Electronic Mail

Attachments

Sending Electronic Mail | Receiving Electronic Mail | Attachments | Finding Addresses | Mailto Links | Going Further

Often we just want to send text as a mail message, but sometimes we would like to "attach" something to our email. For example, we might want to include a text file that contains further information that we would like the recipient to have, or perhaps we would like to send a color image or a compiled computer code. Most mailing programs allow users to send files known as attachments along with their email message.

Before we proceed, there are caveats with respect to attachments that you should know about. First, if you attach something to a mail message there is no guarantee that the mail program of the recipient can read the attachment. If the recipient is using the same mail program as you on a similar machine the prospects for success are high; otherwise they may not be. If you are going to attach non-text objects to email it is good policy to first ensure that the recipient's mail program can read the attachment.

Second, computer viruses are spread by executable code. Thus, contrary to many hoaxes and myths that circulate on the Internet, you cannot infect a computer with a virus by reading the text of an email message. However, if someone has attached an executable binary code to an email message and this code is detached and executed you might leave yourself open to a virus attack. Be especially wary of attachments with the .exe file extension. And you should probably never detach binary code from email messages that have come from untrustworthy and/or unknown sources.

Capturing an Image to a File

To illustrate sending and receiving an attachment in a mail message, we are first going to save an image from the browser into a file, and then we are going to mail that file as an attachment to ourselves. (It is perfectly legitimate to mail something to yourself; the mail program will be happy to do that. Mailing something to yourself is often a simple way to check how mail programs do various things.)

Go to the following address to get an image that you can use as an attachment:

Click the right mouse button on the schoolhouse image on this page. A popup menu should appear that gives you several options. Choose the one labeled "Save Picture As." This pops up a dialog box that looks like the figure below. Change directories if necessary in this box, and save the image under the name school4_logo.gif in the My Pictures folder. Now you have the image of the schoolhouse in a file on your computer disk.

Inserting and Sending an Attachment

We'll again illustrate by using the Yahoo web mail interface. If you are using a different web mail site or a standalone mail program, your windows may look different than the figures shown here, but the functionality should be similar.

Login to your web mail site or start your email program and open the compose message window. Fill in the "To" field with your email address. Type "attachment test" in the "Subject" window, and leave the "CC:" window blank. Usually email interfaces have a link or button to add attachments. In this example, the link is located under the main message area. When you click on the "Add/Delete Attachments" link, a popup window opens that allows you to select a file on your computer.

In the pop-up window, click on the Browse button for a listing of the files you have on your computer.

Use this window to choose the file school4_logo.gif that you have just saved to the My Pictures folder. The figure below shows the Choose file window after the file school4_logo.gif has been selected from the Desktop for attachment.

Once you have attached the documents that you wish to attach and followed the directions on the window, your main mail window will look something like this:

If you want to change something before sending, you can edit the addresses and text directly, and you can add or remove attachments by using the Add/Delete Attachment menu item again. Once you are happy with the addresses, message, and attachments, click the send button to mail the message.

Reading Mail With An Attachment

You should receive the message that you sent to yourself rather soon. Once it arrives, click on its entry in the message list (see below) and the email will appear in a new window. Note that the display of the incoming message has a paperclip icon telling you that there is an attachment. Since we are confident that the file we are receiving is virus-free we can take steps to open the file.

At the Yahoo mail site there are two ways to open an attachment. Clicking on the paperclip icon in the message list is one way. Another way is to open the message and look for the link to the attachment there.

In either event, you will be asked by the system whether you want to open the file and display it on your screen or save it to your computer (to possibly open later).