Attaching a File

You can attach any type of file to an Outlook message, which makes for a convenient way of sending your files to your co-workers or sending pictures to anyone ( anywhere in the world) who has access to Internet e-mail. You can send Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, a family photo (taken from a digital camera or scanned from a photograph), or any other file you have on your hard drive.

When you attach a file, it appears as an icon in an attachment box that resides in the message window right below the Subject box, as shown in Figure 7.1. A button to the left of the attached file can be used to quickly access the Insert File dialog box if you want to change the attached file or add additional attachments before sending the message.

Figure 7.1. Attached files appear as an icon in the Attach box.

You can also open or view any files that you attach to your e-mail messages (before or after you send them) by double-clicking the file. Next, you take a look at attaching and viewing attachments, such as files created in other applications and picture files. Then, you can take a look at attaching an Outlook item such as a contact or appointment to an e-mail message.

E-mail Attachments and E-mail Clients Depending on the e-mail client they are using, the way recipients of your file attachments retrieve them will vary. For example, some e-mail packages do not show the attachment as an icon, but save the attachment directly to a specific folder on the recipient's computer after the e-mail message is received.

To attach a file to a message, follow these steps:

1. In the new message window, choose Insert and then select File, or click the Insert File button on the toolbar. The Insert File dialog box appears (see Figure 7.2).

   Figure 7.2. Select the file you want to attach to a message.

   

2. From the Look In drop-down list, choose the drive and folder that contain the file you want to attach.

3. Select the file you want to attach.

4. Click Insert to insert the file into the message.

An Attach box appears below the Subject box on the message, and an icon and the filename are inserted. If you attached a photo file to your Outlook message, the Attachment Options Task Pane also appears (see Figure 7.3).

Figure 7.3. Select the file you want to attach to a message.

Where Is the Attachment Options Task Pane? If you don't see the Attachment Options Task Pane, click the Attachment Options button to the right of the Attachment box on the e-mail message.

The Attachment Options Task Pane allows you to control how the attachments are sent and also allows you to change the size of an image attachment.

To control how the attachments are sent, click the Send Attachments As heading. You are provided with two possibilities:

• Regular Attachments : The default setting for attachments sends a set of attachments to each recipient of the e-mail.

• Shared Attachments : This option allows you to provide each recipient with a copy of the attachments and also to place the attachments on a Document Workspace located on the Web (you must have access to a Web server for this feature to work). You must supply a Web address (URL) that is the address of the Web server that will hold the file attachments.

Select the option that is appropriate to your needs. All file attachments including documents, databases, and images can be configured so that they are shared attachments available on a particular Website.

The Attachments Options Task Pane also allows you the option of changing the size of image file attachments (this option is not available for documents, databases, and other file types). For example, if you have attached a large digital camera photo to an e-mail, you can have Outlook resize the attachment so that it is sent as a smaller file size. This allows recipients with slow Internet connections to download the e-mail message and its attachments faster.

Be advised, however, that this feature can't be used to make a small file larger. You can shrink picture attachments but you can't enlarge them.

To select the size options for the image attachment, click the Picture options drop-down list and select one of the following:

• Don't Resize, Send Originals The default setting, the images are sent as attached (the original file size).

• Small (448 x 336) This option lowers the resolution of the image making the file smaller.

• Medium (640 x 480) This option lowers the resolution less drastically than the Small option but also gives you a slightly small file size.

• Large (1024 x 768) This option provides a higher resolution file that may actually increase the file size of the image you are sending.

After making your selections in the Attachments Options Task Pane, you can complete your e-mail message (address it, add a message text). When you send the message, the options you selected in the Task Pane will be used in relation to the attached file.

Large Files Take Time Sending an extremely large file can take a great deal of time, depending on your connection speed. Some ISPs and Web-based e-mail providers, such as America Online and Yahoo! Mail, set a limit for attachment file size for sent or received attachments.