Image Attachments Won't Open in Windows

Question

Hello,
I'm having some frequently recurring problems sending images (usually JPEG) to Windows users.
For instance, I'll create in Mail an email with two image attachements and send them to a group that includes some Mac folks and some Windows users.
The Mac people have no trouble viewing the images. The Windows users usually write back and say "Try sending again. All I'm seeing is Red X's."
I keep the "Send Windows Frendly Attachments" box clicked. What more can I do?
Thank you!
owerBook G4 15-inch/1.67GHz/1GB RAM   Mac OS X (10.4.6)  
owerBook G4 15-inch/1.67GHz/1GB RAM   Mac OS X (10.4.6)  

Answer 1

Hate to disagree with howwow, but the Windows Friendly option has nothing to do with the issue of apparent embedding, when that appears. When you use Rich Text, and when the fonts are mixed, and also include attachments, Mail changes the Rich Text to HTML and to SOME recipients the images will appear to be embedded, and will be problematic. It can also change the "status" of attachments enough that Mail will treat them a little differently. The most common sources of mixed fonts when using Rich Text is text included when forwarding or replying, and from a Signature.
Windows friendly functions to remove or alter the metadata that Macs save with image files, and with word documents, including the resource fork. These factors can confuse some Windows base mail clients, although probably NOT those that are kept up-to-date. We once saw the frequent use of an application named GrimRipper just to remove Resource Forks.
The reason the support articles say Windows Friendly may be bad when sending to some Mac users, is that very early operating systems on Macs needed the Resource Fork to know how to open certain files, and could not rely upon only the extension, as Windows does, and OSX can do.
Other metadata that can create problems with SOME Windows mail clients include a Mac style thumbnail. This problem could also be solved by saving a JPEG as Web Ready, or telling the photo application to use no Thumbnail or preview. The EXIF data from digital cameras falls into the category of metadata -- this being the source of date, time, camera settings, etc. that can learned from each photo downloaded from a digital camera -- if included in the format choses by your Mac, that could create a problem.
Hope this helps.
Ernie