format.

I wanted to comment here for two reasons:

1. If this helps just one person from ripping there hair out - job done
2. When Apple gets their **** together someone will undoubtedly post something here and I will be notified.

When this occurs the world will be put back on it's correct axis, and we will all start feeling good again instead of Apple believing they have the right to change the worlds axis; and we shall all be able to get back on with our lives and concentrate on bigger things like finding a vaccine for Corona that doesn't have people go into anaphylactic fits.

Have a great day people. I trust this helps just one person.

Mystified-OZ wrote:

Try sending with your icloud mail.

it worked for me

but msn, Hotmail and gmail no longer will attach jpgs

Are you still using «attach[ed]» to mean how the email attachments appear, only?

What of functionality?

Are you referring to the email client you are using to author the email, or the email providers, using some other email client for authoring the email? Or the email client you are using at the receiving end?

So many possible permutations!

Have you provided Apple your Feedback, Martin_Williams?

Posting here is no substitute for providing your Feedback directly to Apple, whether by calling Apple Support, or via the Product Feedback pages.

If you haven’t given Apple your direct Feedback, you have no justification for any complaint if they don’t “read your mind” and make the changes you desire.

Unfortunately, if one were to provide Apple the kind of Feedback we see here, nothing is likely to change, because the Feedback is less than meaningful to the Software Technicians that would need to make the changes.

May I suggest requesting to have an option to change the email authoring format (whether as a default, or on a per-email option, or both) to a plain-text (text/plain) format, rather than a rich-text format, as appears to be the current default?

This, at least, is a reasonable request, and certainly within the range of things Apple has control over.

Requesting that they make changes in order to change the behavior of some third-party software (email client) is, almost certainly, a “no go”, since Apple has no control over third-party software.

Any request that can be construed as “backtracking” on any International Internet Standards (such as email standards) is, similarly, likely to “go nowhere”.

While the email formatting change may have the desired affect upon Outlook-derived email clients, unfortunately, there is, absolutely no guarantee.

In fact, due to the misbehavior inherent in Outlook-derived email clients, any change, with the intent to cause such email clients to “do the right thing”™️, is inherently fragile: subject to being easily broken by any of a myriad tiny changes in the web of interactions involved in transferring emails.

Yeah I am not going to bite on this argument about Outlook vs Mac users; but in short

I think this is a iPhone kink. Worked nice for me as a iPhone 7 user, got my attachments when I was in Photos>share>email and sent them to myself. And did what I could with my software (outlook) copy all files and move on with my life. This did not involve saving all my files and naming them on PC, and this was not about embedding images (as you would when composing an email and hold finger to get the options of "insert photo"...

Just good old fashion attachments. ..

My non-technical self would say... "The script that composes an email out of the Photo App is different... Embeds, not attaches any more..."

And to all the pro-Mac people out there, or PC die hards, or people like me who use both, my answer to Apple in this case, or MS if this was their issue... LET THE USER DECIDE, and make this an option in the Photo App's setting on the next update.. Pretty please with sugar on top.

mobiusmat wrote:

…

Certainly I've tested and with Gmail I can extract the attachment fine and if I send it with Microsoft Outlook on my iphone it them shows as an attachment when its received.

There is obviously something about the encoding they are using though as Outlook does have a "Save All Attachments" option under file but it doesn't think there are any. Surely between the two of them you'd think they could work it out.

Have you not (yet) noticed that only Outlook (and its derivatives) prevent you, the users, from using the «”Save All Attachments" option under file» based only upon the way such email client chooses to render (display) your received emails?

Why do you suppose that no other email clients seem to have this problem, if this were actually Apple’s fault?

Certainly Apple did not “collude” with all these other email clients so that only Outlook (and its derivatives) would have a problem. Did they?

(As an aside, have you ever noticed what companies, on the Internet, tend to stay in compliance with International Internet Standards, and what company [yes, it seems to be singular] tends to act like they are a “standard” unto themselves? [Hopefully, you won’t get this evaluation wrong.])