How to Send an E-mail Attachment

These instructions will give you the basics of how to send an e-mail attachment no matter what program you have. You might have to adapt the instructions for your program.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Internet Access
• E-mail Accounts
• Computers
• E-mail Software

1. Go to your e-mail program.

2. Click the New Mail, Write Message or similar button, depending on your application to create a new e-mail message.

3. Enter the address of the recipient in the To field.

4. Type a subject in the Subject field.

5. Add a message to the body of the e-mail as usual.

6. Click the Attachments button. Many programs have an icon of a paperclip for it. Also look for an Insert File or Insert Attachment option in the File menu.

7. Browse your files to find the attachment you want to send. You may need to click on a Browse or Find button to see your directory.

8. Click on the filename. If your program allows you to attach more than one file at once, hold down the Control key (or Shift key on a Mac) as you select another one.

9. Click the Attach Insert or Open button, depending on your e-mail program.

10. To send another file from a different location, click the Attachments but-ton again and repeat the steps.

11. Click the Send button when you're done.

Tips & Warnings

• Change picture attachments to the JPEG format. They'll take up less space and send faster in that format.
• Make sure the recipient can read your attachment. Most word processors can read RTF (Rich Text Format). Web browsers can all open JPEG and GIF image files.
• If you're sending files to a person who uses a modem, be careful about sending large files (300K or more), because they can take a long time to download.
• Consider compressing your files with a utility such as WinZip or StuffIt. Your recipient usually needs to have the compression software as well, but some pro-grams are able to make 'self-extracting' files that decompress automatically.
• AOL doesn't read MIME attachments. They show up as a bunch of letters that make no sense. (MIME is a way of compressing and sending files. If your e-mail program uses MIME, and you're sending to an AOL user, you may have to turn MIME off. See your program's sending options or preferences.)

[rlydia]

on 8/10/2009 "THERE IS AN ICON WITH A PAPER CLIP NEXT TO IT WITH THE WORD ATTACHMENT...WHICH I NEVER CLICK.YOUR THOUGHTS...AND THANKS"

I'm not the author of this article, but sometimes, with some programs, the recipient needs to click on the paperclip to open the file. HTH

[billclinton]

on 3/6/2009 NOT TOO GOOD AT FOLLOWING YOUR DIRECTIONS. I HAVE A DELL COMPUTER [NEW] AND WHEN I SEND E-MAILS WITH PICTURES MY DAUGHTER DOES GET THE WORDS BUT NOT THE PICTURE. MY E-MAILS THAT I SEND HAVE A PAPER CLIP NEXT TO IT SO I ASSUME THAT IS ALL THAT'S NEEDED TO SEND IT.THERE IS AN ICON WITH A PAPER CLIP NEXT TO IT WITH THE WORD ATTACHMENT...WHICH I NEVER CLICK.YOUR THOUGHTS...AND THANKS