Email photo as attachment, not embedded, in iOS 14

Hi, This has come about since Apple upgraded to iOS14. It is now up to 14.4. It seemingly affects all Microsoft authored e-mail clients like Hotmail and Outlook. There are a few workarounds, but the two which I have used are:-

1. Attach a very short video with your photographs. This makes the photos present as attachments. The receiver just discards the video. Not everyone likes this way around so:-
2. Use a g-mail account (or I presume any other non-MS/Outlook derived e-mail system) as your default sending account on your iPhone. The photos then display at the other end as attachments, seemingly even when receiving through MS Exchange. If they are not presented this way with an MS derived e-mail account, send to the g-mail account. This always works for me.

I hope this helps.

Hello!

I've found a solution since most companies are using Office 365. Funny part is, I found the answer on a Microsoft forum... although I believe you must have the Outlook app downloaded onto your Apple device.

Anyways, when you select your picture(s) from your camera roll, hit the share button as usual, and scroll to the right on the apps that pop up until you find Outlook. Select Outlook and the email will pop up with the photos as attachments, without needing to name them or anything! Then, just email as you please.

Hope this helps!

An Update: I just read through a dozen pages and tried two of the workarounds and both worked.

1. First way - If you send a small video file with your photos, all will show up as attachments. Yay!
2. Second way - If you use a browser to access your hotmail/outlook account (instead of the mail app), it will send all photos as attachments the way it used to be.

Yes, there are two workarounds that I've found worked:

1. First way - If you send a small video file with your photos, all will show up as attachments.
2. Second way - If you use a browser to access your hotmail/outlook account (instead of the mail app), it will send all photos as attachments the way it used to be.

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.

Welcome, Boarderofvaldisere, to Apple Support Communities!

First, Apple doesn’t «monitor» these fora. We are just users, like yourself.

The thing is that, in all cases, all associated email files are being sent «as attachment[s]», as anyone can verify by performing the definitive test found at https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251807601?answerId=254806789022#254806789022.

Don’t believe me.

Check for yourself.

However, only a single email client (and its derivatives) has any problem allowing its users to properly perform bulk attachment operations (such as bulk-saves) upon any given received email, based upon some internal criteria known only by its creators.

No one else have such troubles, since all images (and other sent files) are provided «as attachment[s]».

Run the definitive test and see for yourself.

So. Unless and until the creator of that single email client (and its derivatives) corrects its behavior, there will be no actual fix.

Since Apple has no control over that single email client (and its derivatives), Apple can do nothing to actually fix the issue. (At best, they could find fragile workarounds for the issue. Fragile, because such workarounds are easily broken by any tiny changes in the web of interactions involved in transferring emails. This fragility was the cause of this breaking when iOS changed from 13 to 14, as well as many other times this issue occurred previously, through the years.)

(That single email client [and its derivatives] has been neglected by its creator for over a decade, now.)

Here's another workaround I just found, from the iPhone.

In the photos app select the photo or photos that you want to email. Hit the upload (share?) button (square with an arrow pointing up out of it). Scroll down to "Save to Files". Save it where you want, I made a folder called "email photos".

Now you can go into your email composer. Instead of attaching a photo choose attach file. From here you can attach the photos you saved to files. The only caveat is it'll be in HEIC format. Right now Windows at least doesn't open that natively.

VenomInMyVein wrote:

add also another type of file, like a pdf oder something to the mail and it will send the pictures as an attachment.

this is not a solution, but it works as a work-around.

Yes. This is a workaround that modifies the sort of attachment structure, used by the email, is within the more stilted and limited attachment structure the very tiny subset of email clients (consisting of a single email client and its derivatives) actually seems to recognize.

No other email clients have this limitation.

You don’t need to believe me. You can check for yourself by performing the definitive test found in my comment at https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251807601?answerId=254806789022#254806789022.

eyeliv wrote:

I was having this issue too and stumbled across how to fix the issue. Attach the photo as normal, which will cause it to be inserted into the body of the email. Once it is there, you can tap on the image and two options should appear “send as attachment” and “remove”. Select “send as attachment”.

Is this using the native iOS Apple Mail, or using some other email client?

We have been told these steps, before, but they turned out to be for a non-Apple email client.

Once it has been changed to an attachment, you change change it back to being inserted by tapping on the image again and selecting “send inline”.

I hope this works for you!

See, also, my comment, on the previous page, at https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251807601?answerId=255128606022#255128606022.

I found a workaround, but take it with a grain of salt.

I asked some friends to send me some test pictures using different OS (Win, Linux, Android) and all came in as attachments except iOS 14.

Solution;

Make a random blank file (pdf, note, 15 sec video) and name it "iOSFluxCapacitor" or "iOSDiscombabulator" ... :-) or whatever you want.

Adding the file with the image (s) will force the email system to attach, not embed, all the files including the image (s).

NOTE: Hope this work for you guys. I know my life is a whole lot better now that I don't have to download each image one at the time, but all at once.

euro37 wrote:

The only work around that has worked for my company is to record a tiny video (1 second or less) and attach it to the email along with the pictures. Then the pictures will be sent as attachments.

They are «sent as attachments» in any case.

However, the addition of the «tiny video (1 second or less)» helps “trick” Outlook (and its derivatives) into recognizing that fact.

That’s all. It simply tricks Outlook, and its derivatives, into “doing the right thing”™️.

My workaround is to first save the photo to files, and then attach it.

You have to start from the photos app., click on the image you want to send, then select the share icon (box with arrow pointing up) at bottom left. scroll down to tap "Save to Files," select the destination folder, and click "Save" at top right.

Then go into the mail app. and start your email. Tap in the body of the email to bring up the menu, and scroll right to select "Add Document". Navigate to the location with in Files where you saved your photo and click on it. It will attach to the email.

I then delete the photo from files because I don't want the same photo taking up space in both photos and files.

Not nearly as easy as it used to be. Apple should fix this issue.

JaQuayB wrote:

1. I wasn’t sure if this has been answered but I think I accidentally found a solution.

Click on the attachment button at the top of my email.

2. Add the picture(s) and then if you quickly click on the picture once, it gives you the option to Send as Attachment or remove.

3. Click on Send as Attachment and it’ll attach to the email as it should.

**I included some pictures below.**…

Is that using Apple’s Mail App?

Regardless, all that has actually changed is the Formatting of the Photo (or Photos) within the email: actually, only a change in a Formatting directive (a single word in the attachment text).

However, if this trivial change in Formatting helps non-standards compliant email clients to work better, for you, in dealing with these attached Photos (since they are attached, in either case, since only a Formatting directive has changed), then all is good, it would appear.

If you have updated to iOS 14 and can't send photos as email attachments, there is a fix, pending Apple GETTING THEIR ACT TOGETHER and sorting it. This was driving me mad too. Record a short (1-2 second) video. Include it with selection of photos you want to attach. They will all go with the email as attachments, then you discard the video. Bit daft, but it works. Make it a really short video or it makes the file size of the attachments rather large. Hope it works for you. Please Apple sort it out - hoped just released iOS 14.1 would resolve, but it didn't.

Go to your photos before you compose the email. Touch “Select” (at top) those photos you want to send. Go to the box with the “up” arrow (it’s at the bottom on iPad). Select your type of email or where you want photos to go. I went to gmail, then composed it, told it to whom to send it, pressed the send arrow, waited, waited, and off it went!

P.S. It was a pain to try to resolve. I agree with all of you, why change a good thing!

I think you are missing something. I, like JLetiner and others used to take a picture and send to ourselves. This email showed up on Microsoft outlook as an email with attachments. I did it as recently and Nov 4th. Now, after updates to iOS 14 or so they are embedded in email and cannot be cut and pasted or opened in a picture viewer.

I have personally not updated my outlook, just iPhone iOS. I spent 1 hour on phone with apple support and they said there is nothing they can do to revert back to being able to send picture as an attachment. they told me to put in a feedback as this would be the only way apple might improve on next update. https://www.apple.com/feedback/