Avoiding the automatic embedding of RGB JPEG attachments sent from Mac to PC via Mail

Quenda-71 wrote:

when I send an email attachment of a JPEG from Mail to a client using a PC the file appears to them to be part of the body of the email (embedded) rather than a separate email attachment

OK. That makes sense. This is probably the #1 Apple Mail complaint over the past 25 years. It isn't going to change. I recommend you give up the effort. You may find any number of "solutions" on the internet that are entirely fake. You can't change this.

the image cannot be downloaded

It can be. Your recipients probably just don't know how. This is 100% a problem with Microsoft Outlook. The difference between an e-mail with an attachment and an e-mail with an embedded image is just a single word. That word is either "inline" or "attachment". So you have to ask yourself. Why does a single word make something impossible in Outlook? Of course, you could ask a similar question to Apple. Why not allow this one word to be changed? I can't answer either question.

All I can suggest is to give up. This hasn't changed in 25 years, so it is unlikely to be changed in the future. Apple will eventually discontinue the Mail app and replace it with the iOS version. But I don't think you can control this setting on the iPad either.

Apple can fix Apple Applications, Operating Systems and Accessories 

Apple Can not fix Third Party Applications and how that Applications renders Image File attachments when used & sending via Apple Mail Application

That falls clearly Out-Side the Domain of Apple and rests with the Third Party Application Developers

User wrote " Is there a setting in Mail that can prevent this from happening? If not, there should be."

By all means do send your Feedback to Apple Requesting some Feature Addition

Though to be honest. It is doubtful Apple will make any Feature changes in macOS 13 Ventura as there are still working on bug fixes and any potential feature addition in macOS 14 Sonoma

They could also be Developing a successor to Sonoma.

So would not hold my breath for anything New in Ventura

Send attachments to Windows users in Mail on Mac

Try these suggestions for sending email attachments to Windows users.

Open Mail for me

• To send Windows-friendly attachments for all messages, choose Edit > Attachments, then select Always Send Windows-Friendly Attachments.
• To send Windows-friendly attachments for a single message, click the Attachment button in the toolbar of the new message window, then select Send Windows-Friendly Attachments (if the checkbox isn’t shown, click Show Details).
• Send documents as PDFs instead of in their original format.
• Use filename extensions (such as .docx for a Microsoft Word document).

If a Windows user receives two attachments (such as “MyFile” and “._MyFile”), they can ignore the file with the underscore.

It remains that even using the Windows attachment method.

It is 100% dependent on the Recipients e-mail Client, as to how the Image file will be rendered

That aspect of this issue is outside the control of the Sender ( you ) and outside the domain of Apple

P. Phillips wrote:

That aspect of this issue is outside the control of the Sender ( you ) and outside the domain of Apple

That's only true with Mail. Mozilla Thunderbird, Outlook for Mac and I imagine others can send attachments that are not inline.

Quenda-71 wrote:

Thanks for the suggestion P. Phillips, but I already have 'Always Send Windows-Friendly Attachments' selected. I can't sent a RGB photo as a PDF to a client as it defeats the purpose (image for web use, not print use. I always use the .jpg extension for the file.

I have been a professional Mac user for over thirty years, but I am not a programmer. I am well aware that Apple can't fix issues that are Microsoft related.

Welcome

Pleased you acknowledge that Apple can not fix that which they do not control.

The problem is I don't know if it is occurring at the Mail sending end or the Outlook receiving end.

It is the interaction between the two different e-mail clients.

Neither is at Fault as per se as that is just how each works.

My wife using a MS Windows machine with a old 2012 MS E-mail Client that sends e-mails in html format

When I receive and e-mail with text and image from her in Apple Mail, when it looks, be be polite, a real mess and almost impossible to read

Although I am a Mac user most of my clients use PCs and some, but not all, are encountering this issue when I send them RGB JPEGS. I first encountered this embedding issue many years ago and the Mac model and OS seem to make no difference whatsoever.

Then suggest using a Non Apple E-mail Client that is more MS Windows friendly

The only constant is that the Apple Mail program is being used, which leads me to suspect it is a Mail issue.

Sorry but wrong assumption

Quenda-71 wrote:

For some reason RGB JPEG files attached to an email in Mail and sent to a PC user automatically embed their end, which is a real nuisance. There are only two ways I have found around it: attach a simple Word document as well as the image or use an FTP service instead. Neither is convenient, but they do work. The issue seems to be a compatibility issue between Mail and Outlook. Is there a setting in Mail that can prevent this from happening? If not, there should be.

Can you explain what you mean by "embed their end"? And can you also explain what you mean by "a real nuisance"? Please be specific. Your description of what you are actually seeing, and what you actually have to do on the other end might help explain the problem you are having.

Without that information, I can't say any more than basic e-mail answers. That's the way it works. Outlook has been a nuisance for pretty much everyone for 30 years. All e-mail vendors have to been over backwards to try to construct e-mail messages that will be visible and useable on the majority of the many, many different versions of Outlook that exist.

Additionally, there can be any number of other issues involved. When you say it works if you add another file or "an FTP service (???), that suggests that you have one of those very poor e-mail filtering systems that completely disassembles e-mail, scans it all for viruses, and then reassembles it, corrupting it in the process. That's nothing that Apple can fix.

FWIW I usually use gmail to send mail attachments via Safari. But sometimes I deliberately use Mail.app when I want to attach images inline with the message text. (I have gmail and iCloud accounts added to Mail.app but I very rarely send via iCloud account, usually only mail with largish attachments).

For me, gmail shows those attachments below the message while Mail.app shows them inline. I have not tested whether sending via Safari-gmail or Mail.app-gmail-account behaves identically anyway because I send via the gmail account anyway.

I do not, however, know how each recipient happens to receive the attachment. But that is their problem. So far nobody has complained.

Quenda-71 wrote:

By ‘embedding their end’ I mean simply that when I send an email attachment of a JPEG from Mail to a client using a PC the file appears to them to be part of the body of the email (embedded) rather than a separate email attachment, therefore the image cannot be downloaded which defeats the purpose of sending it and is therefore ‘a nuisance’.

Tell them to right-click on the image and choose “Save as Picture.” (Or some similar words to that effect)

Microsoft has chosen that method to render “inline” attachments. To my knowledge, no other email client works that way.

I don’t have any ‘email filtering system’ you refer to nor would I.

They might, or their network might.

Quenda-71 wrote:

Is there a setting in Mail that can prevent this from happening? If not, there should be.

No. Feel free to use a different email client.

You can try compressing the jpeg first, then include it in your email.

FWIW, it's certainly possible to download embedded images in an email in Windows.