TimGilbreath.com

If you’re a Mac-addict like me, you’ve no doubt had someone call or e-mail, complaining about how the file you attached in an e-mail didn’t show properly, embedded instead of attached, or didn’t attach at all.  Before you take another proverbial step, think to yourself “It’s ok….they’re using a PC, they don’t know any better”.  This is actually half true.

My Mac-less boss is the one that brought the problem to my attention.  He noticed that he was getting embedded attachments in Outlook on e-mails sent from the rest of us in our office (all using Macs), instead of the usual attachment he was used to.  On closer inspection, PDF’s, Excel files, and Word documents attached just fine when the sender made sure “Send Windows Friendly Attachments” was checked, however IMAGE files would embed into the e-mail, with apparently no way to have those appear as true attachments to our PC-loving counterparts.

After spending an hour reviewing this phenomena online, it was obvious that I wasn’t even close to being the only person having the problem.  Several pages of less-than-impressive suggestions later, I happened upon a simple solution that seemed TOO simple, and it worked: Send the e-mail in PLAIN TEXT format as opposed to rich text/HTML.  I know, it’s a pain, but to be sure that your Bill Gates fan gets image attachments as they expect; take a second to pull down the “Format” menu and select “Make Plain Text”.