Images being resized for email

Forum Moderators: travelin cat

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Images being resized for email

do not want

Powdork

3:36 pm on Apr 20, 2008 (gmt 0)

Hello,
I have a photographer client whose office exclusively uses Macs, which are all networked together. Recently, the images they are emailing to customers have been resized automatically by their email client. (For example a 10 x 10 at 300 dpi becomes a 3x3 at 300 dpi). They're in Florida (long ways away), and pretty much computer illiterate.
1. Their email client is Mac Mail (I'm guessing that means Mac OS X Mail, but that was beyond them).
2. They are hosted with 1and1.I have never had this happen before and I have a number of sites with them, so i doubt this is the issue, but who knows.

any ideas. i know it's not a lot to go on.

travelin cat

10:46 pm on Apr 20, 2008 (gmt 0)

Powdork,

Have them use the Mac's built in compression software by holding down the control key while clicking on an image and choosing "compress" from the menu (kind of like right-clicking on a pc). This will create a zip archive copy leaving the original untouched. The zip file can be attached to an email by just dragging it in to the body of the email. This will eliminate the possibility of altering a file.

And yes Mac Mail is the mail program that comes with all Macs

Powdork

6:17 am on Apr 21, 2008 (gmt 0)

Thanks.
We'll give that a go.

Powdork

5:19 pm on Apr 22, 2008 (gmt 0)

So I guess they don't want to go that route.

Here is what appears to call the image when coming from Mac Mail
--Apple-Mail-2-794384092
Content-Disposition: inline
Content-Type: multipart/appledouble;
boundary=Apple-Mail-3-794384092

--Apple-Mail-3-794384092
Content-Disposition: inline;
filename=018a.jpg
Content-Type: application/applefile;
name="018a.jpg"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
for some reason, it creates two files, neither of which is what they want

and this is what it looks like with YahooMail, which is what they want.
Content-Type: image/jpeg; name="018a.jpg"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="018a.jpg"

[edited by: Powdork at 5:21 pm (utc) on April 22, 2008]

travelin cat

7:00 pm on Apr 22, 2008 (gmt 0)

Sounds to me like the settings in Mail have been altered. The first problem should never occur with an "out of the box" copy of Mail. We send graphics like this almost daily.

The other thing that makes me think that preferences have been changed is that a zip file is throwing of those headers.

Powdork

7:40 am on Apr 23, 2008 (gmt 0)

They didn't zip it. getting them to perform the simplest of tasks is like pulling teeth. They still haven't figured how to get the copy the email off the server when downloading. Every 6 months they call me in a panic because their email is bouncing (their 2GB is used up). Then they have to simply delete emails they want to keep because thats all they know how to do.

oodlum

3:15 am on Apr 29, 2008 (gmt 0)

I've never heard of Mail resizing attachments when sending. It does, however, resize images for display.

I think it's more likely that the image is being resized by the viewing program at the other end. Many image viewers, mail programs, browsers etc will reduce images to fit on the screen, although the actual file has not changed.

For example a 10 x 10 at 300 dpi becomes a 3x3 at 300 dpi

These are print settings, not images sizes/resolutions. Do you know if the image resolutions (in terms of pixels) are changing? eg 2000x3000 becoming 600x900?

Powdork

5:21 am on Apr 29, 2008 (gmt 0)

they want to be sending print quality work, since that's what they do.

the example they sent me came in at 3000X3000 at 300dpi (2.34Mb) when sent through yahoo mail. when sent through macmail it arrives in two files, with the same name and file extension. One is 960X960 at 72 dpi (457 Kb) and the second, which I can't open, is 67 Kb. Thats what the 'multipart/appledouble' below is referring to. The thing that concerns me is the 'inline'. I don't know exactly what it means, but it suggests that it is for screen media and may be why it is resizing to 72 dpi. Not sure though.

--Apple-Mail-2-794384092
Content-Disposition: inline
Content-Type: multipart/appledouble;
boundary=Apple-Mail-3-794384092

--Apple-Mail-3-794384092
Content-Disposition: inline;
filename=018a.jpg
Content-Type: application/applefile;
name="018a.jpg"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64

oodlum

11:27 am on Apr 29, 2008 (gmt 0)

It may be their hosts' outgoing mail server (SMTP) that is doing the slice and dice. I'd suggest asking them to try calling their hosts' tech support next.

If not, I'd try posting to discussions.apple.com

Powdork

3:49 pm on Apr 29, 2008 (gmt 0)

would the host only do it to attachments from certain computers or from certain mail programs. the host is 1and1 and I have many accounts with them. i am able to send the same picture from those accounts. would it matter whether they use port 587 or 25 on their outgoing mail server?

travelin cat

3:50 pm on Apr 29, 2008 (gmt 0)

You should have them set up an ftp account. My printer provides me with an ftp account that I upload images to... no limit at all and no slicing and dicing.

Powdork

5:21 pm on Apr 29, 2008 (gmt 0)

they are commercial photogs sending out work to multiple clients, so the ftp thing doesn't work well for them.

shortbus123

6:25 pm on Aug 1, 2008 (gmt 0)

There might be a very simple solution. LIke most mac programs the answer is so simple it is difficult.

When you drag/drop an image file into any mail message (eg .jpg) all you need to do is look at the bottom right hand corner of the mail composition screen. There will be a drop down menu that is called "Image Size" with choices. Actual Size, Large, Medium, Small. Select the appropriate size.