Email photo as attachment, not embedded, in iOS 14

Unfortunately, ahungryhungarian, you have only shown appearances (how it appears in a couple of browsers), not the definitive test, found at https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251807601?answerId=254806789022#254806789022, to see what is actually going on.

While the International Internet Standards dictate standards compliant internal email structure (what one can see in the Raw Source), those standards do not dictate how any email should look, for any given email client.

(Additionally, as may be seen within the Raw Source of the email, email can have Alternate versions, all embodied within the Raw Source of the email. This was particularly important back in the early days of rich-text emails: so email clients that didn’t understand rich-text could display the plain-text version of the email.)

Yes, kurtisfromsydney, all affected users can, and probably should, send Feedback to Apple.

The more the feedback reflects what is actually going on, the more affective the feedback will be.

That’s why I have been advocating the use of the definitive test, found at https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251807601?answerId=254806789022#254806789022, to see what is actually going on.

(By the way, only the email client you must be using, at the receiving end, is «Mak[ing] extra work now [particularly] … mak[ing] it harder for the recipient [using such an email client] to work with the files.» No other email clients have such an issue.

I do realize how difficult this can be to recognize, without doing the research those of us, here on Apple Support Communities, have done to troubleshoot this issue. It even took us a month or two to troubleshoot this issue.)

Lotus9999:

I have always recognized, and usually acknowledged, that 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.

Choose accordingly.

That is correct, when you see a Plain Text email in outlook, the picture appears as an attachment that you can just drag off to where you want it. If HTML, you must right click on it to "save as picture" , decide on a location and give it a name.

Not a huge deal, but a pain if you receive lots of pics every day like i do (and others that are writing in this discussion)

snowmelt wrote:

That is correct, when you see a Plain Text email in outlook, the picture appears as an attachment that you can just drag off to where you want it. If HTML, you must right click on it to "save as picture" , decide on a location and give it a name.

Not a huge deal, but a pain if you receive lots of pics every day like i do (and others that are writing in this discussion)

Absolutely «a pain», especially «if you receive lots of pics every day», or «lots of pics» in each email.

Have you not noticed that only a «very tiny subset of email clients (consisting of email clients [Outlook and its derivatives] all programmed by one company: not Apple)» have any such issue?

All other email clients recognize the photos as attachments, regardless of formatting.

(Of course they recognize them as attachments: that’s what they are, regardless of formatting.)

Even Outlook “gets it right”™️ if you save the email as HTML: it will even properly name the pictures. (The picture names are there, as a part of each attached image.)

snowmelt wrote:

… You have to send as plain text to make it an attachment

That’s only true when receiving such emails using that «very tiny subset of email clients (consisting of email clients [Outlook and its derivatives] all programmed by one company: not Apple)».

(In fact, really, even sent «as plain text», Outlook can refuse to treat them as the attachments they are.)

«All other email clients recognize the photos as attachments, regardless of formatting.

(Of course they recognize them as attachments: that’s what they are, regardless of formatting.)

Even Outlook “gets it right”™️ if you save the email as HTML: it will even properly name the pictures. (The picture names are there, as a part of each attached image.)»

Halliday, this is your best post yet, IMHO. The one thing that could take it to the next level would be to suggest going to Microsoft’s (company B) forum to provide feedback, since it’s their problem. I believe I found a thread on this issue on Microsoft’s forum.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook_com/forum/all/outlook-attachments-are-not-being-forwarded-from/230b65a5-6a9c-4fa0-978f-af3b249f0bae

madisonNYC wrote:

…

Also, we've been urging everyone to send a message to Apple asking them to reverse the change they made in IOS 14 that affected the mail app.

That’s just fine.

However, only the other company (the creator of the very tiny subset of email clients that exhibit the failing of disallowing users to perform bulk attachment operations [such as bulk-saves] based only upon their own internal code) has the ability to truly fix the issue (which resides within that very tiny subset of email clients).

You need not believe me, madisonNYC. You can check by using the definitive test, provided at https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251807601?answerId=254806789022#254806789022.

(See also posts of other high level users, here, and within other Discussions on this subject. The issue is well researched, characterized, and appropriately attributed.)

Indeed it does.

Also another way, if you have a non-Microsoft e-mail account, is to use that as the default sending address on your iPhone and send the photos to that, or any other non-Microsoft e-mail address. The photos are received as traditional attachments.

Welcome, JayZeeP, to Apple Support Communities!

Those are interesting results.

As one can verify, by simply performing the definitive test found in my comment at https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251807601?answerId=254806789022#254806789022, «pictures» are always sent as «attachments», regardless how they may appear (formatting of any email client).

There simply is no way to actually «embed» «pictures» in an email (not while being Standards compliant, which Apple demonstrably complies with). All that can ever happen is that the «attached» «pictures» are formatted inline with whatever text there may be as a part of the email.

Unless appearance is the only concern (seldom the case, and doesn’t appear to be the case with you), all email clients—with the exception of that very tiny subset of email clients (apparently consisting of a single email client and its derivatives)—allow users to perform bulk attachment operations (such as bulk-saves) regardless how they may display the «pictures».

Unfortunately, that very tiny subset of email clients (apparently consisting of a single email client and its derivatives) prevents its users from performing bulk attachment operations (such as bulk-saves), except under a very narrow subset of email compositions, subject to its own, hidden criteria.

Additionally, the email clients in that very tiny subset haven’t improved their International Internet Standards (governing emails) compliance in over a Decade.

Only that company can truly fix this issue with their email clients.

What you have found appears to be a rather interesting “workaround”, but, since it doesn’t actually fix that very tiny subset of email clients, it will, almost certainly, be very fragile: subject to being easily broken by any tiny changes in the web of interactions involved in transferring emails.

Rick2017 wrote:

I agree! I have a business account with 50 phones, most of them send in their receipts via the phone. Saw a smart-*** Apple Tech correct everyone saying they are not embedded and ignored the question.

1st - changing pictures to embed in the emails is a pain. Change back to an attachment. …

If you wish to have Apple make this change, then you’ll need to provide Apple with direct Feedback, using their designated Feedback mechanisms: Product Feedback - Apple.

However, while the pictures may well be displayed/formatted inline with text and other email components, they are, indeed, contained, within the email, as attachments.

There is simply no other (allowed) way.

You need not take my, or anyone’s, word for this.

You can check for yourself by performing the definitive test found in my comment at https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251807601?answerId=254806789022#254806789022.

… 2nd - Apple also has changed their file format from JPG to HEIC, which Windows cannot open in its native photo viewer. WHY?

The «WHY» is because «HEIC» is a newer, far superior International Internet Standard, that provides superior results with smaller file sizes.

Just because Microsoft and other companies wish to charge you extra for this superior file format is no reason for Apple not to offer it to you.

However, Apple does offer you, the user, the option to have your device save your photos in the old, inferior, though more widely compatible JPEG format: Settings -> Camera -> Formats; change from “High Efficiency” to “Most Compatible”.

Samsung is an option Apple, we do not have to stay with you.

No “skin off my nose”, or that of anyone else within this forum. We are but fellow users.

Apple isn’t here.

Sorry - this solution has been around for a long time.

For me the easiest solution is to use a g-mail account as the default sending account on your iPhone and the receiving account on your PC or other device. The attachments are then displayed as attachments and not, (as we luddites say), "embedded". If the receiving account is Outlook, or any other MS derivative, the attachments will be displayed as "embedded".

bbdesign wrote:

I have this same issue. I want to transfer the files not embed them. Please provide the flexibility to do both.

If you are trying to address Apple, here, then you should use their designated Feedback Mechanisms: Product Feedback - Apple.

However, since Apple Mail is never sending images/pictures/etc. «embed[ed]», but always sending such as attachments—and the fact that there is only a very tiny subset of email clients (consisting of a single email client and its derivatives) that have any problem allowing users to perform bulk attachment operations (such as bulk-saves) upon received emails, even from Apple Mail—there is little, if anything, that Apple can do about this situation since Microsoft owns and develops the errant email clients.

The best path to a true fix is to provide Feedback to Microsoft. (After all, those errant email clients appear to have not been updated [in their underlying functionality] since sometime before 2010.)

hgrit wrote:

Either way, complain away here!

I’ve got a better idea. Travel to the Grand Canyon. Should your complaint into the canyon. That will be at least as effective as posting anything here. Because the problem is not on Apple’s end, it is on Microsoft’s. Apple has no control over how Microsoft’s mail products deal with image attachments. And yes, ALL photos sent by Apple Mail are sent as attachments. It’s Outlook that refuses to let your access those attachments. Pretty much every other mail client in the world lets you download the attached photos.

Of course, dtvoss_1, both forms are sent as attachments. However, it could be instructive to simply perform the definitive test found in my comment at https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251807601, in order to see what actually differs in the way the email is structured.

It’s quite possible that the only difference may be the “Content-Disposition” component: “inline” vs. nonexistent or “attachment” or some such.

The “Content-Disposition” component is entirely optional: both in whether it is included, as well as in whether any client even pays any attention to it. It is purely a “formatting” level (how such is displayed) component, and is not intended to have any affect upon any other functionality.

The only problem is that very tiny subset of email clients (consisting of a single email client and it derivatives) that disallow users the ability to perform bulk attachment operations (such as bulk-saves), seemingly, based solely upon attachment appearance-level (formatting) characteristics.