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How do attachments work?
#13440 12/28/10 09:13 PM
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jchuzi Offline OP
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I use Entourage 2008 but this question probably applies to all email clients. When I attach a file, is that file copied into the Entourage database and made part of the sent email until I delete it? Or, does the email client search out the file and send it without copying it?


Jon

macOS 11.7.10, iMac Retina 5K 27-inch, late 2014, 3.5 GHz Intel Core i5, 1 TB fusion drive, 16 GB RAM, Epson SureColor P600, Photoshop CC, Lightroom CC, MS Office 365
Re: How do attachments work?
jchuzi #13441 12/28/10 10:24 PM
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There is a fairly easy test to answer your question: (temporarily) remove the file in question from your computer/drive after you send the message with it as attachment. Then open the message to see if the attachment is there. If it is, it must have been in the database, and that's what I think you'll see with Entourage.


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Re: How do attachments work?
alternaut #13444 12/28/10 11:56 PM
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jchuzi Offline OP
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You're right. Thanks.


Jon

macOS 11.7.10, iMac Retina 5K 27-inch, late 2014, 3.5 GHz Intel Core i5, 1 TB fusion drive, 16 GB RAM, Epson SureColor P600, Photoshop CC, Lightroom CC, MS Office 365
Re: How do attachments work?
jchuzi #13484 12/31/10 02:53 AM
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Don't get the question...
Can you just check the sent items? All attachments are there. It happened to me more than once to retrieve a file from an attachment.
Another way to preserve the attachment files for sure is double clicking on them after you attach the file. This way the file opens and it is preserved in the saved attachments folder in the User folder/documents...
BTW, My work Entourage 2004 and 2008 send attachments as is, but my home one (2008, Time Warner cable) zips them. Not sure if I did it on purpose or it was a default.

Last edited by macnerd10; 12/31/10 02:55 AM.

Alex
3.1 GHz 13" MacBook Pro 2015, 8 GB RAM, OS 10.11.2, Office 2011, TimeWarner Cable
2.8 GHz Xeon Mac Pro 2010, 16 GB RAM, OS 10.11.2, Office 2011, LAN
Re: How do attachments work?
macnerd10 #13490 12/31/10 10:36 AM
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jchuzi Offline OP
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Thanks, Roger. I didn't know that. I never look in ~/Documents so I had no idea. For those who need more info, the complete path is ~/Documents/MIcrosoft User Data/Saved Attachments.

Let me clarify my original question. After attaching a file, I wanted to know if the file becomes part of the email. The alternative is to have Entourage "know" where the original is located and then send it from there rather than have it become embedded in the Entourage database. Does that help?


Jon

macOS 11.7.10, iMac Retina 5K 27-inch, late 2014, 3.5 GHz Intel Core i5, 1 TB fusion drive, 16 GB RAM, Epson SureColor P600, Photoshop CC, Lightroom CC, MS Office 365
Re: How do attachments work?
jchuzi #13530 01/02/11 02:50 AM
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Roger that!
Still confused. I would send a test e-mail to yourself and see if the attachment is there. Unless some very strange thing happens, all e-mails will have the same behavior. Entourage never failed me before, at least in this respect. Do you have reasons to suspect that some attachments do not get attached? If yes, I would try rebuilding the database.
Happy New Year, Jon!


Alex
3.1 GHz 13" MacBook Pro 2015, 8 GB RAM, OS 10.11.2, Office 2011, TimeWarner Cable
2.8 GHz Xeon Mac Pro 2010, 16 GB RAM, OS 10.11.2, Office 2011, LAN
Re: How do attachments work?
macnerd10 #13537 01/02/11 04:24 PM
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jchuzi Offline OP
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Happy New Year to you too, Roger.

I tried your suggestion. First, I created a test document. Then, I attached it to an email addressed to myself but, before sending it, I trashed the original and emptied the trash. When I tried to send the email, I got a box saying that the attachment could not be found and that the message had to be saved before it could be sent.

I re-created the test document, attached it, and sent the email to myself. Then, I trashed the original and emptied the trash. The attachment opened normally. Then, I forward the email to myself and the attachment was still intact.

So, it seems that the attachment is, indeed, copied to the Entourage database. To answer your other question, I am not having any problems with Entourage at present. I did have one a few months ago and rebuilding the Entourage database solved it.

EDIT: I realized, after the fact, that there was a flaw in my procedure. I repeated the above but re-sent the message to myself from the Sent Items folder. The results were the same.

Last edited by jchuzi; 01/02/11 04:43 PM.

Jon

macOS 11.7.10, iMac Retina 5K 27-inch, late 2014, 3.5 GHz Intel Core i5, 1 TB fusion drive, 16 GB RAM, Epson SureColor P600, Photoshop CC, Lightroom CC, MS Office 365
Re: How do attachments work?
jchuzi #13685 01/11/11 07:13 PM
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It is my understanding that all e-mail systems (Entourage, Hotmail, etc.) are basically "holding stations" for messages and attachments being sent from one party to another.

Please correct me if I am wrong, but it would seem to me that the attachment would have to be copied to a database (of Entourage, Hotmail, etc.) in the same way the text of an e-mail is . . . so that the recipient of the e-mail would be able to retrieve it from that database ("holding station") . . . thus, to see/open both the message's text and attachments.

Re: How do attachments work?
MG2009 #13689 01/12/11 02:13 AM
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Attachments in their native format are actually encoded inside the message. Email programs will detect them and replace them with an icon or remove them entirely and show them in an attachment list for easier access.

Some email programs will remove the attachment from the message before storing it locally, and place it in a different sort of location. This may be a folder, a separate database, or a record in a different place in the same database.

Entourage for example, at least one version of it, stores attachments inside the main database. If that DB gets over a gig in size, it self-destructs. Bad news if you are holding onto a lot of large attachments. (have seen it repeatedly)

I don't see any way to describe this as a "holding station". If you send an email to a group with an attachment, the attachment is encoded into the email, and that email is sent individually to each recipient.

Interestingly enough, if you attach a folder of things in Apple's Mail, you see the folder in the email. You can double click it to open the folder in Finder. That leads me to believe that at least some attachments in Apple Mail are removed from the message for storage in a non native format.



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