Email photo as attachment, not embedded, in iOS 14

Halliday wrote:

Incidentally, Lotus9999, my response to N-K-O’s investigation (https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251807601?answerId=254616832022#254616832022) shows the odd reason why adding an attached file that has a different file type seems to help Outlook (and its derivatives) “do the right thing”™️: it simply “plays” into Outlook’s way of taking “shortcuts” with the International Internet Standards governing email composition.

Even just there, it is Outlook that is not treating the standard properly.

I did 2 tests NOT involving Outlook. I have added more formatting to make it easier for you to find the important spots...

Mar 2, 2021 6:57 PM in response to Halliday

I have tried viewing the emails sent using my Apple device with pictures in them in my Microsoft Outlook PC client, and they were embedded, and not attached. I have similarly looked at emails in my Yahoo email account on Chrome on my PC.

In both cases, every time pictures were sent in an email using my phone, they were not attached, and were embedded. And in both cases, when I added the "1 second video" solution suggested by somebody else, the pictures showed up as attachments.

So clearly it is NOT just an Outlook problem…

[Edited by Moderator]

I think Apple may have sorted this issue out in the latest update (iOS 14.4.1) which I installed this morning. Sending to any of my e-mail addresses (including Outlook and its derivatives) using the iCloud sending address, now sends the photos as attachments.

Is anyone else able to confirm this.?

The thing is, madisonNYC, that in all cases, the «pics» are being sent «as attachments», 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 «pics» (and other sent files) are provided «as attachments».

Run the definitive test and see for yourself.

Apple is absolutely aware of the problem and knows everyone wants it to reverse the change it made to IOS 14. I've contacted Apple about it and shown them this thread.

A senior manager confirmed to me that a change was made to IOS 14 that stops people from being able send pics as attachments.

So far, Apple has ignored calls for this change. And it does seem to allow a bot to gaslight and spam this thread with misinformation every time somebody tries to post about it. If anyone tries to complain about the spammer, the posts are deleted while the spam posts remain. ..... So, that tells you that Apple doesn't want to correct the problem, which is really frustrating and making many of us consider going back to the PC eco-system.

Halliday says above that only 1 family of clients has the issue. I can attest that Outlook, eM Client, Thunderbird and Gmail (only tested on Chrome browser) all have the same issue. The attached pictures can be made to show up as listed attachments in Outlook and Thunderbird if you force those email clients to display all emails as Plain Text. You can Google "how force Outlook (or Thunderbird) to open email as plain text". You can leave it that way or change back to view as HTML when done. One advantage of leaving it in view all email as plain text is that it is more secure since you are much less likely to accidentally download a virus. For Gmail as viewed in the Chrome browser (and possibly also in other browsers), when looking at the list of emails in a folder it will show any embedded pictures as attachments that can be easily saved. When the email is opened the picture will be embedded but upon closing and looking at the list of emails the attachments will be visible as such and can be saved.

BernardSer wrote:

If you join a 1sec movie to the pictures you want to attach to your e-mail, your pictures will become attachments...

They already were «attachments».

The only change is in how that very tiny subset of email clients (consisting of a single email client and its derivatives) displays and treats the attachments.

Sorry - this does not reach Apple.

A work around:-

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.

JoshuaVl wrote:

Lawrence, are you sure this is an issue with Microsoft?

One of my users only had this issue after upgrading from an iPhone 6 to an iPhone SE.

With the 6 he could send photos as attachments with the Mail app no problems...

JoshuaVl:

It has been freely acknowledged that Apple made an International Internet Standards compliant change in the way attachments are encoded within emails sent by Apple Mail, from iOS 13 to 14, that Microsoft’s Outlook (and its derived email clients) do not properly handle. (Earlier changes occurred in earlier versions of iOS with similar affects only shown by Outlook and its derivatives.)

In fact, a few of the workarounds actually illustrate how utterly fragile Outlook’s (and derivatives’) handling of International Internet Standards compliant emails truly is.

You, truly, 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.

(The amazing thing, to me, is that I haven’t, yet, seen any evidence that anyone has taken upon themselves the challenge of that definitive test.)

The iPhone email app is a nightmare. I think it is embarrassing that other developers have a better email app than Apple's. I use either the Edison Mail app or the Outlook email app. Both add your pictures onto email as attachments, not embedded in the email body. I hope this helps someone.

I finally found a solution which is easy as I am using FASTMAIL:

1- go in the FASTMAIL App

2- Initiate a new Mail

3- Click on ATTACH

4- Click on UPLOAD FILES

5- Click on PHOTO LIBRARY

6- Select the photos you want to send

7- Confirm

8- Send

(Photos are coming in .speg format)

I think this will probably be the same process with another Mail provider.

"Since Steve Jobs passed away, Apple Breakthrough Innovations are no longer proposed and Customer Satisfaction is apparently not more in the center of focus! They will have to fix that, but it's very difficult now I guess!" (My personal opinion only of course!)

Save a small text document in files, when you want to send

photos as attachments select the small text file under files first then select

your photos they will send as attachments and the text file can just be

disregarded by the recipient. Workaround but it works and only takes a second

to do...

dieter444 wrote:

My suggestion is to stop using the Apple mail app. I switched to the gmail app and I have a choice. I can send my photos as attachments or embedded. Much better answer to this ridiculous dilemma

There simply is no such thing as «embedded» photos.

The closest thing are attached photos (everything, with the exception of the Subject line and some body text, are attachments, in emails) that are formatted inline with body text.

Unfortunately, there exists a very tiny subset of email clients (consisting [almost] exclusively of a single email client, and its derivatives, from a single [non-Apple] company)—which, incidentally, has seen no substantive upgrades in over a Decade—which prevents bulk attachment processing, under some standards compliant conditions, contrary to standards conformance expectations!

There can never be any fault associated with standards compliance!

However, old, non-up-to-date clients can, and often do, have issues with standards compliant emails due to the failings of such email clients! Such has been found to be the case with a very tiny subset of email clients (consisting [almost] exclusively of a single email client, and its derivatives, from a single [non-Apple] company)—which, incidentally, has seen no substantive upgrades in over a Decade!

Ok. I’ve asked, not just you but others, is there anything I can do, any adjustment I can make, to allow this process to work the way it used to on my Windows based Outlook? The answer clearly is “no.” So, is this change a defect? I will have to concede it is not. A defect is when a design doesn’t work at all, doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do. I think the program is doing exactly what Apple designers intended it to do. But it’s unfortunate for me that Apple’s change to one of its most popular phone features, makes it intensely frustrating to me and tens of millions of Outlook users.

So we won’t call it a “defect.” It is either a design blunder, or purposeful. To me it doesn’t matter which. The thing doesn’t work - for me - and the only thing I can do to fix it is buy a camera or a different phone. So I guess Apple and its defenders really showed me!

Send the pictures from text messaging and the arrive (as they used to) as attachments.

BAM

Next?

@All:

Please see Add attachments to an email on iPhone - Apple Support.