Right-click option to show mail attachment as icon is gone

Question

Level 1

6 points

Right-click option to show mail attachment as icon is gone

The former option to show icon as an attachment no longer is on the right-click menu of Mac mail. Can anyone explain how to get this option back?

Mac mini (Late 2012), macOS High Sierra (10.13.1)

Posted on Dec 11, 2017 9:04 AM

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Answer 1

raina_b22

Community Specialist

Dec 13, 2017 11:23 AM in response to DSMN

Hello DSMN,

Thanks for getting back with us and trying to start into safe mode. You mention that you only have one user account, but I would like you to create a new user account and test to see if you get the same issue.

The steps in this support article have instructions for creating a new user account for testing: How to test an issue in another user account on your Mac , specifically:

Use another account for testing

If another user account is already set up on your Mac, you can simply log out of your account (Apple menu > Log Out) and log in with the other account. But the best way to test is with a newly created account:

Choose Apple menu () > System Preferences, then click Users & Groups.

Click , then enter an administrator name and password.

Click the Add button (+) below the list of users.

Complete the fields shown for a Standard or Administrator account, then click Create Account (or OK).

If you plan to test with any of the documents in your own account, make those documents available to the new account. Drag them to the Shared folder of the Users folder on your hard drive (~/Users/Shared). You can then move them to other folders after you log in as the new user.

Then log out of your account and log in with the new account:

Choose Apple menu > Log out.

At the login window, log in with the name and password of the new account. If you're also asked to sign in with an iCloud account or Apple ID, skip that step.

Now try to reproduce the issue in the new account. If you need to set up an email account or other account in order to test, you can do so.

Let me know if you have any questions.
Cheers.

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Answer 2

i_rina

Community Specialist

Dec 12, 2017 12:07 PM in response to DSMN

Greetings DSMN,

Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities.

I see that you aren't seeing the option to show the attachment as an icon when you right click on an attachment in the Mail app. It's important to make sure that you can display this as you'd like, so I'll be happy to help assist you with this.

I suggest some software isolation testing to see if this happens in another user account and safe mode. This can isolate the issue from the main user account to the entire system.
How to test an issue in another user account on your Mac
Use safe mode to isolate issues with your Mac

Once you've test in both, let me know if you get the same result.

Kind Regards.

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Answer 3

DSMN Author

Level 1

6 points

Dec 13, 2017 10:47 AM in response to i_rina

i_rina, I have only 1 user account, so i tried the safe mode option. On reboot, with shift key down, the computer wouldn't finish the boot, and stopped midway. The slider beneath the apple icon was about halfway across. I did a hold-the-button shutdown, and let it reboot normally, which it did. I again looked at the mail attachment right-menu options, and noticed the view-as-icon option still missing. This behavior seems to have begun after upgrading to High Sierra. Thanks for responding. I would be grateful for any other advice.

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Answer 4

DSMN Author

Level 1

6 points

Dec 13, 2017 1:26 PM in response to raina_b22

After a second shutdown, I was able to boot into safe mode after a long wait. In mail, the option for an attachment as icon was present. Just prior to that, after normal boot, It was not present normal boot. So this step proves that the option is present in safe mode. Not sure what to do about that.

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