Include Attachments And Images In Forwarded Mail

[thomaskonrad]

Apparently, images and attachments are removed from a mail when forwarding it. It would be great to optionally include attachments when forwarding messages. iOS, for example, asks the user whether or not attachments should be included in the forwarded mail. Outlook includes them automatically.

By the way - great Nextcloud app, I love it a lot!

[ChristophWurst]

By the way - great Nextcloud app, I love it a lot!

I'm glad that you like it 🙌 Btw, you can rate the app at https://apps.nextcloud.com/apps/mail ;-)

[thomaskonrad]

Done!

[Detrius]

I would like to push this request again.
It would be nice if attachments would be forwarded automatically, together with the mail body.

(By the way, I also agree that the Nextcloud app is great :)

[szaimen]

Is there any update on this?
I think this is one of the last missing features to be able to use the app productively.
But not only the attachments and images should get forwarded. Also the (HTML-)formatting of the mail that you are answering to or forwarding should be as they are.

[ChristophWurst]

But not only the attachments and images should get forwarded. Also the (HTML-)formatting of the mail that you are answering to or forwarding should be as they are.

That is already the case. Or at least to the degree that our editor is capable of working with the HTML. It will strip any unknown formatting, though.

[szaimen]

@ChristophWurst Why not preserving all html code despite the formatting is known or not?

[ChristophWurst]

How could a WYSIWG editor work with structures it doesn't understand?

[szaimen]

Okay, I understand the problem now, but the thing is that in the current state it seems to be a bug when not preserving all the html formatting. Also it seems to strip a LOT of formatting: sometimes I think it just preserves only the plain text... e.g. tables aren't supported?

Maybe an idea to fix this:
Why not making the content you are answering to or forwarding read only? Then you could preserve the formatting while beeing able to only use the formatting that the editor uses? I don't know if it is just me, but honestly I never change content in the mails that I answering to or forwarding; of course I should be able to see the content of the mails that I am answering to or forwarding while writing the mail draft also to be able to copy content to the draft...

so something like this:

1. click on forwarding or answering
2. the draft view opens where you can write your text; on the buttom is the mail that you are answering to or forwarding in a read only view. when scrolling down, you see the whole mail that you are answering to or forwarding and are able to copy content to the draft view above
3. when clicking on "send mail" or if the draft gets saved, the content that you are answering to or forwarding gets attached to the buttom of the draft/mail. (all html)
4. when opening the draft again, it strips the content that you are answering to or forwarding for editing and show it again in the read only view below... and it gets attached as html again to the mail when saving the draft or sending the mail.

What do you think?

[szaimen]

Better would be of course if the editor would support all html formatting. But this is probably not doable.

Another idea is just disabling the stripping to preserve all (unknown) formatting and show all html code. Then at least another mail app that is able to understand the formatting can show the html code again after sending the mail (or just show the draft).

But stripping all unkown html formatting isn't really the best solution IMO.

[ChristophWurst]

Hey there,

I'd just like to let you know that due to the ongoing issue with Bountysource we're discussing ways to move to a different platform. As it looks right now, Bountysource might claim some of the money that was contributed by the community. We will try our best to prevent that. Historically we – the Nextcloud GmbH employees – simply put the claimed bounties back to other tickets until one was solved by a community member. So the money was always from the community and for the community. We'll therefore move to a better platform and currently don't post any new bounties until this situation is resolved. The current goal is to move/donate the money to Nextcloud include but details will follow in the forum post.

Hope this makes sense. If you have any questions please ask them on the forum. This comment will be copy-pasted to all open issues with bounties.

Christoph and the Mail team

[ChristophWurst]

#3950 feature is about to land 🚀

[mrAceT]

UPDATE
Just for the case someone else stumbles upon this, I've left the original post in place, but wanted to mention: I fixed it. Or more accurately the mail-team did, and I found that solution.

I was running version 23.0.4 and the loss of attachments in forwarding apparently somehow surfaced in that version. I have now upgraded to version 23.0.6 and the attachments are added again!

This update to that version really saved the day and I now only have to apologize to my client for the bug, but that it is working now, phew.

BUMP

You strip formatting, in the forward.. ok great?
But what is the argument for not including attachments then? I really don't understand.

A mail with attachment often has three parts, marked in the header of the mail with something linke:
Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="------=_MB0C37B3D4-C11D-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

then most often first followed with another container with a container for PLAIN text and HTML:

--------=_MB0C37B3D4-C11D-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Content-Type: multipart/related; boundary="------=_MBC3416085-1121-yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy"

--------=_MBC3416085-1121-yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
 boundary="------=_MB6037FCE6-59F6-zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz"

--------=_MB6037FCE6-59F6-zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

there first the PLAIN text mail..

--------=_MB6037FCE6-59F6-zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

and the HTML mail

That group is then closed of via:

--------=_MB6037FCE6-59F6-zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz--

Do take note of the two 'dashes' at the end!

Then you'll see the "header divider" again mrking the start of the attachments

--------=_MBC3416085-1121-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Content-Type: image/png; name=GGGG.png
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
Content-Disposition: inline
Content-Id: <something@blabla>

Followed with the base64 encoded attachment

This is repeated for more attachments

All this is ended with:

--------=_MB0C37B3D4-C11D-xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx--

Again take note of the two dashes at the end here

Honestly, this, in my humble opinion has absolutely nothing to do with formatting of the HTML part?!
And to be completely honest I am somewhat dismayed that something quite essential like this, requested almost 6 years ago isn't functional!

I have a client that needs this functionality, badly.
There is no plugin, no workaround, not a button somewhere I have mist giving me the option to forward the attachment?

Is it really the only option to save the attachment to file and the forward it?
(why isn't there, at that option "safe to file", the option "forward this attachment"!?)