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File attachments can be anything, right? Human nature tells us that file attachments therefore will BE anything
   technofile
Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

3 ways to make e-mail file attachments more 'polite'


Jan. 10 , 2001

By Al Fasoldt
Copyright ©2001 Al Fasoldt
Copyright ©2001, The Syracuse Newspapers

   Be polite. Didn't your mom and dad tell you to be nice to others?
   This advice is especially important when you send e-mail. You might be making your friends and business contacts miserable without even realizing it.
   Take file attachments, for instance. There are times when you simply have to use a file attachment, but there are other times when you should never do it.
   First, let me explain what file attachments are.
   A file attachment is the e-mail equivalent of a paper-clipped memo you might get in the office. You get a piece of paper, a letter, that says something is "attached," so you "detach" it from the letter and store it in your drawer or file cabinet, or maybe you just toss it out. (If you're like me, you save the paper clip. They're pretty scarce sometimes.)
   The same thing happens with e-mail attachments. "Clipped" to the letter is a file of some kind.
   There are three problems with this, and all of them deal with courtesy.
    The first problem is the way files are attached to e-mail. They're not sent as files; they're sent as messages. In other words, they masquerade as real messages. What looks like a letter to Aunt Millie might be a business contract for the law firm of Underwhelm and Bustemup.
   Files of all kinds are turned into texts that you can't read -- they're all gibberish -- and sent as messages. Then they're turned back into what they were before. Usually, this miracle works as it's supposed to. But if the mail software on one side works differently froem the mail software on the other, all bets are off. You and I might not be able to send files to each other in e-mail.
   So before you send anything big or important as an attachment to someone new, send a test file first. Find out if it was received OK. Send a file you know the other party will be able to handle. (A JPEG image file is ideal, since every kind of computer can display a JPEG image. (It's also called a "JPG.") Texts are not good to use for test attachments, because the three main computer operating systems -- Linux, the Mac and Windows -- each handle texts differently.
    The second problem is easy to explain. File attachments can be anything, right? Human nature tells us that file attachments therefore will BE anything -- anything at all. Including files that nobody else in the world can figure out.
   Just because your computer knows how to handle an oddball file, don't expect other computers to do the same thing. AOL users routinely send out "ART" image files as attachments, not realizing that people who don't use AOL can't display them. Windows users routinely send out Microsoft Word documents, not realizing that Microsoft Word files aren't text files and therefore aren't readable on many computer systems.
   Mac users miss the boat here, too. They often send attachments in the "SIT" format (created by Stuffit, a Macintosh file-compression program). If they send to other Mac users, maybe that's OK -- if those other Mac users know what Stuffit is! But if they send to Windows or Linux users, they're wasting their time.
   The lesson in this case is simple. Before you send a Microsoft Works file or a PowerPoint document as an attachment, think about what you are about to send. If you're the coordinator of the Windows User Group, you should have no problem sending files that only a Windows PC knows how to open. But if you're trying to reach all members of the Sacred Creed Society, you can't assume that every member is using the same kind of computer.
    The last problem is a dilly. Many people send attachments when they don't have to. They write a document -- a text file -- and then attach it. Bah, humbug. These folks need to get reacquainted with their mouse. They need to learn how to copy and paste.
   It's simple. Open the text in one window and the fresh e-mail message in another. Select all of the text, then use the Edit menu to copy the text. Click inside the message window and choose Paste.
   Your message wil linclude the text right in the message body. No attachment, no hassles. Everybody will be able to read it, and your non-techie friends will stop asking what to do with that "thing" you sent with your e-mail.