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sending pdfs via email

When I right click on a pdf I see option to "show as icon" for two pdfs, but not for a third. The "show as icon" option simply does not appear when I right click on the third pdf. This is very frustrating. How to fix? Thanks.

MacBook Air, macOS 13.2

Posted on Mar 22, 2023 7:00 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 23, 2023 3:57 PM

Hi FL12-14-54,


Thanks for reaching out to the community. Are the three pdfs you are sending out all equal in size? The sizing of the third pdf can determine whether you're not receiving the icon you are expecting. Take a look at the article below regarding sending pdfs from your Mac.


  1. "On your Mac, open the document.
  2. Choose File > Print.
  3. Click the down arrow of the PDF pop-up menu, then do one of the following:

Save the PDF to iCloud Drive: Choose Save to iCloud Drive.

Send the PDF via email: Choose Send in Mail, type an email address in the To field, enter a message if you want, then click Send".


Share a document as a PDF file on Mac - Apple Support


Keep us updated.

4 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Mar 23, 2023 3:57 PM in response to FL12-14-54

Hi FL12-14-54,


Thanks for reaching out to the community. Are the three pdfs you are sending out all equal in size? The sizing of the third pdf can determine whether you're not receiving the icon you are expecting. Take a look at the article below regarding sending pdfs from your Mac.


  1. "On your Mac, open the document.
  2. Choose File > Print.
  3. Click the down arrow of the PDF pop-up menu, then do one of the following:

Save the PDF to iCloud Drive: Choose Save to iCloud Drive.

Send the PDF via email: Choose Send in Mail, type an email address in the To field, enter a message if you want, then click Send".


Share a document as a PDF file on Mac - Apple Support


Keep us updated.

Mar 24, 2023 8:54 AM in response to FL12-14-54

Hi FL12-14-54,


Please also note the following from Add attachments to emails in Mail on Mac:


"You can change how attachments are displayed in the Compose window (this doesn’t determine how attachments are shown for your recipients). To display an attachment (such as a one-page PDF document or an image) as an icon, Control-click the attachment in your message, then choose View as Icon. To show the attachment again, Control-click it, then choose View in Place." (emphasis added)


The recipient will not necessarily see the attachments the way that you do, depending on the email app and settings configuration.


As for the Print instruction, that is used to save files as a PDF and is outlined in the article Save a document as a PDF on Mac and the resource provided of Share a document as a PDF file on Mac.


Regards.




Mar 23, 2023 6:29 PM in response to NelsC7

Thanks. Maybe it is a size issue. I will think about this the next time. Basically, to clarify, I have these docs in the cloud. I select three of them from the list of docs, one at a time and then right click on one of them choosing to share via email. They then all pop up in an email as full docs (usually one page each). I want the email to be neat, so I want to show them as icons. I right click on each one and, as I said, often two can be made into icons but not all three. It looks weird to send someone that. Maybe they all change into icons on the other end, I do not know.


This is a new experience since my last update. I never had this issue before. I would just right click on each doc and choose "show as icon" and it would do that - many different docs sent by email that way.


Not sure why you told me to go to file and print. I want to send them not print them.


Mar 24, 2023 11:53 AM in response to FL12-14-54

The Apple Mail compose window will display multi-page PDF attachments as an icon, and single-page PDFs, or images as non-iconified. These are the defaults and there is currently no functional Mail setting (in Ventura) to alter this attachment behavior. Only the single page PDF, or image can be interactively changed to an icon view via the secondary menu View as Icon.


You may encounter posts online that recommend a certain Terminal defaults write involving DisableInlineAttachment Viewing and Mail in Ventura ignores this setting.

sending pdfs via email

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