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how can I sent photos as attachment rather than embedded in the email?

For work, I need to send photos to my editor via email. In Mail, the jpgs automatically become embedded in the body of the the email, but my editor would prefer to receive them as attachments. Is there any way to send photos as attachments in Mail, rather than embedded email itself?

MacBook (13-inch Late 2008), iOS 5.1.1

Posted on Jun 13, 2012 4:46 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on May 5, 2017 10:50 AM

I've experimented with the all three options, sending emails to myself and reading the emails on a windoze machine with outlook 2010 on it. At first try, none of the three options seemed to do what people are asking for (and I wanted too). However, the reason number two didn't work, was because number one was still active (checked). So here's the solution that worked for me:


  1. If Mail is open, quit it (cmd-Q)
  2. Open Terminal and type: defaults write com.apple.mail DisableInlineAttachmentViewing -bool yes
  3. Start up the Apple Mail-app
  4. Go to Edit > Attachments and make sure Always Send Windows-Friendly Attachments is NOT checked. If it is uncheck it!


Hope this is helpful to someone else.

34 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

May 5, 2017 10:50 AM in response to Dick Young

I've experimented with the all three options, sending emails to myself and reading the emails on a windoze machine with outlook 2010 on it. At first try, none of the three options seemed to do what people are asking for (and I wanted too). However, the reason number two didn't work, was because number one was still active (checked). So here's the solution that worked for me:


  1. If Mail is open, quit it (cmd-Q)
  2. Open Terminal and type: defaults write com.apple.mail DisableInlineAttachmentViewing -bool yes
  3. Start up the Apple Mail-app
  4. Go to Edit > Attachments and make sure Always Send Windows-Friendly Attachments is NOT checked. If it is uncheck it!


Hope this is helpful to someone else.

Jun 13, 2012 5:15 PM in response to LaSylphide

From another thread on this same subject in this forum:


Open: Applications>Utilities>Terminal and type (without the inverted commas):


"defaults write com.apple.mail DisableInlineAttachmentViewing -bool yes"


That will make every attachment you send act like an attachment instead of a pretty unusable decoration.


If you decide this isn’t what you’re looking for, to restore inline attachment viewing type (again, without the inverted commas):


"defaults write com.apple.mail DisableInlineAttachmentViewing -bool false"


Restart Mail and you’re back to normal.


Message was edited by: Dick Young

Jun 13, 2012 6:01 PM in response to LaSylphide

LaSylphide, the Mail forum shows up as one of the categories within the "Mac OS and System Software" forum. Click on whichever version of OSX you're using, and you'll see the list of categories.


There are several threads on this topic, and I've seen three solutions:


1. Check the "Send Windows-Friendly Attachments" box. Some people say it works, some say it doesn't.


2. Open Terminal and type:


defaults write com.apple.mail DisableInlineAttachmentViewing -bool yes


Some people say this works, some say it doesn't.


3. In Mail > Preferences > Composing, make sure "Message Format" is set to "Plain Text." Once again, some say this works, some say it doesn't.


Hopefully, one of those will solve your problem. There may also be a setting in your editor's email program that would solve it, but I'm assuming that's a Windows app and I haven't worked with Windows since 1993, so I'm no help there.

Jun 14, 2012 4:10 AM in response to sig

To download implies that you have to go out to the net. If it is in the email that has already been downloaded from the email server then it doesn't again need to be DownLoaded. It needs to be save to, copied to, a folder on the hard drive.


People use the word download way to often for things that are not a download. Like to download a program to their hard drive when they really mean Install it to the hard drive.

Jul 20, 2012 6:47 AM in response to Dick Young

One other thing to try:


Make sure that at the instant you attach a file, the mail insertion cursor is not in the middle of the message, but preferably at the end, or possibly at the beginning.


If this is still a problem, send the attachment in a separate email, with no message text whatsoever. You may choose to send an introductory email saying, "picture to follow in next email". Some use the convention of putting (nt) is the subject line to indicate (No Text), i.e., no regular email message words, just the picture and nothing else. This allows the reader to understand the message did not get dropped, there was no message other than the attachment.

Dec 13, 2013 7:29 AM in response to LaSylphide

I have tried every tip and trick I can find without success (dragging and dropping, going into Applications>Utilities>Terminal and typing "defaults write com.apple.mail DisableInlineAttachmentViewing -bool yes", checking [√] Send windows-friendly attachments when clicking the paper clip icon to add an attachment) and read on another forum that the signature line creates an HTML code which somehow prevents the photo from becoming an attachment.


I removed my signature completely from the email message by going to Mail > Preferences > Signature and deleting everything I had in there. I don't think it is necessary to remove it via Preferences and a simple "delete" will do but I don't really need my signature on my personal email account anyways and don't mind losing it.


I decided to go back and remove the DisableInline command to test if that would have an impact. I restarted mail and sent a test email to my work computer which is a PC utilizing Outlook. The attachment became embedded once again. I added the DisableInline code back in, sent a test email, and voila! Attachment returned!


So, it seems the cause of this issue is multifaceted like most problems in life. If you have tried all of the options listed and are still having issues it may just be the automated signature is the culprit. Good luck!

Dec 13, 2013 8:48 AM in response to Erika407

the cause of this issue is multifaceted like most problems in life.

It certainly is.


When there is html code present and you "drag-and-drop" your attachment into the email, it MAY get embedded in the middle of a bunch of html code, and Outlook and a few really stupid email programs will be unable to notice that there is an attachment in there.


That is why these sometimes improve things:


• [√] Send Windows-friendly attachments

• attach at very beginning or very end

• deliberately using the paperclip "attach" Icon rather than drag-and-drop

• send ONLY the attachment all by itself (nt)


** There is one more extreme option. Tell Mail that this message must NOT contain any html:


Mail > Preferences > Composing > Composing: Message Format: { Rich text (html) | Plain text (NO html) }


Only letters and numbers and special characters, and no html, will go out with your message. Your attachment now has "nowhere to hide".

May 6, 2015 8:24 AM in response to LaSylphide

Hey for those looking for the answer on how to get your photos sent as an attachment in your email..

go to photos select the ones to send.. go to sharing and select mail.. then when you have the photo embedded.. left click on the photo which will highlight it then use 2 finger to right click and you'll have an option to send as an icon.. i got this information and was successful doing it.. from an apple support person

how can I sent photos as attachment rather than embedded in the email?

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