iPad will not open email attachments using webmail ?

Question

Level 1

9 points

iPad will not open email attachments using webmail ?

Hi

We own a iPad 3, OS5.1.1 ( the iPad belongs to my wife ) therefore she has her own account set up using the iPad's email programme ( I do not have my email account on this iPad as we want to keep our accounts seperate)

When I login to my email account using my webmail I can not open any attachement wheather it be pdf.doc,txt ext etc ? when I select the document ( attachment ) nothing happens - if my wife has any pdf's attached to her emails using the iPad's email programme they open without any problems ?

I have spoken to my email provider as a webmail programme should be able to open attachments connected with an email - but they are not at all helpful they are suggesting that the problem is with the iPad which I am not at all convinced by unless I am advised other wise by anybody with a technical experience of this problem.

We have 3rd party apps such as PDF Reader and also iBooks which can read ePub files - can any body help with this - I am not talking about downloading files here, I am simply talking about the capacity to just open and read an attachment which I can not do with our iPad - we have plenty of memory and drive space, therefore I think it is a bug which might be due to a combination of the webmail programme and the iPad not working with each other - or simply something that is not apparent to me

Any help would be much appreciated

Many Thanks

Mavis

iPad, iOS 5.1.1, New iPad 3

Posted on Jun 15, 2012 7:02 AM

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Answer 1

Ralph9430

Level 7

21,726 points

Jun 15, 2012 7:14 AM in response to mavis123

I'm not sure about viewing all the formats you need but you should be able to view PDF files in your browser using web mail. Instead of just tapping on the PDF title Tap and Hold. You will get a series of choices including open and open in new window. I prefer open in new window so I can go back to the webmail quickly.

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Answer 2

mavis123 Author

Level 1

9 points

Jun 15, 2012 7:35 AM in response to Ralph9430

Hi Ralph9430

I did try that before my post - and I have tried it again only holding my finger for longer - I zoomed into the page so that I got a good area to point and hold - I was hoping for at least a menu selection to come up ( as your post suggests ) but nothing came up at all.

I have just had an excel email attachment sent and I can not open that either ... it looks like NO attachment will open

I am wondering do I need to write an executable command within terminal to get the browser to open attachments and if so what would it be ? I actually downloaded another browser outside of Safari just in case it might have something to do with the Safari browser but I have the same response i.e zero action

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Answer 3

Ralph9430

Level 7

21,726 points

Jun 15, 2012 8:19 AM in response to mavis123

Safari on the iPad is designed to not download files. That's the way it works. Did you try and tap and hold on a PDF file? Or just that excel doc? I suspect the PDFs will be viewable as would jpg photos but perhaps other formats are not.

Instead of using webmail to get your email, you might search the web for an email app different from Apple Mail. This might work better at allowing you to view some attachments. If that would work, you could set the new app to retrieve your email and leave Apple Mail set to retrieve your wife's email.

Sorry I can't be of more help.

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Answer 4

mavis123 Author

Level 1

9 points

Jun 15, 2012 8:31 AM in response to Ralph9430

You - Did you try and tap and hold on a PDF file?

Me - Yes I did and it will not open ( I am talking about the pdf as an attachment with the email ) .. I can view normail pdf's outside my webmail on the iPad without any issues

I was not aware of Safari not allowing you to download via iPad ( looks like a good idea to have another browser )

that could be the reason why it will not allow me to open the attachments as it might view the action as an attempted download ? .. within Safari I have turned OFF block pop ups ( General Menu )

Thanks for your help and suggestions - it looks like a pretty good site for help so I might hang on a bit to see if anybody else has another angle to look at

Kind Regards

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Answer 5

Jun 15, 2012 8:42 AM in response to mavis123

Mavis123

Yesterday I downloaded Mercury Browser Pro from the App store, it cost $1, which is nothing. You might want to try that and see if it helps? I hope so, best of luck.

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Answer 6

mavis123 Author

Level 1

9 points

Jun 15, 2012 9:43 AM in response to lovemyusedipad

lovemyusedipad

I should have mentioned this in my earlier post - the other browser I have is indeed Mercury ( it's a very good alternative browser )

unfortunatly the same issue is with me even using this alternative browser -

Thanks for the suggestion

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Answer 7

MudMaps

Level 1

0 points

Jul 1, 2012 11:55 PM in response to mavis123

I had the same problem.

A colleage sent an email from an ipad with a pdf attachment (via FileApp Pro) and while the email arrived OK and the Inbox shows an attachment there is nowhere to click and open the document from.

The name of the pdf is listed in the detail of the message but there is no icon within the message to open it with.

The first page of the pdf file was shown within the message too.

The trick was to click and hold somewhere within the first page (displayed in the email).

This prompts the "Open in ..." popup from which you can open your preferred pdf reader to see the whole document.

Hope this helps.

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Answer 8

mavis123 Author

Level 1

9 points

Jul 2, 2012 12:14 AM in response to MudMaps

The critical thing I noted in your reply is that the 1st page of the pdf was seen within your email ... and you then clicked within that page

I can not see anything other than a paper clip attachment with the .pdf sign and size of the file -- therefore I can not execute the finger pointing as I can not see the 1st or indeed any page

I contacted my webmail provider who informed me that they do not provide support for this kind of action ( as yet ) now I have pointed this out hopefully they will get some kind of fix ?? 1&1 webmail

meantime if anybody has a fix please let me know

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Answer 9

Aug 3, 2012 8:08 AM in response to mavis123

I was having the same issue when I was going through Safari for my web based email. What worked for me was going into Settings, then selecting Mail, Contacts and Calendars, then add account. I added my email address and password and now access email via the Mail icon on the bottom of the page. Hope this helps!

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Answer 10

Aug 14, 2012 7:26 PM in response to mavis123

This is by no means a sophisticated method.

I had mail opened on an email that I was having this issue, I then selected the "move" icon in the top of mail. Mail then instantly crashed. When I opened it up again, all my emails were still there. I had to redownload the attached files, but they were all able to open.

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Answer 11

mavis123 Author

Level 1

9 points

Aug 15, 2012 12:31 AM in response to drewncc1701d

Hi Ggnorwester

You may not have noticed in my earlier post, I did say that I wannted to keep my email account off the iPad as it belongs to my wife and we want to keep our accounts seperate. therefore I want to eventually resolve this within my webmail page on the iPad.

drewncc1701d if this solution is within the email programm attached to the iPad again this is not a solution to my problem - but if this happened as a result of using webmail then I would be interested in more details please

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Answer 12

Aug 15, 2012 4:05 AM in response to mavis123

Apologies. My search to help me with this problem had me come across this thread and I didn't read it properly. What I did was using the built in "mail" app from apple.

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Answer 13

Cushy

Level 1

68 points

Sep 2, 2012 11:46 AM in response to mavis123

This took me a while to figure out. It has to do with the specific email client. I have 3 on my iPad. My yahoo and apple accounts open most attachments just fine.. But my gmail account stinks. Not only will it not open them, it won't recognize the extension. Nor does gmail allow you to delete. You have to archive everything. (as a side note, I can't wait until we can select spam for any of my clients)

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Answer 14

mavis123 Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 2, 2012 1:03 PM in response to Cushy

I spoke to my email / webmail provider pointing this problem out - they seemed to accept that this was an issue that needed sorting out, but it is going to take many more people complaining before they look at this !

My provider is 1&1.co.uk

I live in hope that this will be something that all email clients ( outside iPad ) using webmail will eventually resolve

for users who expect a good service with devices that we have all spent money buying.

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Answer 15

Oct 4, 2012 8:42 PM in response to mavis123

Turn off Block Pop-ups in Safari setting

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