Better Notification of File Upload in Email Messages
From:
Richard Waid
Date:
Apr 29 01:45 UTC
Short link
On Tue, 2008-04-29 at 12:44 +1200, Dan Randow wrote:
> If the file-link attachments did not display in-line, but showed as file
> attachments usually do, then they would be much easier to spot, while
> reading an email. My email client, Thunderbird for example, shows a
> separate pane below the message, with file attachment icons.
>
> Is there a file-format that we could use that would show as attachments,
> and would link quickly to the target files? Would the XML Link File
> format (.XLNK) achieve this?
> http://www.t-arn.com/software/XLNK.html
No, because as far as I can tell it's some random format that someone
came up with that isn't interpreted by anything other than their own
software. It's not possible to use the MS .lnk format, because
unfortunately every spammer and his dog uses it to trick people, and so
the Outlook team blocked it by default (after coming up with it).
> Alternatively, what if it were possible to create a file attachment with
> the same mime-type as the target file, that linked to the target file
> when opened? As this would look _very_ much like the file was actually
> attached to the message, I expect people would find it very easy to use.
> It would provide no indication that the file was not actually attached,
> but I can't see a major downside to that. Is this anything like feasible?
No, because it would just think the attachment was the file of whatever
mime-type you specified. It's like giving someone an orange that has
been made to look exactly like an apple. They cut it open and it still
has an orange inside. Cutting it open doesn't magically replace the
orange with an apple.