Email photo as attachment, not embedded, in iOS 14

Just in case this provides a little clarity, I have two e-mail addresses. One is on a Microsoft Exchange Server and the other is standard g-mail. Sending emails from my iPhone, using the first address, Outlook on my PC shows them in-line (embedded). Using the g-mail address, they are shown as attachments as was the case before iOS 14, when either sending address was used. So I have just changed the default e-mail sending address on my iPhone to g-mail. Problem solved. I do hope this is helpful.

This is so frustrating. A work around I found. As a test, when I go into my text messages and send a photo to my email address (from my phone number) it shows up as an attachment in outlook on my pc. That is a small victory.

I am talking to Apple support regarding the same issue, they are saying this is the first they have heard of this, how can this be? Have you managed to find a way of sending your photos as attachments or are they still in the body of your email.

Been trying a few things since some people were insisting that how the images display is dependent on what is used to open it.

I've got 2 iphones.

iPhone XS, iOS 14.2

iPhone 5S, iOS 12.4.8

Both have the same hotmail account setup in the default mail app.

I sent the same 10 photos from both phones to be received in a gmail account that I open on PC.

The images sent from the XS, display in the the email body. If I wanted to save them, I'd have to right click and save each one individually (or save the entire page and go through the accompanying folder--besides the point).

The images sent from the 5S, display as thumbnails with an option to one click download all.

This leads me to think that it isn't how the opening app handles it but how it's sent via iOS' default mail app.

I cannot believe that this is the first they have heard of it. I have reported it to them anyway. The first method I used was to accompany the pictures with a VERY short (1-2 second) video. This makes the photos also go as attachments. You then discard the video. Seems mad but it works. Secondly, I have two e-mail addresses. One is on a Microsoft Exchange Server and the other is standard g-mail. Sending emails from my iPhone, using the first address, Outlook on my PC shows them in-line (embedded). Using the g-mail address, they are shown as attachments as was the case before iOS 14, when either sending address was used. So I have just changed the default e-mail sending address on my iPhone to g-mail. No idea why!! But problem seems to be solved. I do hope this is helpful.

Good test, XOOOO.

I’m not at all surprised by the result.

However, it does not quite demonstrate what you have concluded.

Email protocols, like many other Internet protocols, are constantly evolving! They are changing, and the Internet committees making the changes are not under the control of any single company.

That’s completely intentional.

Of course, it is up to each individual company to implement the protocols themselves.

(Incidentally, the protocols are usually created in such a way as to be reasonably compatible with systems only recognizing the older protocols, so things don’t suddenly “break”—at least, not in anything like a “catastrophic” way. There will still be potential feature related issues.)

What your test demonstrates is that iOS 12.4.8 is using a slightly older protocol than iOS 14.2. (Where, exactly, the newer protocol was implemented, I cannot be certain, at this time.)

It also demonstrates how the PC email client you are using on your PC handles the two protocol variants differently.

In both protocols—I can guarantee—the photos, and other files, are attached, as attachments, to the email: this is a very old aspect of the email protocols.

The only difference is in how the attached files are rendered—how they are displayed—on any given email client, and how the client chooses to handle any downloading and saving of said attachments.

I’m sorry to hear that the PC email client you are using doesn’t appear to support bulk downloads and saves for the newer protocol.

That behavior is not within Apple’s control.

i use exchange : outlook for company email

any images I sent to anyone’s email showed as attachments if they had outlook or a business email.

now they are embedded

these embedded images are often displayed way too big or not big enough.

if they were jpeg attachments, the receiver can open and enlarge , to view better

Back when I was working in the corporate and governmental sectors, we, too, used Outlook as the client to Exchange servers, Richbosc.

As has always been the case, files are attachments to the emails.

The only difference, in all cases, has only ever been how such were displayed (rendered) by the client software (Outlook, in this case).

In fact, for our combination of software, the only time such would not be displayed with inline images (what far too many people are mistakenly calling “embedded”) was when the email format was plain-text.

How the email client (Outlook, in this case) displays (renders) rich-text (HTML, actually) is entirely a function of the email client! (Just as rendering of webpages is a function of your web-browser.)

Perhaps you have had your primary experience with only plain-text.

In the case of my work, we only used plain-text if the client used plain-text.

Otherwise, we used rich-text (HTML) for our correspondence.

Even back in the ‘90s, plain-text was on its way out.

It’s use only diminished into the twenty-first century.

We're having the same issue (of course) and deal with lots of site pics every day. As a workaround I've told our team members to install Spark. It's available for both iPhone and iPad. Apple seems to be just too innovative these days. Have sent feedback already but I doubt anything will come from it.

Actually, XOOOO, I would like to add to my comments.

If y’all have been only attaching photos, with no text, or with no text that uses any form of formatting—so it could just as well be plain-text—it is also possible that there have been absolutely no changes in the email protocols used in iOS 14.2 vs. iOS 12.4.8!

Under the aforementioned conditions, it is simply quite possible that the iOS 12.4.8 email default format was plain-text, while the iOS 14.2 email default format is rich-text (HTML).

Under the aforementioned conditions, this would similarly explain the observations.

Unfortunately for y’all, it is far simpler to force a plain-text default to a rich-text format—simply change the format of some text—than it is to force a rich-text default to a plain-text format.

I cannot determine, at this time, which is the explanation.

However, as always, complaining here (to be seen complaining) will accomplish nothing constructive.

The only constructive avenue is to avail yourselves of the direct Apple Feedback opportunities that have already been mentioned.

I to am having the same issue. If Apple can not offer a fix or another update to correct... time to look at other makers of phones. Hope Apple corrects I have been pleased with iPhone for many years until now. I use it numerous times daily for work.

Thanks

had this problem ...if you have multiple email accounts - go , settings , mail , accounts , icloud , icloud , make sure mail is ‘on’ ...then , go back to accounts , go into other email accounts , make sure mail is ‘off’

this should solve the problem - apple tech guy couldnt solve it , took hours of frustration to figure it out !

Seems a good fix. However, I just set g-mail as my default mail sender - this avoids turning the other e-mail addresses off.:- Settings/ Mail/Default account etc. Setting icloud as default works just as well. Seems what messes it up is using a Microsoft Exchange Server e-mail account??

I found if you send the pictures “old school” by selecting message instead of mail, and type your email address in the To field it will send as attachments to the email address. In some cases though, if your company tries to prevent spoofing of email it may get blocked. If this happens, go to settings > messages and uncheck your email address. Works like a charm. The only difference is the email will have your cell number instead of email address. If that’s a big deal forward the email back to yourself.

Am I understanding this correctly, Scamp468?

You wrote that, with this photos as attachments in emails, issue, it «Seems what messes it up is using a Microsoft Exchange Server e-mail account??»

So, if I’m understanding you correctly, the only time there’s an issue is when Apple Mail tries to send such emails using «a Microsoft Exchange Server».

Is that a correct assessment of what you are saying, and/or trying to obtain conformation from others?