Attachments Instead of Embedded Pictures using IOS 14 Mail

Do whatever you wish, cubsfanbudman. It”s no “skin” off my “nose”, or the “nose” of anyone else, here.

However, it may be to your benefit to see my comment to Shaon94, at https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251811052?answerId=254383008022#254383008022 .

See, for example, the post https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251839875?answerId=253924826022#253924826022, and the Discussion that user linked to. (Within the Discussion that user linked to, you’ll be able to find the post of the user that recommended I give up on y’all.)

I’m far from being alone in my assessment of the actual situation, DCP1234.

The thing is, NatsudRovert, that there is no such thing as «embedded» pictures, or other files, in emails—by the very International Internet Standards governing email creation and transmission—the very standards Apple (and most everyone else) is following.

The only difference is the formatting of the created email:

• if formatted as plain-text (text/plain), since there is no formatting possible, the pictures and other files can only display as a list of files;
• if formatted as rich-text (such as text/html), the pictures and other files may be displayed inline with formatted text, just like with webpages.

Since, either way, the pictures, and other files, are included as attachments—according to the International Internet Standards governing email creation and transmission, and as verifiably followed by Apple Mail—there is simply no excuse for any email client not to allow users to perform bulk attachment operations (such as bulk-saves) upon any received email.

In fact, investigations have show that all but a very tiny subset of email clients (consisting of only a single email client, and its derivatives, so far as any investigations have found, so far) properly provide their users with such capabilities, regardless how the received email may appear!

Since Apple owns none of these misbehaving email clients, Apple has nothing that they can “fix”.

The only actual fix must come from the manufacturer of that very tiny subset of misbehaving email clients.

All anyone else can do are workarounds, for those misbehaving email clients.

(It is unfortunate that the “techs” you spoke to were so ignorant of what actually goes on with emails. [That assumes, of course, that your portrayal is not “colored” by your own misunderstandings.])

I have an iPhone 8 and this is also happening to me. Very difficult to then have to save the photo to the desktop or to even view the photo. There are now several extra steps to accomplish the same task. Please allow to save as attachment

Do you have any formatting, like bold text, in your email signature or in the body of the email? It seems that this changes it from sending a plain text email (with attachment) to a html email with embedded image.

I’m having this exact same issue after I updated. Would really like to

figure out a fix. Rather not change my mail app for this. I use this for work a lot, and rather not have to add extra steps to send out my photos. I need them as attachments and not embedded.

Not sure if it's the same situation but I could use some help.

I'm running 10.15.7...Most attachments I send in texts get linked together, so instead of sending 1 photo or gif attachment I end up sending 7 or 8 attachments of previously sent stuff. I can't separate them and send just one. I'm specifically talking about texting, no email involved. But if it helps to know, I use Gmail.

Thank you to whomever has the answer!

I have a work around. It's not good, but it's better than Outlook for IOS. You can send a text message to an email account. Select the photos like you normally would but use the text app instead of the mail app. If it's only a couple of photos, you'll get the email with the photos as attachments. If it's a lot of photos, it'll upload the photos to ICloud and you'll get the email link to be able to download them. The download is a zip file with all of the photos. It's not perfect, but it works.

The first time I tried this, my work mail server blocked the messages from coming in. They were flag as potential spam. I was able to get my address listed as trusted. the second test came through in no time. All of the text messages you send to an email account will be from the email address "your phone number"@"your carriers id".com.

I hope this helps. If not, we'll need someone to create a bot to submit feedback on this at an annoying rate.

Hi Sandy, thanks for your reply. What really bugs me about this issue is...

If there are 6 or 7 extra attachments and you only want to send one of them but have to send them all...is the text recipient able to see them all too? I hope not. Let's hope Apple addresses this problem.

the person getting the text will get all of the attachments that an email recipient would get. With spam blockers, this is really only going to work if you're sending it to yourself. If you were sending it to someone else, just send what you want them to have instead of forwarding a message with lots of things attached.

Welcome, cubsfanbudman and @All, to Apple Support Communities!

I see we have another case where the actual problem is in the way Microsoft Outlook disallows you, the user, to perform bulk operations on attachments, such as images (photos), when Outlook renders (displays) the attachments inline (what all too many refer to as “embedded” into the email).

Please do note, no matter how any given email client (such as Outlook) may choose to render (display) an email, all files (images or whatever) are sent as attachments to the email: this is a very old aspect of the Internet email protocols!

Yes. There was some change in either the way Apple Mail defaults in the format used for authoring emails, or in choosing a newer version of the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) used (or both), which, apparently, has triggered Outlook to change the way it renders (displays) an email.

However, that does not negate the fact that if Microsoft Outlook would allow you, the user, the right to perform bulk attachment operations, regardless of the way Outlook may choose to render (display) an email, this would have never been an issue.

You may certainly provide Feedback to Apple, requesting that they allow you to choose the default formatting of authored emails, so you may choose plain-text as your default.

Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that this will actually solve the problem, since the problem is the way Microsoft Outlook behaves, which Apple has no control over.

(Note: I would not expect Apple to abandon updating to the use of a newer Internet protocol; especially not just because Microsoft hasn’t chosen to update, yet.)

What is guaranteed to solve your problem, however, is to get Microsoft to set Outlook to allow you, the user, the right to perform bulk attachment operations, regardless how Outlook may choose to render any given email!

Quoting from what I wrote, cradprat:

«Yes. There was some change in either the way Apple Mail defaults in the format used for authoring emails, or in choosing a newer version of the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) used (or both), which, apparently, has triggered Outlook to change the way it renders (displays) an email.

However, that does not negate the fact that if Microsoft Outlook would allow you, the user, the right to perform bulk attachment operations, regardless of the way Outlook may choose to render (display) an email, this would have never been an issue.»

It doesn’t help on the sending end. It still pastes the photos in the body of the outgoing e-mail, which is what we’re all not wanting. We want the photos to be attachments on our end as well. I have the Outlook iOS app, so I know this.

YALL: I was looking through here a few months ago to try and figure this out and I'VE DONE IT! (Okay, it wasn't me, it was the person I was looking for the answer for but I digress)

Once you attach the photo and it is "embedded".... tap on the photo itself, in the email, and you should get the option to "send as attachment". Select and voila! Problem solved. RIDICULOUS that Apple support doesnt know this.