Receive XML files as attachments in Mail (Mavericks X.9.1)

[cdcastillo]

Hi, please bare with me trough a long explanation before I request help.

I've recently moved to México, and one of the requirements of the tax authority to let me work is that I give out digital receipts of every transaction I make / income I receive. This digital receipts are made online and automatically sealed (registered and approved) by the mexican IRS and result in 2 files: a pdf and an xml.

I hired a small enterprise to do this for me. Their system is on the web and let me send the 2 files of the digital receipt by email. Now, certain companies I do work for, demand I include some other files with the digital receipt if I'm ever going to be paid, and I have to send the digital receipt to myself for processing before re sending to the stupid company that demands more things than the standard.

The problem I've been having is that Apple's Mail on mavericks do not detect the xml file as an attachment, but instead displays it as text inside the body of the mail. If I send it to a non iCloud/mobileme/.Mac address, say gMail, and open it on a browser, it displays correctly as an attachment, but if I open that said mail on Apple's mail, it displays on the body of the email. Do not even get me started on opening the same email on an iPhone or an iPad, since it does not even recognizes the attachment and treats it as non existent.

In the mac, I'm having to painstakingly copy and paste the text onto TextEdit (with the potential of error this represent) and save the file with an xml extension.

So, after all this intro: Can anyone help me making Apple's mail to recognize xml files as attachments?

I've already tried to change the app associated with xml files on the finder and restarting the mac, but to no avail. Maybe I'm doing something wrong?

Any help is appreciated.

 

[ScoobyMcDoo]

How about compressing it to a zip or tgz before attaching.

 

[cdcastillo]

This should be done on the server, and I've not access to it. What I'm interested is in how to make Apple mail to recognize the attachment that other systems recognize as such, and not as text that is part of the email body.

Any other ideas?

 

[olegunnar]

Even though mail.app displays the content, does it not still have the small attachment scroll curtain UI button near the header of the mail, where you can select to save the XML file?

 

[MisterMe]

Let us be more explicit. Mail displays inline any attached file whose format it understands. Most users are aware of and sometimes confused by inline display of attached JPEG, GIF, PDF, and sundry audio and video files. However, XML is both plain text and a format that OS X explicitly supports by default. Therefore, it is not surprising that Mail displays XML inline.

As olegunnar suggested, the attached XML file can be saved. Unless you explicitly delete the message, its attachments are stored locally on your computer. However, you may save them where you want by click on the [Save] button immediately below the To: line of your received message. Select Save All... to save all attachments simultaneously to your chosen location.

 

[cdcastillo]

Even though mail.app displays the content, does it not still have the small attachment scroll curtain UI button near the header of the mail, where you can select to save the XML file?

Let us be more explicit... As olegunnar suggested, the attached XML file can be saved. Unless you explicitly delete the message, its attachments are stored locally on your computer. However, you may save them where you want by click on the [Save] button immediately below the To: line of your received message. Select Save All... to save all attachments simultaneously to your chosen location.

Sorry for the delay on responding, I've been working with the company I hired for my tax receipts on them somehow changing the format they use for the xml. As soon as they get back to me I'll let you know.

This morning I posted a very long response only to have macrumors forums log me out automatically for inactivity just when I clicked "submit reply". Long story short: Guys, I tried what you told me but it is not possible, check the image I'm attaching on this post. The xml file is there (you can see its content on the body of the mail) but only the PDF is displayed as attachment on the "Save as" menu you instructed.

Any other ideas?

 

[olegunnar]

No more ideas from here, I'm afraid. I wonder though: are you sure the sender is actually attaching an XML file and not just pasting it into the mail? Or perhaps his mailing application does it for him?