Sending email with attachments

[atelerix]

I've hit my first real usability snag with the G1. I tried to send a word processing file to someone via the gmail client on the G1 today, and found that I could select only photos and no other file type for attachments. So I fired up the browser and went to the desktop version of the gmail web site, and in the composition window, the button under the attachments section is captioned "Uploads Disabled" instead of the usual "Browse."
Does anyone have a workaround for emailing non-jpeg attachments? This is a feature that I need to use on practically a daily basis. Any developers out there working on an email client, please support this feature!!!

 

[johnkzin]

Did you try uploading the document to Google Docs, and then sharing the document from there?

(email attachments are a blight upon the internet, you should learn alternatives; frankly, I applaud android for blocking them)

 

[atelerix]

I haven't tried the Google Docs route, as I'm concerned about security, and the docs I need to email consist mainly of confidential medical-related information.

As for the emailing of attachments, I find it to b to e a valuable productivity tool rather than a "blight." I guess it's all how you choose to use it. If Google or T-Mobile choose to limit this ability which most competing smartphones feature, it's going to cost them customers.

 

[johnkzin]

As for the emailing of attachments, I find it to b to e a valuable productivity tool rather than a "blight." I guess it's all how you choose to use it. If Google or T-Mobile choose to limit this ability which most competing smartphones feature, it's going to cost them customers.

Ok, let me rephrase part of that ... attachments are, like any other tool, neither a boon nor a blight. But, how they are used might be either of those.

In general, when people do things like: blindly attaching a word/excel/pdf/image/etc. document to a message, especially a message heading to a mailing list, instead of putting it into a secure repository that can be shared among the intended recipients (thus saving bandwidth, list archive storage space, individual user email storage space, etc.) ... and especially when such tools ARE available, but they are avoiding them out of pure laziness and lack of initiative to learn and use the proper tool for the job ... THAT is a blight upon the internet. And, in my observation, that accounts for the VAST majority of attachment use on the internet.

If I were king for a year, every mail server on the planet would block all attachments for the entirety of my tenure, to force people to adopt/develop file exchange methods that are more appropriate than email attachments, and ingrain them into their regular use.

 

[adwb]

you should be able to attach other kinds of files (audio at least) to MMS from the Messaging app. just create a new text message and type an email address. a notification will say "Converting to MMS" and then attach your file.

i haven't found a way to send any arbitrary file via email or message yet. just pictures and sounds.

 

[rdaviese2]

so how can you share files on android? yousendit, sendspace and mediafire don't work on the browser, i think because of a lack of flash - and i need to send small audio files for work purposes.

any tips would be GREATLY appreciated.

 

[richy240]

(email attachments are a blight upon the internet, you should learn alternatives; frankly, I applaud android for blocking them)

That's a bunch of crap. Email attachments are a great way to quickly share information with people. I think that a lot of people abuse it though, and it's then that I agree with you. I work in IT, and even though I see what email attachments do to bandwidth and mail storage, I think email without attachments would be a real headache when you need to transfer a file quickly and easily.

Ok, let me rephrase part of that ... attachments are, like any other tool, neither a boon nor a blight. But, how they are used might be either of those.

Oops, I didn't see your rephrase before I spoke. I apologize!

 

[GODMODE]

hmmm, you COULD host the file on your website FTP (if you have one) password protect it, and link it in your email with the username/password - just a suggestion, for now

 

[johnkzin]

I work in IT,

As do I. Specifically as an email sysadmin for a university.

I think email without attachments would be a real headache when you need to transfer a file quickly and easily.

But, if there was an easy to manage, and easy to use, file server technology (there are a few that come close, but none that are perfect), and if users would just bother to use the correct tool for the job at hand, then there wouldn't be a headache when email attachments aren't allowed.

Something like WebDav* with OpenID and ACLs, perhaps. Or if Google Docs allowed you to store _any_ document type (even the ones it can't directly display/edit), and "mount" a given shared space via WebDav, and share with non-Gmail accounts (I think it can do the latter, but not the former 2), then I think that would work. Especially if there were more solid WebDav as a file system drivers for Linux and Mac (so that you don't necessarily have to download the file from Google Docs, you could just treat it like a folder in Finder/etc.).

(* WebDav == Windows "Web Folders")

But, for now, I'll just have to dream.

 

[richy240]

So you know what I'm talking about!

I must disagree with your opinion that WebDav could replace the ease of sending an email with an attachment though. I like the idea, but there's a reason attachments are so widely used - it's EASY, and isn't that the idea behind computers in the first place (efficiancy and ease of use)? Also, it mimics physical mail in that you can send a "cover letter" (the email itself) and an "enclosure" (the attachment) - I have to assume that's by design.

But that's just me.

 

[atelerix]

Here's my big problem with this situation: before I got the G1, I had a T-Mobile phone and data plan, and used it as a wireless modem for a Palm TX. With this setup, I regularly sent and received attachments via email, using my gmail account no less. Now I can't find any way to do this with the new setup, and I suspect this limitation was intentionally put in by T-Mobile. This is a shame, because I love everything else about the G1 and Android, but if I can't find a workaround, I'll probably end up returning the phone. I'm hoping that if T-Mobile doesn't get the message and lift this limitation, maybe a third-party developer will come up with a fix.

 

[kevindtimm]

Here is what I have heard:

Go to the Market and install;
DOCUMENTS TO GO

Then compose a new Gmail email, then click attach, then select the DOCUMENTS TO GO icon, then select the file on your SD card you want to attach.

 

[trick202]

Sounds good Kevin.

I was going to suggest using the stock mail app for sending with attachments, and the gmail app for everything else.

 

[kevindtimm]

isn't the stock app only capable of pictures though? (that's the original problem, IIRC)

 

[trick202]

I presumed it was the gmail app, not the mail app that was having issues.

Have you tried K9 email?

 

[kevindtimm]

See the OP, to summarize "I tried to send a word processing file to someone via the gmail client on the G1 today, and found that I could select only photos and no other file type for attachments. "

 

[trick202]

OK, so the gmail client doesn't work. Does the generic mail app work? Has anyone tried k9 to remedy the attachment issues?

 

[kevindtimm]

haven't tried k9, docs2go does not work (except for doc's that they can open).

looking all over creation for basic functionality doesn't exactly thrill me. how exactly am I supposed to run a mobile office without this ability? sheesh.

 

[Richard Schilling]

I tried the other applications that were mentioned as well, with no luck sending attachments.

I did finally find an application that will do it though. It's called Gravel Mail. The only thing this application does, in fact, is just send attachments as an e-mail.

You have to search on Android Market for "Gravel Mail" or just "Gravel". There are so many e-mail applications out there now (Perhaps that why it's hard to find???).

Hope that helps.

Richard

 

[brykins]

I agree that this is a MAJOR problem and going to be a hurdle that Google MUST overcome if they want to see Android compete in the corporate market. Not being able to simply attach a PDF file to an email is, quite simply, ludicrous.

 

[chadmd23]

Having a central depository doesn't work if you're "offline." Unless you want to buy my company wireless access, we'll stick with attachments.

 

[johnkzin]

(sorry, I didn't notice this reply back there)

there's a reason attachments are so widely used - it's EASY

1) It's also easy to just drive your car, never changing the oil, checking the brakes, etc. That doesn't mean it's the proper way to handle the tool (your car).

Easy is not necessarily correct.

2) It's also easy to prop doors open when you're moving into/out of a building. They heavily discourage this at dorms in urban college campuses. Sure, it's easy. And every year, someone does it. And every year, some local criminal uses it as an easy way to sneak into the building. If everyone's lucky, it only results in some theft. It occasionally results in a rape.

Easy is often "not safe". (easy is, in fact, often the opposite of safe/secure).


Both of those lessons apply to email attachments. Email is not a "file transfer protocol", nor a "file sharing protocol". It also offers little to no protection of the message in-transit (there are ways around that, but none of them are perfect, and none of them offer long term protection), meaning it's also not a safe mechanism for file sharing/protection. It also offers no optimizations nor integrations with file management mechanisms, making it a resource pig when it comes to trying to shoe-horn "file storage/sharing/transfer" into email protocols.

Really. People who think that email is "a great way to share files" are on the same intellectual level as people who drive their cars, without maintenance, until the engine literally falls apart ... and/or people whose selfish short-sighted pursuit of their own convenience gets other people robbed.

(no, I don't consider that last bit to be sensationalist nor an exaggeration, considering the number of people I've seen wanting to send passwords, financial information, or health information, through email systems).

 

[Redflea]

For anyone who wants a simple solution, install Astro file manager app. Long press on a file gets you a context menu with a send option, you can choose Gmail or email.

 

[brykins]

For anyone who wants a simple solution, install Astro file manager app. Long press on a file gets you a context menu with a send option, you can choose Gmail or email.

Although this works, (a) it only allows ONE attachment per email - there's no way to add another and (b) something as simple as this really ought to have been picked up and sorted by Google a year ago. It really is basic stuff that Google seem to be ignoring.

 

[mylinuxbox]

Ignoring in favour of pretty apps instead of essentials like email. Why do we need 2 separate email applications on the phone? Why can't we just get a stock file manager and the option to add any file? These are business phones after all.