Problem with attachments in Mail

Question

Level 1

35 points

Problem with attachments in Mail

Hi. I am having trouble downloading PDF attachments in Apple Mail. I've only noticed the problem with PDFs. I've had no problems with Word docs.

Here's what's happening:

When someone sends me a PDF attachment, it shows the word "Downloading..." under the PDF icon within the email. When I click on the icon, or the paperclip button in Mail, to save the PDF to my hard drive, it doesn't work. Nothing happens. And the word "Downloading" does not go away over time.

If I log into Gmail via my web browser, and access the email that way, I can download the attachment.

I only noticed this issue in the last few days. And it's happened in emails from two different people.

I upgraded from Sierra to High Sierra last week so maybe that's a factor.

If anyone can explain to me what might be going on, and how to fix the issue, I would be grateful.

Thanks!

M

Mac mini, macOS Sierra (10.12.4)

Posted on Dec 11, 2017 10:56 AM

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Answer 1

Dec 20, 2017 7:22 PM in response to Mirsky

I have the same problem, but sometimes also involving JPGs.

However, in addition, I sometimes receive completely downloaded PDF attachments but then get the message "There was an error opening this document. The root object is missing or invalid." when I try to open them. These are regular documents from substantial organisations (invoices from utilities) whose senders assure me they have not changed the formats of the documents they send in any way.

This is very frustrating. In desperation, I have installed another mail client (Gyazmail) which does not have any of these problems. This points the issue far and square at mail.app, in macOS High Sierra in my case. Can anyone provide a solution or workaround.

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Answer 2

Mirsky Author

Level 1

35 points

Dec 31, 2017 12:17 PM in response to Mirsky

I finally called Apple about this issue. They didn’t have any record of other people having the same problem. So if you are someone who is reading this post and does have the same problem, please call Apple and let them know.

The Apple support person suggested I reinstall High Sierra, which I'm reluctant to do right now. If the problem with downloading attachments persists then I may reinstall High Sierra at a later date.

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