Apple Mail: attach documents as files rather than pasting whole documents into my message.

After the last update, Apple Mail started attaching documents differently. When I attach a document (all pdfs) there's a 50-50 chance that the attachment will be represented by an image of the entire first page of the document, rather than as the pdf icon. This is the case even with multiple attachments to the same email message. Showing an image of the first page makes correspondence very bulky and it looks unprofessional.


I need to tell Mail to consistently represent each attachment as an icon, for both the writer and the reader (I know how to force each attachment to look like an icon to me, but it doesn't change what the recipient receives).


I am grateful for any help you can provide to solve this problem!



MacBook Air 13″, macOS 12.2

Posted on May 9, 2024 7:28 AM

Reply
3 replies

May 9, 2024 10:21 AM in response to Solar-Mpls

By default, Apple Mail will attach multi-page PDFs as icons and a single-page PDF as that page. There are two options to make it an icon.


Interactively


Right-click on the single-page PDF and choose View as Icon from the secondary menu.


Permanently (Quit Mail and in the Terminal enter)


defaults write com.apple.mail DisableInlineAttachmentViewing -bool yes



The next time you attach a single-page PDF, it will be an icon.


You have no control over a recipient's email client and how it presents attachments.

Apple Mail: attach documents as files rather than pasting whole documents into my message.

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