Attach PDF (or any document) to email.

And Apple hides the file system from apps (not from users) to prevent apps from installing malware on the phone. A strategy that has worked very well, as there have been no successful attacks on iPhones in the almost 7 years they have been around. A statement that no other smartphone can make.

A fair point. However, it doesn't alter the fact that the approach adopted makes certain tasks extremely awkward, if not impossible. I much prefer the ease-of-use of Android and Symbian (which has also proved extremely resistant to attacks DESPITE its open nature)...

There are actually quite a few exploits that successfully attack Android. Symbian probably less so, because there are so few of them they aren't an attractive target (the same argument that was used against Apple Macs for for years).

The design of iOS restricts each app to its own data, so one app cannot read data that belongs to another app without the permission of the user. And every file type has an "owner" app. An app can offer data to another app; so the photo app can offer an image to email to send. But email cannot browse the space of the photo app. There are 3rd party apps (as has been pointed out) that can, with permission, access other data. But Apple doesn't provide such apps. Probably partly at least so they aren't accused of competing with their 3rd party developers.

For example, the calendar app is pretty primitive, and the contacts app lacks many essential features (such as the ability to change the group that a contact belongs to). But this creates a huge market for 3rd party apps to provide enhanced functionality. And there are many excellent calendar and contacts apps in the App Store.

There are actually quite a few exploits that successfully attack Android. Symbian probably less so, because there are so few of them they aren't an attractive target (the same argument that was used against Apple Macs for for years).

Not many Symbian devices? Really? Where did you get that gem from? More Symbian devices have been sold over the years than all iPhone models combined, and at one point Symbian had something like 80% of the smartphone market (excluding the US, where Symbian never gained any real traction)...

It's great cause by using 3rd party apps like mailbox and Dropbox you get the excellent competitive app market functionality with much less risk of attacks on phone. Smart stuff. And not complicated solution as long as you already use gmail. Duh

zylbazyl wrote:

you can attach file to new message but cannot do it when reply - so securing the filesystem is not the reason

I didn't know that. Mind you, we rarely send emails from our iPad...

Actually, having tested this on our iPad1, there is no way to create a new email in the email app and then add an attachment, unless I am missing a well-hidden button...

Yes, but you can't attach a pdf or word doc. I use my ipad 2 and a wireless keyboard when I travel. I can generate, read and edit Powerpoint, Word and Excel files and read and save pdfs. But if an email string with important information comes in, I can't reply-to-all with a pdf or excel spreadsheet. All I can do is send a reply promising the files under seperate cover, which breaks the string.

As a businessman, I need to keep strings intact for future reference and for my files in our Exchange Server.

It's ridiculous to require me to carry a laptop adn charger just so I can reply to all.

Lawrence Finch wrote:

You can attach a photo or video to an email when sending a new message, and also when replying to a message. At least I can. I'm quite surprised that you can't.

It's an original iPad on iOS 5, which may explain why. Either that, or the button is so well hidden that I haven't managed to find it...

I don't remember if iOS 5 had it. But start a new message or reply, hold your finger in the text area to bring up the magnifier, and you should see a choice of Select All, Select, or Paste. I also see an arrow at the right end of the bar. Tapping the arrow reveals more choices, including insert an image or video.

Lawrence Finch wrote:

I don't remember if iOS 5 had it. But start a new message or reply, hold your finger in the text area to bring up the magnifier, and you should see a choice of Select All, Select, or Paste. I also see an arrow at the right end of the bar. Tapping the arrow reveals more choices, including insert an image or video.

Just tried it, and no joy. All I get when tapping the arrow is "Quote Level"...

I assume apple monitor this forum. They should take on board the comments and do something about it.

I am not a business user but would like the facility to add a PDF to an email that has multiple addresses.

Get it sorted on next IOS, and along with this issue a methods to create a group within email..

Poor show apple.

@TGR [Semi solved!!]

This is much better than copying the reply text as suggested in earlier posts. (Maybe cutting an attachment out of an email wasn't an option back then.)

1. Hit reply on the note in question. (All to:, cc:, subject filled in!)

2. Pop over to iBooks (or whatever).

3. Send document in email...

4. Cut it out of the new draft. And close/kill this draft.

5. Go back to mail and paste into the original reply.

6. Go to step 2 as needed.

Another option would be to go to iBooks and pump all the needed documents into draft emails. Then go to mail and sit in the drafts folder opening drafts, cutting, and pasting into a draft reply.

bgrupczy wrote:

@TGR [Semi solved!!]

This is much better than copying the reply text as suggested in earlier posts. (Maybe cutting an attachment out of an email wasn't an option back then.)

1. Hit reply on the note in question. (All to:, cc:, subject filled in!)

2. Pop over to iBooks (or whatever).

3. Send document in email...

4. Cut it out of the new draft. And close/kill this draft.

5. Go back to mail and paste into the original reply.

6. Go to step 2 as needed.

Another option would be to go to iBooks and pump all the needed documents into draft emails. Then go to mail and sit in the drafts folder opening drafts, cutting, and pasting into a draft reply.

This has worked for me, except that I found that if I follow your step 4 exactly as above, although the pdf file appears to be inserted into the new reply, it doesn't get sent with it. It worked ok if I saved the draft when I closed it, then went into the Mail app and opened the draft and cut the pdf from there.

I also found that copying the pdf from the email instead of cutting appears to insert the pdf, but it doesn't get sent with the reply.

It sounds to me like one should save the reply as a draft immediately before sending, then go into Drafts and verify that the email has a paper clip beside before sending. These methods sound so dodgy that it wouldn't surprise me if they work differently from iOS version to iOS version, so I wouldn't expect this to work after an update without testing. I'm on iOS 8.3.

I can understand that the sandboxing makes it hard for the Mail app to get at the pdfs. I think this could be resolved by Apple adding a Copy option to iBooks and also to the pdf viewer in the Mail app. That would save us doing the intermediate step of creating a draft we don't need.

With all this messing around with drafts, it might be worth drawing people's attention to the shortcut for getting to the drafts, in case anyone doesn't already know it. If you hold your finger down on the New Message button, a list of drafts will pop up. Much faster than going back to the folder list to get into the Drafts folder.

It's also worth pointing out that TGR's method is better than pasting the reply text into the iBooks draft because it retains the messageID in the headers. Some mail clients and list servers use that for distinguishing replies from new emails, and displaying the messages in a threaded view accordingly. Creating a new message can mess that up.

You can attach a document to iOS mail using iCloud Drive. You'll need to set up iCloud Drive first, but once that's done and you have uploaded your document to your iCloud Drive, the process is the same as attaching a photo/video. As before, after long press in your email the options pop up appears and there's an option to "Add Attachment" at the end. Select that option, then just navigate through iCloud Drive to find and select your desired document. It's very easy.