mail attachments not viewed inline on PC's

You aren't doing anything wrong and there is nothing you can do about this.

The Mail.app displays are photo/image and single page PDF attachments inline or viewed in place within the body of the message by default - for received and sent messages which cannot be turned off.

When sending such attachments to Windows users or to non-Mail.app users, depending on the recipient's email client and available preference settings, the attachments may appear inline or viewed in place within the body of the message by default or as attached files only which must be opened separately to be viewed for which the sender of the message or the sender's email client used has no control over.

The reverse is also true.

Unless the attachments are embedded in the message body which requires HTML and embedded attachments are not true attachments to the message, such attachments appear as attached files only with Windows Outlook and Outlook Express and with most other email clients but when such a message is received and opened by a Mail.app user, the attachments appear inline or viewed in place within the body of the message by default for which the sender has no control over.

I also am having this trouble. Sending jpegs or PDfs are not received/found by the end user. I have to go to my hotmail account and send the same jpeg or pdf and the end user can get it and open it just fine. In paticular I'm having a problem with earthlink accounts, AOL, peoplepc.

Your problem is not the same as the original poster in this thread - namely because the original poster doesn't have a problem.

The attachments are no where to be found by the recipient - not even embedded in the message and your message includes text only?

If so, this is not a Mail.app problem but there are a few things you can try.

If you are using RTF for message composition, use Plain Text instead.

RTF with Tiger Mail is really HTML and when incorporated with attachments that appear inline or viewed in place within the body of the message can cause problems with some email clients - namely with Microsoft Outlook which still has its share of bugs for such a mature email client.

Insert/place all attachments below all message text including a signature if one is used.

Be sure the file extension is included with the file name for each attachment such as attachment.doc or attachment.pdf, etc.

Use the Send Windows Friendly Attachments feature but the only thing this does is remove the Apple resource fork from attached files which is invisible to fellow Mac users.

like many, i too am having the SAME problem. i selected Plain Text and have send several test emails to my yahoo and gmail accounts. when i open up the messages, you can't see the file icons, instead they are broken file icons. i have to download the image in order to see it.

When i send to others, they tell me that there's no attachment on the email so i'm not sure what's goin on. I've been having to send attachments from gmail which is THOROUGHLY INCONVENIENT!!

Please help. I've read most of the post about the same issue, but none of those solutions work.

Thanks in advance...

I don't access any of my accounts via webmail very often but in my experience when doing so, photo/image attachments to a received message must be downloaded to be viewed - the same when opening any other type of attachment - be it a Word or Excel file, etc.

Although the Mail.app displays photo/image and single page PDF attachments inline or viewed in place within the body of the message by default, this is not the same thing as being embedded in the message so if you are required to download photo/image files attached to a message sent by the Mail.app - they are not displayed inline or viewed in place when opening the received message via webmail access using a browser or with a different email client besides the Mail.app on another computer - this is not a Mail.app problem. The Mail.app has no control over how such attachments are displayed or provided in the message when the message is opened by the recipient. This is determined by the recipient's email client use to open/view the received message.

RTF with Tiger Mail is really HTML and some email clients (namely and mostly with Windows Outlook) have a problem with Mail's RTF but since the same doesn't happen with all other email clients besides the Mail.app and primarily with Windows Outlook, this is more of an Outlook problem which has more than its share of bugs for such an old/mature email client.

What exactly does there is no attachment in the received message mean? The attached photo or image file is not even displayed inline or viewed in place or as embedded in the message body either?

I send photo and image attachments to a number of Windows users on a regular basis and I have not been told there is any problem.

MY PROBLEM AGAIN:

when i send attachments to people, they tell methey can't view them or nothing is attached. i tested this by sending several emails to my gmail AND yahoo accounts. when i open the email, the images show up as broken or blank icons. i have to download the image to the computer to view instead of it being available to view in the email app.

I have disabled my signature AND selected plain text (which is quite odd to have to go through all that just to attach an image!)

could there be another problem causing this to happen? i even quit Mail and restarted only to have the same problem...

> when i send attachments to people, they tell methey can't view them or nothing is attached. i tested this by sending several emails to my gmail AND yahoo accounts. when i open the email, the images show up as broken or blank icons. i have to download the image to the computer to view instead of it being available to view in the email app.

First you say people tell you they can't view the attachments or nothing is attached.

Then you say you tested this by sending several emails to your Gmail and Yahoo accounts and when you opened the received messages (via webmail access using a browser I assume?), the images show up as broken or blank and you have to download the image to the computer to view them instead of it being available to view in the email.

So which is it?

> MY PROBLEM AGAIN:

MY ANSWER AGAIN WHICH HAS NOT CHANGED AND WILL NOT CHANGE:

I don't access any of my accounts via webmail very often but in my experience when doing so, photo/image attachments to a received message must be downloaded to be viewed - the same when opening any other type of attachment - be it a Word or Excel file, etc.
Although the Mail.app displays photo/image and single page PDF attachments inline or viewed in place within the body of the message by default, this is not the same thing as being embedded in the message so if you are required to download photo/image files attached to a message sent by the Mail.app - they are not displayed inline or viewed in place when opening the received message via webmail access using a browser or with a different email client besides the Mail.app on another computer - this is not a Mail.app problem. The Mail.app has no control over how such attachments are displayed or provided in the message when the message is opened by the recipient. This is determined by the recipient's email client used to open/view the received message.

If you receive the attachments with a Mail.app message sent to your Gmail or Yahoo account but other recipients do not, this is not a Mail.app problem but is not a Mail.app problem regardless.

More than likely the problem lies with the recipient's incoming mail server or with the SMTP server you are using to send messages with the email account.

Messages with attachments (with any type of attachment) that you access via webmail using a browser, having to download message attachments to view the message attachments is normal behavior when accessing an email account via webmail using a browser.

The answer might lie in when You click on the " Paper clip " Attachment a drop menu lowers at the bottom there is a box " Send windows frienly attachment "
check that box !

You are confusing an embedded attachment with a plain attachment and an embedded attachment is not a true attachment to the message.

An inline or viewed in place attachment is not the same thing as an embedded attachment.

When sending an photo/image or single page PDF attachment with Mail, the attachment appears inline or viewed in place within the body of the message by default which cannot be turned off without using a 3rd party plugin (or you can control-click on such an attachment and choose View as Icon) but regardless, it depends on the recipient's email client and available preference settings how such true attachments to the message appears in the message body when the message is opened by the recipient - inline or viewed in place (as with the Mail.app when receiving such attachments) or as attached files only for which the sender has no control over.

The same is true in reverse. When adding such an attachment to a message with MS's Outlook or Outlook Express (not as an embedded attachment - as an attached file), the file attachment appears as attached file only in the attachments field - not displayed inline or viewed in place within the body of the message, when this message is received and opened by a Mail.app user, the attached file will appear inline or viewed in place within the body of the message by default and when opened and viewed by a MS Outlook or Outlook Express user/recipient, the attachment will appear as an attached file only which must be opened separately to be viewed for which the sender has no control over.

If the sender uses HTML for message composition and adds such an attachment as an embedded attachment (which is not a true attachment to the message), it will appear the same when the message is opened by a Mail.app user/recipient but appear in the message body when opened by a MS Outlook or Outlook Express user/recipient.

RTF with Tiger Mail is really HTML but certain things must be done or occur to implement/initiate HTML with a sent message such as selecting or changing the font, font size and/or color via the Font panel when composing a message, including a signature which was composed with RTF or HTML or copying/pasting HTML formatted text from a website to a message.

When adding photo or image attachment to a Mail.app message with HTML implemented, the attachment MAY be received as embedded by some email clients - namely MS Outlook (which has always had a problem with Mail's RTF) but when the same message is sent to and opened by a Mail.app user, the attachment is not embedded and received as inline or viewed in place as a true attachment to the message.

The purpose for the Send Windows Friendly Attachments option is for removing the Apple resource fork from attached files which are invisible to fellow Mac users.

This option serves no other purpose.

It looks like from past forum posts, this is a common issue. If I understand it correctly, its a compatibility problem, and not a glitch with either the Apple or Windows mail clients.

I myself often experience the opposite problem - recipients can view attachments inline, in the context of the e-mail, but want to simply locate them and save them as file attachments (represented by a file icon only). I believe Alan explained this was also one of the possible outcomes of the current compatibility issue.

Since there is nothing to "fix", it seems as Apple Mail users in these types of predicaments are left to either ditch Mail for another type of e-mail software program like Thunderbird (doable, but would be a major pain for many) or search for a temporary workaround, until (hopefully) something changes at Microsoft or Apple.

Unfortunately, I am totally Windows and Outlook ignorant. Since it seems we Mail users could all benefit from this information, I was wondering if anybody could explain:

1) How to explain to a Windows user how they can modify their Outlook mail preferences to either view our mail attachment(s) inline (in the context of an e-mail), OR as non-viewable, but identifiable file attachment depending on their preference (and assuming this is at all possible).

and

2) How to explain to an Outlook user specifically how they can save a file attachment they are currently viewing inline in the context of an e-mail to their hard drive (sure ...easy on a Mac ...just as easy in Windows??)

The "Zip all your attachments" workaround described in previous threads, while appreciated, seems rather unappealing due to client/time/convenience concerns.

I know the questions above are technically "Outlook issues" (and I will be scouring the Microsoft forums shortly .. ugh), but as Apple users dealing with an Apple Mail incompatibility issue with Outlook mail, for us, they are "Apple issues" as well.

Last question: does the new Vista release change anything in regards to e-mail attachment issues described in this thread?

Sorry for the long post.

And thank you Allan, for all the very helpful information offerred, and your infinite patience.

There are a combination of issues that can be involved but the primary issue that causes most if not all of the problems experienced with exchanging email and attachments is using HTML for message composition which is an issue that Microsoft wrought upon the internet. If HTML was banned for use with message composition and everyone was required to use Plain Text, there would be few if any problems.

1) How to explain to a Windows user how they can modify their Outlook mail preferences to either view our mail attachment(s) inline (in the context of an e-mail), OR as non-viewable, but identifiable file attachment depending on their preference (and assuming this is at all possible).

I don't believe Outlook includes such a preference setting.

Mail displays all photo/image and single page PDF attachments inline or viewed in place within the body of the message by default for received and sent messages which cannot be turned off. Likewise, Outlook includes no such setting but I believe Outlook includes a preference setting to convert all message text for received messages to Plain Text.

RTF with Tiger Mail is really HTML but certain things must be done or occur to implement/initiate HTML with a sent message such as selecting or changing the font, font size and/or color via the Font panel when composing a message, including a signature which was composed with RTF or HTML or copying/pasting HTML formatted text from a website to a message.

When adding photo/image or single page PDF attachments to a Mall.app message using RTF for message formatting with HTML implemented, Outlook (and depending on the Outlook version used by the recipient) may receive such attachments as embedded (such attachments will appear in the message body) and not as true attachments to the message which cannot be saved outside of the message even though the Mail.app sends such attachments as true attachments to the message and will be received as such when the same message is sent to a Mail.app user or to a recipient that uses a different email client other than Outlook or depending on the Outlook version used.

The Mail.app and no email client is completely bug free but Outlook has its share of bugs for such an old/mature email client.

But again, the underlying problem is with HTML formatting included with a sent message. Unless HTML is implemented when using RTF for message composition with Mail, the message text will be sent and received as Plain Text but using Plain Text for message composition with Mail and with any email client is best all the way around.

2) How to explain to an Outlook user specifically how they can save a file attachment they are currently viewing inline in the context of an e-mail to their hard drive (sure ...easy on a Mac ...just as easy in Windows??)

If such a message attachment was not sent as a true attachment to the message or received as such (embedded in the message body), I'm not sure this is possible.

We have no control over the email client used by each recipient included with a message we send but we can control the formatting we use for sent messages and using Plain Text avoids most problems.

http://www.birdhouse.org/etc/evilmail.html

http://www.georgedillon.com/web/htmlemail_isevil.shtml

http://homepage.mac.com/thgewecke/woutlook.html

http://www.ncmug.org/tips/mail_attachments.html

I know very little about Vista or the current Outlook version included with Vista or if older Outlook versions are compatible with Vista but Vista by itself probably has no effect in this regard.

Allan, thank you for the VERY comprehensive reply.
Not a techie by profession, so I had to read it over a couple of times, but the links helped a great deal.

I guess what many of us are probably looking for is an "Attachments For Dummies" summary of the issue and how to deal with it. Probably a very naive wish, considering the many threads on the subject, but...

I ran a few test e-mails with a client as a "guinea pig", and for my problem, experienced the following observations:

1) Sending my e-mail w/attachment in Plain Text (not RTF) resulted in the recipient able to view the e-mail text and receive and save the attached JPEG file. The JPEG was not viewable inline (in the context of the e-mail itself). The result was the same regardless of whether the "Send Windows Friendly Attachments" option was checked or not.

2) Sending my e-mail w/attachment in Rich Text Format with the "Send Windows Friendly Attachments" option checked enabled the client to view the e-mail text with the JPEG attachment clearly viewable within the context of the e-mail itself (not an icon, but the actual JPEG content).

These observations would seem to be consistent with your explanations. I was using Tiger Mail (Mail within OSX Tiger). Client was using a recent version of Outlook (could not verify the version). Attachment was a JPEG in this instance (it should not be assumed different file attachments in other formats will behave in the same manner).

Obviously, the issue is way, way more complex that this, as your forum replies have so clearly elaborated. And, as you say (but definitely bears repeating), the most important factor in determining the end result is completely dependant on what kind of e-mail software the recipient is using and how it is configured, which is usually out of our hands.

It seems the "foolproof" workaround in conclusion would be to stick to Plain Text formatted e-mail, and Zip all files prior to attaching, in order to guarantee the recipient receives the files in question (assuming you do not require the attachment to be viewable in the context of the e-mail itself).

One last tip which helped me greatly if the intent for many is to use Plain Text from here on out. Forgive me if this falls in the "oh, duh..." category.

I went into the Preferences > Composing, settings years ago, determining long ago probably like yourself that the best way to deal with many of these types of incompatibility issues was to "Keep It Simple, Stupid" (forgoing RTF for Plain Text). But like probably many, I quickly chose "Composing: Message Format: Plain Text" and closed up the window and moved on.

In troubleshooting the inconsistencies my client was experiencing with my e-mails, I recently went back into this preference window and noticed there was a SECOND option in which to specify Rich or Plain Text under "Responding" ("Use the same message format as the original message" was checked, apparently by default). I had totally overlooked this the first time around.

My problem may have been when sending new e-mails + attachments, my e-mail had the desired appearance/result, but when replying to their e-mails and adding an attachment, the message format I was utilizing was not Plain Text as I thought, but simply mimicked the message format of the original sender's e-mail.

Assuming this theory is correct and responsible for the inconsistent behavior of my attachments (some viewed inline, others not), I thought it worthy of mention, in case others might be struggling with a similar issue.

Thanks again for all your feedback, and my apologies to the original poster if I strayed too far off-topic.