Dropping Attachments

[artroom]

I am trying to send a HTML newsletter, with inline images.
I drop all the required images into the attachement section, however when MBM sends the file, it drops out any of the images that are only referenced to in the CSS. The images linked in the html body code are fine, but anything in the CSS doesn't get sent.

How do i force MBM to send all attachments i have added, and not try and be smart about what to send?

[stanbusk]

With inline images all other attachments are ignored. It works this way actually. Or you send all inline or all as regular attachments. You can't mix.

[WorldwidePartners]

I just recently started having this problem, so thanks for providing the cause.

2 questions:
1) How do you differentiate between regular attachments and inline attachments?

2) Why would it ignore ANY attachments. This strikes me as a bug.

Thanks a million.

[stanbusk]

#1 A regular attachment is the one you add to the attachment panel. An inline attachment however is the one you add to the message body (In the first case you drag and drop the attachment to the attachment panel. On the second case you drag and drop the attachment to the message field).

#2 MaxBulk Mailer explicitly and programatically discards regular attachments when you also have inline attachments for two reasons: to allow conditional attachments (attachments inside a conditional statement) and to make the message format more compatible (MHTML for example). This is not a bug, it works exactly as it programmed. There is code to discard those attachments and to prevent them to be sent.

I personally believe that it is not good for a message to have both regular and inline attachments. I would say you have a design problem.

[WorldwidePartners]

Thanks for the feedback. We added a jpeg to our email signatures recently, so when I send emails with attachments to our members, the logo was inline, but the PDF file was regular.

It seems to me that if I want to continue using the logo as an inline image, I'll need to attach other docs as inline images as well.

Thanks again!

[Ross Langmead]

I appreciate the clear information here, but don't understand why it's bad design to send an email with a regular attachment (such as a newsletter) and a logo (inline attachment) in the email.

I've downloaded MaxBulk Mailer for a trial, and this limitation will probably prevent me from buying it. It's a pity, as everything else seems to work conveniently.

It would also have helped if an error message had popped up when I included both types of attachments , or if it were covered in the users' guide (if it's there I couldn't find it). I spent hours trying to get it to work today.

Ross

[stanbusk]

This is intended actually because of MaxBulk conditional attachment support.

Anyway I think it is a bad idea to send attachments other than (inline) pictures. The best for sending other type of files is using a URL to those file(s) on your site. There are two reasons for that:

1. It makes the message smaller, as a result it will be sent faster, will take very little space on recipient mailbox and will be fast to retrieve. Bounces will also be smaller.

2. Most people hate being sent attachments. They can make their mailbox over quota, they are slower to retrieve and they bother a lot when you are traveling and have to retrieve your messages on a laptop (or a SmartPhone) thru a slower connection. If you send PDFs by email be prepared to get complaints and unsubscribes. People will never complain of inline pictures though.

[bartg]

Since there are no internet protocol requirements regarding the mixing of inline and attached files, I can only request that MaxBulk allow users to do this, rather than it's current behavior.

As with others in this thread, I also use a small (5k) gif logo in my mails as a signature. I have been able to use this in addition to file attachments that are not inline for years with other programs, most notably MS Entourage (Mac vs. Office, Office 2004, and Office 2008.)

I use an attached PDF (again, relatively small - ~80-100k) to convey information, because with PDF I have very good control over formatting and color at the user end, for both screen and print. Putting this PDF inline is not a sensible option. Building the content into html or styled text is also not an option, as it is much easier to create content intended for PDF as opposed to creating for various browsers: in particular MS's notoriously non-standard Internet Explorer.

I suppose I could ask customers in my mail to download this PDF from the web if they so choose, but having it already sitting in their mailbox makes it that much easier for them, and that helps my business. My customers already know me and on balance are happy to see the new PDF; this is not cold calling a purchased email list, so it doesn't have the potential for being seen as spam by the recipients.

PDF attachment is the best way to go for me, and having an inline logo signature gives instant visual recognition. This also gives the recipient control in that they can choose to open the PDF, or not.

Unfortunately, the inability to mix inline with non-inline attachments becomes the deal breaker for me in evaluating MaxBulk for my company's use.

-b

[stanbusk]

Ok, we will change that behavior then.