How Do I Know There's an Attachment?

[jordii]

I'm using Mail for macOS 26.5.2 after bailing from various third party email clients.

An online vendor attached a PDF shipping label, but I didn't notice it because it showed inline at the very bottom of much scroll, and my sole attachment notification was a laughably tiny counter next to a paperclip (see screenshot).

I've added an "attachments" column to my main message list window, but that's not much help.

Any advice?

 

[BigBlur]

No matter which email program you use, there's almost always a paper clip icon somewhere in the header if there's an attachment. In your screenshot, it's on the right side, below the time.

 

[jordii]

No matter which email program you use, there's almost always a paper clip icon somewhere in the header if there's an attachment. In your screenshot, it's on the right side, below the time.

Thanks. That’s a little better. A little.

But every other client I’ve used from Mailmate back to the late lamented Eudora showed the attached file at the top of the message in its own noticeable pane, and you could double click it, drag it, etc.

 

[Mr.Ben]

I use Proton Mail (not an email client though to be able to use existing email addresses) and the attachment icon is a lot clearer than in Apple Mail.

The attachments don't display at the top of the email, but they do get listed at the bottom of the email. You can either download or preview them.

I've had a look in my Apple Mail app but there doesn't seem to be any extra settings options for attachment visibility. 👍

 

[mk313]

you could also set up a rule that any message with an attachment (looks like you have select an attachment type, but you can select 'any condition' and then set up a line with every single attachment type) changes the email to a different color or some other sort of attention grabbing change.

 

[martin2345uk]

The way it handles attachments is the main reason I still use Outlook over Apple Mail.

 

[MacGizmo]

The way it handles attachments is the main reason I still use Outlook over Apple Mail.

I hate everything about Outlook... except that. Somehow, the clowns at MS managed to get attachments in Outlook just dead clear and simple to work with.

I wish Apple put some serious effort into the Mail app.

 

[monokakata]

You can also make it show in the list, as a column. Go to the column header bar, right click, choose to show attachments. Works well for me.

 

[benholt]

The paperclip counter really is a rough affordance. What worked for me after missing a couple: a Smart Mailbox (File → New Smart Mailbox) with 'Contains attachments = yes' + 'Received in last 7 days' as conditions. It lives in the sidebar as a fixed spot to sanity-check anything that came in with a file, without crowding the main list. Adding 'From is in Contacts' as a second filter helps too — cuts out newsletter graphics and tracking pixels that inflate the paperclip count on marketing mail.

 

[MacGizmo]

The problem with all of the advice given here is that Mail sees ANY attachment as an attachment... that includes people's stupid logo in their signature where they don't have the image linked to a cloud file, but an actual image attachment instead. So you're told the email has an attachment, but in reality it's just their signature.

 

[jordii]

The problem with all of the advice given here is that Mail sees ANY attachment as an attachment... that includes people's stupid logo in their signature where they don't have the image linked to a cloud file, but an actual image attachment instead. So you're told the email has an attachment, but in reality it's just their signature.

Do Apple's engineers and product managers not use this goddam app?

Because this has the unmistakable scent of "No one with any say-so has ever used this goddam app."

If anyone with any position in the company used this app for a week, this situation would have been fixed with prejudice.

 

[jordii]

you could also set up a rule that any message with an attachment (looks like you have select an attachment type, but you can select 'any condition' and then set up a line with every single attachment type) changes the email to a different color or some other sort of attention grabbing change.

Or, no, wait, I could have a shortcut that notices when I receive an attachment, and sends me an email notification that I received a mail with an attachment. And it could send that notification email — just hear me out here — with an attachment, just so that there's twice as much attention-grabbing! The only problem is that this would, in turn, provoke yet another notification, and....ok, never mind.

 

[MacGizmo]

Or, no, wait, I could have a shortcut that notices when I receive an attachment, and sends me an email notification that I received a mail with an attachment. And it could send that notification email — just hear me out here — with an attachment, just so that there's twice as much attention-grabbing! The only problem is that this would, in turn, provoke yet another notification, and....ok, never mind.

The solution is simple. Delete all emails automatically (set up a rule). When people get sick of not hearing back from you, they'll either call you (like, on the phone, using their own damn voice), or come to accept that their silly email and it's attachments were simply not that important and they can figure it out their damn self!

Warning: That system may not offer results to your liking in a corporate environment. 🥴