Email photo as attachment, not embedded, in iOS 14

One way is to make a very short video (of nothing!!), say 1-2 secs. Then include this with your photos. They all go as attachments and you then discard the video.

Another way is to have a g-mail account and set this as you default sending address. As long as you send to a non-MS email account, again the photos go as attachments.

A bit silly really but these work.

One way is to make a very short video (of nothing!!), say 1-2 secs. Then include this with your photos. They all go as attachments and you then discard the video.

Another way is to have a g-mail account and set this as you default sending address. As long as you send to a non-MS email account, again the photos go as attachments.

A bit silly really but these work.

Jonnakc wrote:

…

To APPLE: This is absolutely the most stupid change ever. Not being able to attach photos to messages completely removes the ability to share photos with friends & family and have them be able to save them if they want. Sometimes (no, often) I ask myself why do I use Apple products!

(I clicked reply to a Feb. 2nd answer from BTs2Cents, but it put my answer as a new one)

Unfortunately, Jonnakc, 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.

Oh. By the way. Apple isn’t here. We are but fellow users, like yourself!

You can provide Apple direct Feedback, using their provided Feedback mechanisms. However, seeing as how they have no power or authority over the actual software causing the issues y’all are experiencing, such is unlikely to provide any actual “fixes”.

If you’re interested go back and read the entire month or so of thread. There is no way to do this, other than shoot a one second video and send it along with your pictures. That seems to work. I also have Outlook and I have never had an issue until iOS 14 the issue is not your phone it’s the iOS.

Lotus9999 wrote:

Halliday wrote: Now. Rather than purely «look[ing]» at appearances, how about trying the functional

test of saving all attachments

Lotus9999 wrote: So clearly it is NOT just an Outlook problem…

Rather than continue EXPLAINING how I – and 100 other people in this thread – are wrong in our understanding of how it really works or our perception of it, you have yet to actually come up with a solution to the original request asking this in a nutshell: "HOW can I send emails using my iPhone where the photos are not embedded in the emails, and are attachments, like how it used to be for years"?

The answer, as I, and others, have posted for months, here and within previous Discussions on this issue, are twofold:

1. Apple Mail is, and always has been, «send[ing] emails … where the photos are … attachments, like how it [has always] be[en] for years», even at those times, through the years, when this Outlook issue surfaced with previous iOS versions.
2. As far as getting your Outlook (and Outlook derived) email clients to allow you, the user, to perform bulk attachment operations (such as bulk-saves), that is not something Apple can actually fix. Y’all must contact the responsible company, in order to have that fixed.
3. Anything else 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 how this issue came up with the change to iOS 14, as well as many other times, in the past years, with earlier iOS versions.)

I am at my wit's end as to how else to communicate that to you. I suppose that is because you simply do not know the answer to it...

See the long-standing answer, above…

… In which case, I don't understand why you continue hammering your point, when clearly, your "solutions/explanations" are not satisfying anybody in this thread? Otherwise, why would we still be discussing it?

I’m sorry, but, as we can see within other Discussions within Apple Support Communities, the actual answers are not always the “answers” people want to hear.

TarHeelTech wrote:

OK, correct me if I am misunderstanding what you are saying...

You are saying that Outlook has always had a flaw specific to how it displays attachments. …

Sorry. Not «specific to how it displays attachments», but «specific to how it» does or does not allow you, the user, to perform bulk attachment operations (such as bulk-saves).

However, there does seem to be a correlation, in Outlook derived email clients, between this treatment of attachment operations and the way Outlook chooses to display the received email. (That latter is actually irrelevant to the flaw, but does seem to have contributed to users’ confusion.)

… Apple's iOS Mail app has always sent email attachments in accordance with Internet Email Standards. …

Correct.

However, the «Internet Email Standards» provide for many different email formats.

… Prior to iOS 14, iOS 13 was coded in a way that helped Outlook translate around their flaw in coding that allowed Outlook to display attachments the way Joe User who sent it from their iPhone wanted it to be displayed (as an attachment instead of inline / embedded). …

Like I wrote, above, there are many ways to format emails, by way of the «Internet Email Standards».

It is quite possible that Apple Mail, in iOS 13, defaulted to a different email format.

Even beyond the formatting, it is quite possible that the use of the Content-Types may have changed.

It is also possible that the implementation of the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) changed.

One must also recognize that this Outlook issue occurred with earlier iOS versions, over many years. This was far from being unique to the iOS 13 to iOS 14 transition. (This is due to how fragile any “workaround”—that “kicks” Outlook into “doing the right thing”™️—is: subject to being easily broken by any tiny changes in the web of interactions involved in transferring emails.)

… When Apple upgraded to iOS 14, their built-in native Mail app continued to meet International Email Standards, but they removed this translation coding that got around the Outlook flaw. …

Where did you get the idea that there was ever some «translation coding that got around the Outlook flaw»?

I actually wish there was some way to create, say, a Content-Type: multipart/alternative form that would be able to provide a good form for Outlook, that Outlook would actually be “persuaded” to use.

If that were possible, it would be easy to fix this issue in cases where Outlook is used as the receiving email client.

However, there is no mechanism to “force” a receiving email client to render an email based upon a particular alternate form.

(This is probably a good thing, since such a mechanism could easily be abused by competitors.)

… So you're saying that the real solution isn't for Apple to re-add that additional translation code, …

There isn’t such.

… but Outlook needs to fix their code to rid themselves of this flaw that displays attachments as inline / embedded. Correct? …

Sorry. Once again. Not how Outlook «displays attachments», but how it does or does not allow you, the user, to perform bulk attachment operations (such as bulk-saves).

However, again, there does seem to be a correlation, in Outlook derived email clients, between this treatment of attachment operations and the way Outlook chooses to display the received email. (That latter is actually irrelevant to the flaw, but does seem to have contributed to users’ confusion.)

… Sorry to be so wordy, but I'm trying to get the necessary details to finally understand after 48 pages of posts that have not conveyed to a laypersons like me, what the real crux of the issue is. …

I’m sorry. 

Even though we (those of us, here on Apple Support Communities, that worked over months to understand the realities of this issue) have been able to narrow down the issue or issues, we do not, yet, have a full understanding of the flaw in Outlook derived email clients: really, only its programmers know under what conditions they “do the right thing”™️, vs. not doing so.

If Apple, for instance, had the full picture of the flaw in Outlook derived email clients, they might be able to work around it, to get them to “do the right thing”™️. (There is no guarantee, even having that full picture.)

Unfortunately, not having that full picture, any workaround will be fragile: subject to being easily broken by any tiny changes in the web of interactions involved in transferring emails. (In fact, even with that full picture, a full workaround may never be possible, and will be fragile, anyway, to any changes in the Outlook derived email clients.)

(I suspect that the Apple developers understand all this, and are unlikely to willingly subject themselves to such fragile workarounds.)

… Thank you for your continued attempts to educate. I'm sure it's been frustrating to you to have to post the same thing again and again. Maybe we all just needed a translator code to help us understand.

VeryBusyBee wrote:

I'm in the same boat as everyone else - this update is a retrograde step and if anyone at Apple is listening, please revert back to sending images as attachments - without having to record a video. Thank you

The «images» are always sent «as attachments», at all times, since there is no International Internet Standard (governing the composition and interchange of emails) compliant method to do otherwise.

The only thing that can change is the underlying details of how the «attachments» are encoded, and how any given email client may render said email.

This can be tested and verified by simply performing the definitive test found in my comment at https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251807601?answerId=254806789022#254806789022.

Now, if all email clients complied with the full International Internet Standard (governing the composition and interchange of emails), there would be, absolutely, no issue, except for how any given email was rendered (displayed) by any given email client.

(Incidentally, the standard does not dictate how any given email client must render any given email, nor how any given email client must allow its users to perform bulk attachment operations [such as bulk-saves] upon received emails.)

In all cases, with the exception of a very tiny subset of email clients (consisting of a single email client, and its derivatives), email clients fully provide their users the ability to perform bulk attachment operations (such as bulk-saves) upon received emails.

Unfortunately, those users that receive their emails on one of the email clients in that very tiny subset, have found that they are having some troubles that no one else are experiencing: the inability to perform bulk attachment operations (such as bulk-saves) upon their received emails.

Further unfortunately, that very tiny subset of email clients (consisting of a single email client, and its derivatives) is not within Apple’s control!

So Apple can do nothing to truly fix this issue!

The most Apple could do would be fragile “workarounds”: that are subject to being easily broken by any tiny changes in the web of interactions involved in transferring emails.

In fact, it has been such fragile “workarounds” that broke, each and every time, in the past years, that lead to all past instances of this email issue: not just from iOS 13 to 14, but many times prior to that.

I’m sure not going to blame Apple for not wanting to continue playing such a loose-loose “game”.

Furthermore, the International Internet Standards compliance of that very tiny subset of email clients (consisting of a single email client, and its derivatives) hasn’t improved for more than the last Decade!

Isn’t it time that the creator of that very tiny subset of email clients (consisting of a single email client, and its derivatives) finally fix their software, rather than insisting that all other email clients “bow down” to it?

This is the reason we have International Internet Standards: to prevent any company from dictating to others.

Y’all are always free to provide Feedback to Apple, as you desire, through their designated Feedback Mechanisms: Product Feedback - Apple.

However, in order to obtain any actual fix for this issue—for yourself and others—you’ll need to provide your Feedback to the actual company responsible for that very tiny subset of email clients (consisting of a single email client, and its derivatives): get them to, finally, bring their email clients into compliance with the full International Internet Standards, governing the composition and interchange of emails.

Anything else is but a very fragile “workaround”.

I totally agree with you.

The overwhelmingly majority of us are equally frustrated and angry with this change that Apple made to IOS 14. A senior Apple manager confirmed to me that the change in IOS 14 stops people from being able to send pics as attachments through the mail app. I've also shown another Apple manager this thread - so Apple is well aware of the issue.

I was hoping Apple might reverse the change with the update it made this week to IOS 14. But - nope.

Just thought you should know what we're facing here.

[Edited by Moderator]

The best way is to set up a g-mail account, then use that as the default sending account on your iPhone, and send the pictures to that or any other g-mail account on a PC. Need to avoid any MS email clients or its derivatives such as Hotmail. Photos are then received/displayed as regular attachments and not displayed as "embedded". I do not believe Apple has any intention to change anything or it would have done so in the latest iOS 14.5.1. Hope this helps.

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.

I just found a solution for this FINALLY. For me , I add a short video to the image I'm sending, then they automatically are all sent as an attachment. Not super convenient but it works. Hope this works for you as well!

Frustrastedphototaker described adding a really short video to keep th photos as attachments.

This did not work as described. When I select from photos, if I pick a video and any photo, it takes away the email option. How frustrating!

However, if I start an email, I can add photos and the short video. In that case, they all stay as attachments. This is better than the embedded photos, so thank you.

Nonsense1025 wrote:

If you touch the photo while in the photos app you can select copy, share, delete … select Share and the. Select your email app and it will send as an attachment rather than embedded. Not perfect but it works.

The photo or photos are always «sen[t] as attachment[s]», never as «embedded». (There is no International Internet Standards compliant way to send photos in emails as «embedded».)

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.

dnorton002 wrote:

Apple, please fix this. …

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. «embedded», 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.)

… It is very annoying to force all picture attatchments to be embedded in an email rather than attached. Often the reason people email pictures to others or themselves is to quickly get the file for another purpose, not just to view it. For example, I have a requirement from work to attach pictures of my receipts when filing expense reports. I take a photo, then I email it to my work laptop. Then I drag and drop the image into my expense report. With embedded pictures, I have to save each file one at a time to a folder first. …

Such handling requirements are imposed only by the «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».

… It's slow and annoying. …

We, here, all fully acknowledge how frustrating these issues are, with that «very tiny subset of email clients».

… Please get the option in our settings to choose if we want to embed or attach images. Thanks

Since the issue is with a different and specific manufacturer’s product, there really is nothing Apple can do about the failings of that product.

As I wrote:

«The best path to a true fix is to provide Feedback to Microsoft.»

You can do this if you use the Gmail app on your iphone. Create your email, click the paper clip icon, add the photo which will be initially embedded in the body of the email. Click once on the picture after it is embedded and a text box will appear with two options - "Send as attachment" and "Remove". Click Send as attachment and the photo will now be an attached .jpg file.