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In Apple mail, the attachment symbol does not appear in the list of sent items

In Apple mail, the attachment symbol does not appear in the list of sent items. So you cannot sort sent emails based on whether or not they have an attachment. Is there a way to fix this?

Mail-OTHER, Mac OS X (10.7.3)

Posted on Apr 17, 2012 1:53 AM

Reply
29 replies

Apr 17, 2012 6:19 AM in response to Axemohan

Mail > Preferences > Viewing > Show Header Detail > Custom, and ensure that the Attachments entry is in the pick list. You'll get a paperclip icon on the messages with attachments. I've seen cases where it was necessary to rebuild the mailbox (Mailbox > Rebuild) to get the Attachments paperclip icon to show on all the messages.


Or alternatively, select the classic layout in Mail > Preferences > Viewing, and enable the attachments column by control-clicking on the column headers and checking Attachments, if it's not already already checked.

Apr 20, 2012 10:54 PM in response to MrHoffman

I think my question wasn't clear. I know how to display the attachment header (I use classic layout) but the problem is that the paperclip icon does not appear against the messages that contain attachments. See screenshot below. The attachment column is displayed but is blank. These are my sent items and I know for a fact that most of them have attachments. Can you help?

User uploaded file

Apr 21, 2012 4:34 AM in response to Axemohan

Other than the omission of the use of the classic layout here, your original question was quite clear. What I described was how I got the attachment icon to appear in the message list, as I was seeing the same issue you were, and was seeing it with the replacement layout. Did you try what I suggested, including the mailbox rebuild?

Apr 22, 2012 10:38 PM in response to Axemohan

Actually, it's not called Reindex. It's the brute force method of vacuuming the mail database. Please don't assume that you've done what we suggested; just do it (again, if necessary) to be sure it was done.


If you've actually tried these and they didn't work, the next step will be deleting the Mail prefereces file - ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Mail.plist. This will lose all your settings and force a reimport of all your mail accounts, but it might solve the problem.

Jul 31, 2012 3:12 AM in response to Axemohan

Have the same problem.

But I have noted that, if the paper clip appears or not on sent messages, depends on the recipient.


And it is consistent. I have reciepients that never shows the paperclip and others that always show it ...


May be has something to do with the receipient's server?

Mountain Lion according to nmk12345 is no solution. Other experiences?

Aug 26, 2012 9:08 AM in response to nmk12345

This fix appeared elsewhere in another thread on the Apple Support Community:


1 - Create a rule in the Mail Preferences pane

2 - Call it "Get My Paperclip Icons Back!"

3 - Set conditions as below :

A - If ALL of the following conditions are met :

B - From Ends With [Your email address here] (you can do this for multiple too]

C - Any Attachment Name Contain "." [with the quotations around the dot]

Perform the following actions :

D - Mark as Read [which really makes no impact on how its viewed]


Click Ok. When message "Do you want to apply your rules to messages in selected mailboxes?" I chose "Dont Apply". [But you can click "Apply" if you are in the "Sent Folder"


Then go to your sent folder, Select your messages [recent/all], and right click "Apply Rules" or from the menu Message -> Apply Rules.

Voilla! Paperclip icons are back. Plus "Mark as Read" did no harm to your already colored/flagged sent emails.

In Apple mail, the attachment symbol does not appear in the list of sent items

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