Email is not just a technology that lets people send and receive plain text messages. As such, it also offers a way of sending photos, documents, and other files online. And thankfully, Gmail, the most popular email service, has this functionality.
However, as not everyone has tried or needs to include files in emails, many still don’t know how attachments work in Gmail. But since it’s not hard to learn, anyone can try and get used to it in no time. And this article will explain how to attach a file in Gmail on Mac in different ways; please read on.
Include Photos And Other Files In Emails
Upload a photo
Google knows that people use email services to send plain text messages as well as media files on a daily basis. Accordingly, it offers different ways for Gmail users to include photos in emails. And the most popular among these ways is the method of uploading an image file:
1. Go to the official Gmail website and wait for the inbox to load.
2. Click the “Compose” button in the left main menu pane.
3. Press the “Insert photo” icon at the bottom of the mini window.
4. Go to the “Upload” tab.
5. Press the “Choose photos to upload” button and then select an image from the device.
6. The image will now show up in the email compose window.
Use a photo from Google Photos or the album archive
Gmail also allows inserting an image file that is saved in the Google account album archive or an album from Google Photos:
1. On Gmail, click the “Compose” button on the left main menu pane.
2. Press the “Insert photo” icon at the bottom of the mini window.
3. Go to the “Photos” or “Albums” tab.
4. Click any part of a photo to select it.
5. Press the “Insert” button to include the image in the email.
Copy URLs to include images in emails
Even if an image isn’t saved on the computer, one can still insert it in an email. In order to do this, the image’s URL or link must be copied and pasted into Gmail:
1. On Gmail’s compose window, click the “Insert photo” icon.
2. Go to the “Web Address (URL)” tab.
3. Copy an image’s link and paste it into the input area.
4. If the image is detected, click the “Insert” button to return to the compose window.
Add Attachments To Emails In Gmail On Mac
On Gmail, one can attach files and documents to emails by following these steps:
1. Open the official Gmail website and wait for the inbox to load.
2. Click the “Compose” button on the left main menu pane.
3. Click the “Attach files” icon at the bottom of the mini window.
4. Select a file or document from the device.
5. Wait for the file to finish uploading, and then click the “Send” button.
It’s also possible to upload or access a photo from the Google account library and use it as a file attachment. On Gmail, this is how it works:
1. On the Gmail message compose window, click the “Insert photo” icon.
2. Go to a tab and click a photo to select it.
3. Click the “As attachment” button at the bottom right corner.
4. Press the “Insert” button to return to the compose window.
How To Attach A File Of More Than 25MB (Send Large Email Attachments)
Attach a large file directly
While one can attach almost any type of file (format) and many files in an email, Gmail only allows up to 25 MB of attachments per message. Luckily, it’s still possible to attach a large file in Gmail on Mac with this Google Drive integration:
1. Open the Gmail website and wait for the inbox to load.
2. Click the “Compose” button on the left main menu pane.
3. Click the “Attach files” icon and select a file larger than 25 MB from the computer.
4. Wait for Gmail to upload the file to Google Drive.
5. Once the file is uploaded, click the “Send” button to send the email.
Upload a large file to Google Drive
If a user wants to include a large file in more than one email, uploading the file to Google Drive first would be ideal. It would eliminate the need to re-upload files and makes selecting attachments less hassle:
1. On the Gmail email compose window, click the “Insert files using Drive” icon.
2. Go to the “My Drive” or “Shared with Me” tab.
3. Click any part of a file to select it.
4. Press the “Insert” button to return to the compose window.
How Do You Attach A Zip File
While Gmail sometimes blocks several file compression formats like “.gz” and “.bz2”, it will always allow attaching standard archives (e.g., .zip, .rar, .tar) in emails. Still, an archive should follow Gmail’s specific rules for attachments to avoid being blocked. Regardless, one can easily learn how to attach a zip file in Gmail with these simple steps:
1. Open the Gmail website and click the “Compose” button on the main menu.
2. Click the “Attach files” icon on the mini compose window.
3. Select a .zip file from the computer.
4. Wait for Gmail to upload the .zip file.
5. Click the “Send” button to send the email.
It’s also possible to attach zip files from Google Drive. And the process is still the same as using Drive to include large files in emails, as mentioned earlier.
Put Email Attachments At The End Of Messages
Even today, email is still the medium that most people use to communicate about professional, academic, legal, and corporate matters. Accordingly, it’s ideal to have the ability to format messages and place attachments in the email’s last part to avoid cluttering the content. Luckily, there’s no need to worry about this anymore, as Gmail automatically positions files at the bottom of an email:
1. Open the Gmail website and click the “Compose” button on the main menu.
2. Type the subject and body of the email.
3. Click the “Attach files” icon on the compose window and select file(s) from the computer.
4. Once the files are uploaded, press the “Send” button to send the email.
If the recipient is a Google email address (@gmail.com), the attachments will appear at the bottom, separated with a line from the email content. Other email services also typically display attachments this way, although most don’t place a dividing line.
Include Or Exclude Email Attachments In Replies
Include attachments in replies
Aside from the initial email, it’s also possible to include attachment(s) in a reply. And on Gmail, one can try this functionality by following these simple steps:
1. Visit the Gmail website and open an email.
2. Click the tiny reply icon or the “Reply” button at the bottom.
3. Click the “Attach files” icon and then select a file from the computer.
4. Wait for Gmail to upload the file and then press the “Send” button.
Exclude attachments in replies
When replying to an email, Gmail will include the initial email’s subject or content in the reply and hide it in the “Show trimmed content” icon. And if there is a file in the initial message, that file might also be included in the response. Thankfully, although it requires a few steps, it’s still possible to exclude attachments in replies on Gmail:
1. On the inbox, click to open an email with attachment(s).
2. Click the tiny reply icon or the “Reply” button at the bottom.
3. Press “command + a” and “delete” on the keyboard and repeat a few times until the reply window is empty.
4. Type the reply content and click the “Send” button to send the email.
Final Words
After reading the entire article, you likely now know how to attach files to emails. On the other hand, if you’re looking to supercharge your inbox, then Boxysuite is the app you need to check out.
Boxysuite is the first and only native Gmail macOS app. It offers a clean and productive working environment for Gmail, Google Calendar, Keep, and Contacts. With it, you can easily attach local files or Google Drive documents to emails and replies. You will also enjoy helpful and exclusive features such as Reader Mode, Desktop Alerts, Email Tracking Detection, Task Managers Integration, and many more.
Clearly, Boxysuite is the best Gmail app for the Mac, and you’ll love it once you start using it. Supercharge your Gmail inbox by trying Boxysuite for free now!
