Then there’s also the “family fanatic” who forwards the latest pictures of the newborns, so giant that you have to scroll across to the right just to see the other eyeball of God’s latest gift to the planet. Those individuals are likely to send four or five picture attachments at a time like this, and although we’d love to take a polite gander at their new addition to the family, the fact that they haven’t gone through their image editing help files to figure out how to make those large attachments practical for viewing on the other end of the line, turns that polite effort into a agonizing grind as you first wait for the attachment to load, and then make the effort to see the whole image bit by bit. Suddenly one feels as though they’re back in the dark ages of dial-up service again, as they wait for the menacing attachment to load, one pixel at a time.
Large attachments are a menace, most people will agree. Sometimes large attachments are necessary, as in the case of PDF files, legal documents, necessary off-network documents sharing in the course of real business. For those items it’s always best to inform the recipient that you’re going to be sending the files, get their permission, and then send them one attachment at a time, then confirm the receipt of them, and make sure they’ve come through and are usable.
Aside from those items, you should learn to reduce your file size so that you don’t become a menace to the people you’re trying to reach out to.
Some email servers have introduced tools that automate image reduction rather well. AOL has such a feature, called “insert image.” It works rather well, but is not totally compatible with all your potential email partners. The server will save all images you have attached previously, allowing you to send the same image again to another friend, without searching your hard drive to do so. A particularly helpful feature, it’s no wonder the response by users has been very positive.
What’s the solution to large attachments sucking up the time of your beloved recipients? A feature in your image editing software called “reduce size”. Sometimes the feature goes by another synonymous nomer, but every image editing software has the capability to reduce your image attachments size. Simply open up your treasured image from within your image editing software, choose the reduce size feature, and lower the number shown. Ideally your attachments should fall under three hundred kilobytes. You’ll find yourself more popular and appreciated, and your recipients will be relieved and probably open up your attachments more frequently.