How To

How to Send an E-mail Attachment

Contributor
By eHow Contributing Writer
(66 Ratings)

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. Step 1

    Go to your e-mail program.

  2. Step 2

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

  3. Step 3

    Enter the address of the recipient in the To field.

  4. Step 4

    Type a subject in the Subject field.

  5. Step 5

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

  6. Step 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. Step 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. Step 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. Step 9

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

  10. Step 10

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

  11. Step 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.)

Comments  

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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

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