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Mail shows paper clip but no attachment icons to open at all

Hello everyone. I'm having the hardest time finding what's going on and after a few tiring hours of surfing the web I found nothing like my problem. So I decided to come here for help. I hope it's not something stupid I'm just missing but if that's the case I apologiz in advance.


As you can see in the following picture I got an email with an attachment, as you can see the paper clip on the left


User uploaded file

When I open said email I go to the bottom of it and find no file icons to open!


User uploaded file


As you can see for the same email but using the Gmail app, there are four pdf files attached and, as far as I know, pdf is a compatible format to open from Mail native iPhone app


User uploaded file


Can PLEASE someone help me see what I'm missing? I already tried signing out and in again, reloading all my emails but nothing different happened. I'm about to pull my hair out here!


Thank you all for takin the time to read this.

iPhone 6s, iOS 9.2.1

Posted on Mar 11, 2016 8:57 PM

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Posted on Feb 20, 2018 6:57 AM

2018 and this issue wasn't solved yet. 2 years, Apple!!!


Some PDF attachments are not showing on the Apple Mail app. It shows the paper clip on the mail list but no attachment inside the message. But there is an attachment, because if I try to forward the message, Apple Mail asks me if I want to include it. One of these attachments is a bill I have to pay monthly. Because of that issue, I have to use Outlook to see my bill.

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Question marked as Best reply

Feb 20, 2018 6:57 AM in response to seba_opazo

2018 and this issue wasn't solved yet. 2 years, Apple!!!


Some PDF attachments are not showing on the Apple Mail app. It shows the paper clip on the mail list but no attachment inside the message. But there is an attachment, because if I try to forward the message, Apple Mail asks me if I want to include it. One of these attachments is a bill I have to pay monthly. Because of that issue, I have to use Outlook to see my bill.

Jun 6, 2018 4:30 PM in response to marcio_uy

I'm having the same issue, I have an msn account and a gmail account and a shaw account and all show that there is an attachment but nothing in the body of the text on my iphone 8 ios 11.4, But when I go into my mail on my mac the attachments are all there, this seemed to just start happening after the last iphone update. Would be nice if there was a solution to this, please help

Feb 20, 2018 11:40 AM in response to AKRBTN

Well, there are 164 more people with the same issue, according to this thread... at least. Even if I'm experiencing this issue for a long time, it's the first time I post something in this thread. And there are more users asking for attachment issues on the iOS mail app on other websites.


This issue is happening (to me) always with some senders (like the Water Company) and some attachments sent by other users, usually PDF files. So... yes, it seems to be a bug.

May 30, 2017 7:23 PM in response to Shooter-71

Your issue sounds like something to do with the Gmail app. That is not an Apple app, and you would need to check settings in the Gmail app to see how it displays attachments. I've not received any Gmail that uses an attachment, so I cannot answer that, but I'm going to test this out. It will take a few minutes to construct an email with attachments and send it to my Gmail account and see what happens.


EDIT: When I attached a photo to my Outlook email on the computer and sent that to my Gmail account on the Gmail app, it did not show a paperclip, it showed a small thumbnail of the photo and when I clicked on it, it opened the photo in another page. If you go to the Settings of the Gmail app, on the app itself, it has a setting for Show Sender Images.

Apr 24, 2017 9:57 PM in response to Mariah Boyt

The isssue isn't with Microsoft. I have the same problem with emails sent to me with PDFs from a security appliance I use on my network. Doesn't go through Microsoft. Apple needs to come up with a fix. I can duplicate the issue 100%. Will display and open on all mail clients except for Apple iOS mail.


If an Apple tech is monitoring this, please get in contact with me and I can duplicate the issue.

Mar 12, 2016 4:03 AM in response to ManSinha

It didn't work. I also checked on my iPad and it doesn't work either. But in my Macbook Air works fine. The account is from Google and I recently updated my password. Maybe it has something to do with that. I obviously updated the password in my iPhone and iPad and that's why I can see the new incoming emails but there's maybe a bug. I'm thinking of that because in my Macbook it didn't work updating the password in the dialog box from Mail app, Google sent me an email saying it was not a secure log in. Instead, I had to go to Sytem Preferences, delete the account and add it back.

Jan 30, 2017 7:06 AM in response to ManSinha

I am having the same issue. The attachment icon appears in the mail but there is no attachment to download once I open the email. And my "load remote" images was on the entire time?

This is a really bad bug. I like using my "Mail" app because it's has all my email accounts in one place. But what's the point of having the "Mail" app take up storage on my phone if I just have to download the gmail app anyway.


Simeone needs to solve this please!

My best step is to take my phone in to the Apple Store, if that doesn't work I am never getting an iPhone again.

May 30, 2017 7:12 PM in response to TheWillyBePop

Ok so it seems like I am having the opposite problem of others in that my native iOS mail app shows tha attachment at the bottom of the email as one would expect to see, but when I am using the gmail iOS app on my iPhone 6s I don't see that attachment icon at the bottom of the email even though the email shows tha paper clip. Same issue on my iPad mini

Oct 12, 2017 8:02 PM in response to seba_opazo

Same issue here. It seems it is pretty common when it comes to Gmail on iOS's Mail app.


I was hoping to be able to use mostly Apple native apps, but this is a huge turn off. Outlook for iOS does a really good job and works flawlessly.


So if you are experiencing this issue, you will be better off with Gmail's own app or Outlook if you want to manage Gmail and other accounts in one app (which is what Mail should do).

Jan 5, 2018 9:51 PM in response to ManSinha

I am having the same issue and I know it’s an attachment because when I use safari to open my email the attachment is there.

Load remote images is switched on but still I can’t access the attachment using the ios email app with all emails regardless of host but if I use Safari or my laptop I can.

It’s a little annoying-does anyone have any alternative solutions please?

Feb 20, 2018 8:56 AM in response to marcio_uy

Well the lack of activity on this thread in two years isn't really indicative of an "issue" - just an occasional failure of attachments opening on some mail clients. Happens from time to time and has done for as long as there's been email. As long as they open on one application or another no-one's going to be that bothered.

Mail shows paper clip but no attachment icons to open at all

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