The iPhone displays image attachments in many commonly used formats (JPEG, GIF, and TIFF) inline with the text in email messages. The iPhone can also play many types of audio attachments, such as MP3, AAC, WAV, and AIFF. You can also view files (such as PDF, webpage, text, Pages, Keynote, Numbers, and Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents) that are attached to messages you receive.
To Open An Attached File
When an email is received with an attachment it is downloaded onto the iPhone. To view the attachment simply open and scroll to the bottom of the email. Tap the attachment to open it. If the attachment is in a file format that the iPhone supports then it opens in Quick Look.
You can view attachments in portrait or landscape orientation.
If the format of an attached file isn’t supported by iPhone, you can see the name of the file but you can’t open it, unless another app can view or play it.
iPhone supports the following document types as standard:
| .doc | Microsoft Word |
| .docx | Microsoft Word (XML) |
| .htm | webpage |
| .html | webpage |
| .key | Keynote |
| .numbers | Numbers |
| .pages | Pages |
| Preview, Adobe Acrobat | |
| .ppt | Microsoft PowerPoint |
| .pptx | Microsoft PowerPoint (XML) |
| .rtf | Rich Text Format |
| .txt | text |
| .vcf | contact information |
| .xls | Microsoft Excel |
| .xlsx | Microsoft Excel (XML) |
Open an Attached File With Another Application
There are a number of apps that can open / view email attachments, such as 'iBooks', ‘Air Sharing’, ‘GoodReader’ or ‘Movie Player’.
If the iPhone supports a file type but you do not want to open it in Quick Look just tap and hold your finger on the attachment. A pop-up menu will appear with a number of button options. Tapping on ‘Quick Look’ will open the file in the standard viewer. Tap on ‘Open In “app name” to open the attachment in a pre-selected other app. Tapping on ‘Open In…’ will show you a new menu with buttons. Each button has the apps icon and name next to it. Tap on a button to open the attachment in the required app.
If the iPhone does not support an attachment type by standard and another app is able to open it tap on the attachment and the iPhone will display a pop-up asking if you would line to ‘Open in “app name”’. Tap on the button to open the attachment in the app. If multiple apps can open a file type another button with ‘Open In…’ will also be displayed. Tapping on this button will show you a buttons with the apps icon and name that can also open the attachment. Tap on a button to open the attachment in the required app.
Save an Attached Image
Image attachments are shown inline in email messages. To save an image, tap and hold your finger on the image. A pop-up menu will appear. Select ‘Save Image’ to save a copy of the image to the ‘Camera Roll’ in the ‘Photos’ app.
You can also copy an image by selecting ‘Copy’. The image can then pasted into another app, such as another email or text message.
Saving Other Attachment Types
To save other attachment types you are dependant on the additional apps you have downloaded. Some apps will not save attachments, whilst other like iBooks and GoodReader will.
As an example, if you receive a pdf attachment and have the free iBooks app installed, you save the pdf into the iBooks app’s library when you open it and it will remain there even if the email is deleted.
