Keeping PDF attachment shut

I use Apple's Mail 4.5 on OS X 10.6.8. Whenever I make an email attachment using a PDF file containing only an image, said image appears on the email instead of the much smaller PDF icon that shows only the PDF's title. Some times, this is a convenience and sometimes it is a pain. Is there a way to set the PDF using Acrobat Pro 9.5.1 or the attachment feature on Mail to cause only the smaller PDF icon to appear always? I've messed around with this for quite a while with no success.

I don't know if this will help, but if you control-click on the image once it's in your e-mail you'll see an option to "View as Icon." (I'm not certain how it will appear on the other end.)

I tried it by forwarding a copy to another email address I have. It didn't work. It looked like a solution when I tried it. Oh well. Nothing's perfect. Thanks a lot for the effort. Much appreciated.

Oh, well; happy to have tried.

Although I cannot find it at the moment, this has been previously discussed at length on these forums.

There is an easy way to force the attachment to appear as an icon in Mail, just make sure the attachment has at least two pages. Whether an attachment displays as the PDF itself or as an icon is entirely under the control of the recipient's email client and there is no way of changing that from the sending end, but I believe the multi-page rule works with the majority of email clients.

> Whether an attachment displays as the PDF itself or as an icon is entirely under the control of the recipient's email client....

I don't see anything pertinent in Mail.app's prefs; what did I miss?

Thanks.

The only time I have this issue is when an attachment is a single image. If there are other, multiple page images the single image still shows its content and the multiple page images show as small icons. If the PDF is a single page text document, it shows as a small icon.

Using Acrobat, I can then combine the single images into one multiple page document and it will show as a small icon.

I have tried all these combinations by sending them from one of my email addresses to another. I find no settings that change this behavior on either the send or receive side of the mailing. I hope these results will help someone else avoid the lost time experimenting. In my particular case, it was worth it because the situation I am dealing with justifies the effort.

> In my particular case, it was worth it because the situation I am dealing with justifies the effort.

Does it justify applying joemike's fix...appending a blank, page to your recalcitrant pdfs?

Originally Posted By: artie505

> Does it justify applying joemike's fix...appending a blank, page to you recalcitrant pdfs?

Sure, but I want to know the scope of where that is needed and now I know thanks to you, joemike and the experiments. The results: Like joemike said, two page PDFs fix it for single images. I wanted to know if I could get away with not doing it under other circumstances, such as a single text page or using multiple single page PDFs. Sorry if my last post was offensive. I didn't mean it to be.

So even though it's not quite what you hoped for, you've got a workable answer.Â Â Â

We crossed.

No offense taken, no way; it's just that you hadn't mentioned having tried it, so I wanted to be certain that you hadn't overlooked joemike's suggestion.

Yes it does work and for my single image PDFs it is THE solution. My bad doing a hurry-up job on the earlier post.

FWIW 1:

Attachment Tamer allows any attachment to be either an attached icon or embedded as is Apple's wantâ€¦

FWIW 2: I have used Attachment Tamer for 2 years or so and am thrilled with it. Good/responsive developer support, fast updates.

Perhaps the free trial?

Originally Posted By: artie505

> Whether an attachment displays as the PDF itself or as an icon is entirely under the control of the recipient's email client....

I don't see anything pertinent in Mail.app's prefs; what did I miss?

What was meant was that the display behavior of attachments is determined by the receiving email client, and usually not under the control of accessible settings as found in prefs.

In this context I wonder about Attachment Tamer mentioned by Pendragon, as the sender doesn't (normally) see the email as viewed by the addressee. If AT consistently works as intended for the receiver as well, this may qualify the notion that display is determined by the receiving email client.

Thanks for the clarification. (Edit: I just realized that I didn't digest joemike's "entirely.")

> In this context I wonder about Attachment Tamer mentioned by Pendragon, as the sender doesn't (normally) see the email as viewed by the addressee. If AT consistently works as intended for the receiver as well, this may qualify the notion that display is determined by the receiving email client.

Originally Posted By: Attachment Tamer

Attachment Tamer gives you control over attachment handling in Apple Mail. It fixes the most annoying Apple Mail flaws, ensures compatibility with other email software, and allows you to set up how attachments are displayed and sent. (Emphasis added)

Attachment Tamer can
display (and print) images, PDFs, audio and video as icons with an optional file size limit and exceptions;
send messages compatible with Microsoft Outlook, Exchange and other software, preventing the superfluous â€œATT0001â€ attachments;
send images as regular attachments, making it easier for the recipient to manipulate the image files;
send images embedded in HTML layout and safely mix embedded images with other attachments;
display full attachment names regardless of length instead of truncated names;
prevent unwanted image resizing or set a default size for automatic image resizing.

I'm not sure what "ensures..." means, but "allows..." may answer your question.

Thanks to all for helping me through this. I looked at Attachment Tamer, but decided that the two page PDF was an easier solution for me. My Dock is already chock full. I really appreciate Fine Tuned Mac. I prefer it to the current iteration of the Apple Support Communities for a lot of reasons including the folks I've known here since the beginning of FTM.

I'm happy to hear that you've got a satisfactory solution.

On behalf of all, thanks for the kind words.

The kind words are deeply felt by me. I just noticed that I am the youngest member participating in this thread (by one day!). I don't remember why I didn't sign up on 8/4/09. I was a customer on the previous site until the change of ownership produced a shakeup. At any rate, I'm glad you gurus have made a go of it. It is a comfortable place to inhabit and the advice is always spot on and useful.