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April 2008
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Computer Savvy
Sending Photos via e-mail:
Attach or Embed
Alarge number of people who send e-mails do not understand the difference between attaching a photo to the e-mail and embedding a photo in the e-mail.
A simple analogy: The Post Office delivers a letter from your cousin in New York. You open your mail and to your delight, the letter contains a story about the family and just like a magazine article, there are photos and text printed in the letter. But our cousin forgot to add one photo to the body of the letter so she encloses an extra photo which she had printed. You put the photo on your counter top and proceed to read the letter. When you are done, you throw the letter away, but leave the photo on your counter.
The pictures that are printed out the letter are embedded on the letter. The extra photo is attached to the letter. Even if the photo is not physically stapled to the letter but just enclosed in the envelope, it's still attached. When you throw away the letter the photos on the letter are also trashed, the extra photo is not.
E-mails are no different. You can add the photo to the body of the letter (embed) or use the attachment feature to “also include, along with the email” the photo, or file.
Typically photos which are embedded will be stored in a hidden folder on your computer and will automatically be deleted when you trash the e-mail. Attached photos or files are stored in a non-hidden folder and do not get deleted when you delete the e-mail. Attached files or photos usually need to be opened separately to be viewed.
All e-mail programs (that I know of) will allow you to attach a file. Attached files can be photos, data bases, spread sheets, or just about anything you have on your computer.
When you are in the “compose” or “write” mode of the program, look at the features, buttons, or in a menu item for “attach file. When you find and select this feature, you will get a dialog box which will allow you to “Browse” for your file, and then attach it to the e-mail.If your e-mail program allows you to “drag-anddrop” a photo in to the body of the email, then you are embedding the photo and not attached it. Other mail programs will offer a choice of “attach file” or “insert file.” The insert feature is going to embed the photo in the body of the e-mail.
When you receive an e-mail with a photo in the body of the letter look for the name of the file, such as “0001.jpg” under the image. If you see the file name and it is a link that the photo has been embedded and also attached, when you click on the link, another version of the photo will open, which you can save, edit, or store somewhere else. However, the program that opens to view the file or photo will depend on the file association that has been set for that type of file. (A topic for another day.) On a PC, you can always right click on the link and choose the “Open With” option to open the photo in a program of choice.
If you do not see the file name link under the photo, then it is probably just an embedded file and will be gone from your computer once you delete the e-mail.
Saving embedded photos: If you are using a “computer resident' e-mail program such as Eudora, Outlook, Outlook Express, or Thunderbird, embedded photos are stored in a hidden folder for as long as the e-mail exists. It is possible to find these photos and save them if you know where to look. (I will cover this topic in a future article.)
If you are using a “web-based' e-mail program such as Yahoo, Google, Mail2web, etc., you are viewing your e-mail via a web browser, and to save an image try right-clicking on it and select “copy” in the dropdown menu.
Regardless of which e-mail program you are using, read about it and learn what features it has to offer, what it can and cannot do.
(Paul M. Van Dort is the owner of PM Photo & Computer Services. You can contact him at Paul@pmphoto.us or visit his Web site at www.pmphoto.us)