What's wrong with simply attaching the dropbox link? Does it somehow seem unprofessional? Not comfortable with your superiors knowing you backup your important documents to the cloud? Or are you worried about enterprise networks blocking dropbox? 
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General Emailing a PDF...
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What's wrong with simply attaching the dropbox link? Does it somehow seem unprofessional? Not comfortable with your superiors knowing you backup your important documents to the cloud? Or are you worried about enterprise networks blocking dropbox?
Blocking Dropbox (and other, similar services) is definitely not uncommon, and anyone who sends me a link to a file - especially when it's not even a direct link - instead of the file, is telling me their time is worth more than mine.
Yes, it seems unprofessional.
I've just checked to see how I do it, I couldn't remember but knew I'd never had a problem.
I use Sky Drive (similar to Drobbox), but as the previous poster has said,some people have a problem with that.
Personally I never have yard a problem YMMV - but changing to Android does seem a bit drastic, can't you just email your CV to yourself and forward that email?
I'm sure it's not ideal and people asking for the ability to attach files have a point.
I use Sky Drive (similar to Drobbox), but as the previous poster has said,some people have a problem with that.
Personally I never have yard a problem YMMV - but changing to Android does seem a bit drastic, can't you just email your CV to yourself and forward that email?
I'm sure it's not ideal and people asking for the ability to attach files have a point.
Why does switching operating systems seem drastic? It seems like the very definition of a logical decision to choose the product that best suits your personal requirements. Don't you agree?
If that is your priority, then yes, but iOS is just so much better than Android IMHO that I would rather pull my own teeth out than change.
As you know if you compose an e-mail and then tap and hold on the body you can choose "Insert photo or video". Say you want to attach a PDF. How would that work? Does Apple now have to change it to "Insert photo or video or PDF". What if an app makes a doc file?
"Inserts a video or pic or pdf or doc". This would be the silliest solution of all.
what NEEDS to be done is that Apple has to provide a user document storage space where you can browse files/documents that are created by other apps and stored in the same location. If this was the case than the function would be "Insert File" (which would then show you a window with ALL documents so you can pic which file to attach).
Better yet maybe the browse option will ask you to choose which app you created the file with and then give you a list of specific files.
example:
Compose e-mail> attach file > choose garageband > pick a song from the list of garageband files I've saved.
Or simply "insert attachment" and then choose file type.
Nope, no need. Proof? Your pictures and videos are located in a plethora of different folders. So are your music files, but I guess you have no troubles viewing a list of all your songs in the music player, right?
The keyword here is "database".
That's a great idea. That's why I said it to you yesterday, in post #9...
I didn't read your post #9 but we are on the same page as to how it could be done correctly.
That would be a good way to go about it, at least given the current implementation/limitations when it comes to inserting something into an email.
Agreed. That is, IMO, a seamless way to do it. Stops the user from needing access to the filesystem but makes it possible to email files created on the device. Simple stuff.
And that's why I sold my iPhone 5 and got a GS4. So much better in handling attachments!
in exchange for crappy battery life and memory management and possibly no future versions of Android OS?
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Looks like I totally missed your last point. I must have gotten busy at work and just replied based on what I was reading at the top. my apologies.
Yep, and if memory serves (I don't use it any more), this is the sort of functionality you get in iTunes. You can get to files via the apps that hold them. So would make a lot of sense for file management on the phone to work like this
Or in exchange for a phone that suits his requirements better, a less negative way to put it.
Yep, and if memory serves (I don't use it any more), this is the sort of functionality you get in iTunes. You can get to files via the apps that hold them. So would make a lot of sense for file management on the phone to work like this
My guess? Something like this and Quick Reply will come in iOS 8. They wanted to do the redesign and had enough trouble fitting it all in.....
The biggest oversight in iOS is the handling of attachments. Really the only gripe I have with it. Will be welcome when they fix it - but let's be honest. Android only just recently (in Kit Kat) made their stock mail app usable.
Sometimes these things get lost in the shuffle. Apple wants to build a solution that fits into the current system and UI. That'll take a little more than adding a button that says "add PDF" or whatever.
At this point, if they didn't add a new attachment system and Quick Reply in iOS 8 - I'm wondering what they'll have to release in July at all? Can't really think of any other glaring features missing.
Well, IOS will definitely feature the obligatory updates to Maps, Siri, Safari, Camera and Mail, these being the key stock apps that most people use. We may also see TouchID functionality being expanded upon (like letting you lock certain apps with your fingerprint, or use it in lieu of passwords to log into certain webpages).
I am thinking that Apple should look towards integrating their apps and services better. For example, reminders integration with calendar (like fantastical). Merge iPhoto with photos app. Give me specialised, single-purpose utilities that do one thing really well, so I don't have to keep hopping between multiple different apps just to get a task done.
As for reminders integration in calendar, they went the opposite way in OS X. They used to be found in the calendar app (lion beta?) and then they got their own app... A desicion I can't understand, as reminders and events are complementary...
I found this thread interesting and have a solution I want to mention. I conducted a test by scanning a sample with Scanner Pro app 5.1.5.0. I was able to email the file directly from the app to my eaddress. This took two operations and worked easily. Have any of you attempted this alternative?
Does that relate to being able to attach something you scan into an email reply (not a new email)?
The problem isn't sending a PDF, the problem is attaching anything but pictures and videos to a previously composed email or to a reply.
My guess is that 99% of users are quite happy with the existing option: 'Insert Photo or Video'.
If iOS provided yet another menu option 'Insert something else...' that could be a problem because the user would then be faced with choosing exactly what he wants to insert, and how he can make that choice. Picking a photo is easy, as they are highly visual by nature, and the phone comes with an inbuilt photo picker. One that doesn't rely on filenames that would confuse the average user.
iOS doesn't want you to know about files, even though objects may be physically stored as files somewhere, and that's unlikely to change.
iOS could provide an additional 'Insert something else' option to the menu, but in order to support that, the user would then be required to select an application type, and be able to invoke the application's 'object' selection user interface.
Say you wanted to insert a Pages document. You could pick 'Pages' in a drop down list, which would fire up Pages document selector (this would not be the same as the selector you see when you open Pages) and choose the relevant document name. Pages could in theory be redeveloped to support this.
But...
What happens when you have hundreds of apps on your device, and many possible document types? The app selector itself could be an issue, as a series of names in a list would not look good. Probably a no-go on Apple's part; that's why we have screens of icons on show when the phone starts up.
Let's plod on anyway...
Then, you would need support of all your document-centric apps to provide you with a document selector. Let's say I have an Astronomy app and I want to attach a horoscope (which happens to be represented internally as XML). Oops, 'Gimme My Future' has just let me down because it doesn't have that select-only UI that it's published as an interface. OK, 'Gimme My Future' and a million other apps do the right thing and get redeveloped....
All of this to keep 1% of users happy who want to add a document to an e-mail reply? I really really can't see it happening.
It could be a list of only those apps that hold files in a directory marked as public [minor new development required for file storage apps wanting to take advantage of this new property]. I think that would cut down the list quite a lot.
Also, see the list of apps at the bottom of Settings and the even bigger list in App Store's purchased section. The search filter really helps. A list of apps is not unprecedented.
I don't see why they all need a document selector. An OS wide file view, like how most OSes work (see Finder, Windows Explorer!) would be simple enough. It could be quite basic and just list the files and folders marked as public/shareable by the app (which could potentially be a user configurable flag within the app.)
I really don't think it's that complicated. And remember Apple's iOS team must be some of the best software engineers in the world...
How many percent of the users do you think use inverted colours, ever, even just to try it? A small minority of users does not equal irrelevant.
Are you saying Pages, Dropbox etc confuse the average user? Or that average iOS users are somehow dumber than the average desktop/laptop computer user?
Why wouldn't it be the same, or look the same? Oh yeah, because otherwise your made up argument would have no bearing, okay...
First of all, I highly doubt anyone has hundreds of apps for file creation or file storage. Second, why would the app selector all of a sudden be completely redesigned from what it looks like today? (The "Open in..." menu when looking at a PDF in Safari for instance.)
Also, if this would really be an issue, there would be no problems using a data base that collects all documents. Your photos and music is collected and presented this way.
Luckily, apps don't need to do that. Great, right?
Okay. Go to the accessibility options and tell me which ones should go because less than one percent of iOS users use them.
In short, you're inventing problems with the implementation that just aren't valid.
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