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June 04, 2007

Why isn't this feature standard on all email programs?

Almost everyone has done it, but I don't think I've ever noticed this feature on an e-mail client. And it would be a piece of cake to implement.

When a user hits "send", the e-mail client should look for the word "attached" in the body of the document and if it's there, check to see if there is an attachment... If there isn't, then it should warn the sender that they "might have forgotten to attach their file... (send anyway or cancel)..."

You could put a "Don't show me this warning again" checkbox in the corner if you wanted...

This would probably catch 75% or more of the times this mistake is made.

Has anyone ever seen this feature on an e-mail client before? Maybe I just haven't experienced enough of the world of e-mail clients. But I've never noticed it on any that I've used...

Posted by Andrew at June 4, 2007 11:22 AM

Comments

Yeah, I've always wanted that feature as well... I haven't checked in a while... maybe somebody has written a plug-in for the mail clients I use (Mail.app and Outlook).

Posted by: Matt at June 5, 2007 07:41 AM

It probably doesn't do you any good at all, but Evolution apparently does this:

http://www.gnome.org/start/2.20/notes/en/index.html#rnusers-email-and-calendar

Posted by: Ross Karchner [TypeKey Profile Page] at September 18, 2007 05:03 PM

I was so surprised to see this posted somewhere! I had actually thought the same thing for a while as I habitually forget attachments, usually hurrying through an e-mail and leaving it for later. This would be a very nice feature.

Posted by: Ben Hughes at January 8, 2008 12:07 AM