Graphic in e-mail signature

[Cybrarian]

Hi all - major newbie here. I have a MAC and I have been trying to insert a graphic into my signature (according to the manual I have it's possible.) It looks great on my screen but when I send it to my friend who has a PC she says the graphic comes through as an attachment. Also, since I've added the graphic to my signature she says that also any previous text (i.e. the original message to which I'm replying to) also now comes through as an attachment. Is this because of some setting on my end or I thought it might be possible it was a setting on her end (she has Windows XP). Any ideas? HELP! You guys are awesome!

 

[clayj]

You may not be able to get this to work... put simply, there are three main types of formats for e-mail messages:

Plain Text
HTML
RTF (Rich Text Format)

Plain Text is the most "compatible" format, in that every mail server on the Internet can pass it without problems. HTML is the second-most compatible format... sometimes, HTML messages must be converted into Plain Text in order for them to be passed. And finally, RTF is the least compatible format... RTF messages are often converted into HTML or even Plain Text when they pass through the Internet.*

When messages are converted from one format to another, anything within the message that's not text (such as the graphic in your signature) may be LOST, or it may be converted into an attachment. (Plain Text messages can contain attachments, but no embedded graphics or other non-text objects.)

It sounds like when the message is going from you to your friend, one or more mail servers through which the message is passing is converting the message into a different format, thereby resulting in the odd attachment behavior you're seeing. It's impossible for any of us to determine the cause of this... you'll need to work with your friend to see exactly what's going on. Try sending some messages in different formats (Plain Text, HTML, RTF) and see if you can isolate the behavior (e.g., if I do THIS, THAT happens). For example, see what happens to the message format for each type of message you send to her; you may find that you are sending RTF and it's not working, but HTML *might* work.

Good luck.

* Sending e-mail is not like sending a letter through the postal service. With e-mail, each server that passes the message "opens" it, "reads" it, and then "closes it up" and "forwards" it on. This can result in messages being altered while in transit.

 

[Cybrarian]

Graphic in e-mail signature + more

One thing I have also noticed is that whenever I forward a message that has graphics in it (i.e. a newsletter from Amazon or some other big wig) my friend gets it on the other end as tons of little attachments. I mean TONS. Every little aspect of it, every little bit of text, every header, everything is separate attachments. It's a real pain. I'll try what you suggested though and switch from the RTF to HTML. thanks!

 

[plinden]

* Sending e-mail is not like sending a letter through the postal service. With e-mail, each server that passes the message "opens" it, "reads" it, and then "closes it up" and "forwards" it on. This can result in messages being altered while in transit.

Mail relays should not modify the contents of a message. They may add or remove headers, but the content and any headers directly related to that content (e.g. Content-Type) should be exactly as it is sent. In fact in 8+ years of working with email applications, I have never come across a mail relay that modified content.

So the problem is probably the mail client used to compose the message.

 

[clayj]

Mail relays should not modify the contents of a message. They may add or remove headers, but the content and any headers directly related to that content (e.g. Content-Type) should be exactly as it is sent. In fact in 8+ years of working with email applications, I have never come across a mail relay that modified content.

So the problem is probably the mail client used to compose the message.

It's certainly possible that there's a setting in the client (one or both of them) that's causing the message's contents to get munged... but as someone who used to support Outlook for a living, I can attest to MANY cases of everything being set up correctly on both ends of an e-mail message and STILL the message would get munged. There are a lot of older e-mail relays out there that screw up messages simply because they don't know any better.