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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

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

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.

43 replies

Mar 16, 2016 9:03 AM in response to keebler21

I still don't know what's going on but I discovered that older emails having attachments are shown regularly. I think it has something to do with changing my password. Every email received between the moment I changed my password in the servers of Google for Gmail and the moment I updated the password in my iPhone/iPad are not showing correctly any attachment. After that, any new email works just fine, the same with older emails. It's like for those email in between I'm screwed and they will never show the attachment.

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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