Replying With Attachments Using Apple Mail

Apple Mail 6.6’s default behaviour when we reply emails is to strip the original attachment that arrived with our email and reply with only the filename of the attachment in angle brackets.

For example, the original attachment was named “expense_report_2014.xls” then our reply would usually contain the quoted text from the original email and just the text “<expense_report_2014.xls>” instead of the actual file.

Most times this is sufficient and saves space and time, not having to email large attachments up and down. Especially if the original email results in a string of long to and fro email replies that begin to resemble more a conversation rather than an email.

However, there  are times we want to force Apple Mail to include the original attachments in our replies, especially in cases where our reply includes an additional recipient who has not yet had the chance to view the original attachment.

Ad-Hoc Inclusion Of Original Email Attachments

To do this, simply:

1. Ensure that if you highlight a select text to quote in your reply, you must also highlight the original attachment as well otherwise the following steps will not work;
2. Click the “Reply” button;
3. With the reply email window selected, in the “Edit” menu select “Attachments > Include Original Attachments In Reply” or “Attachments > Include Attachments At End of Message”.

Changing Apple Mail’s Default Behaviour To Always Add Original Attachments

If you want to permanently change Apple Mail’s behaviour to always include attachments then do the following:

1. Select the Apple Mail application window;
2. In the “Edit” menu select “”Attachments > Include Original Attachments In Reply” and/or “Attachments > Include Attachments At End of Message”.