I have 2 emails I’ve received, one with a word document attached, one with a png image attached. I’d like to send out a new email with both of those attached to it. I thought the iPad was supposed to be intuitive and easy to use, but I’m completely at a loss how to even save the attachments from the incoming e-mails, let alone attach them to the new one.

Something which is so easy to do on something with an OS from Bill Gates’ company.

Forward the email & delete the text you don’t want?

If you open the attachment and then press the little arrow in a box icon in the top corner you get the option to forward or copy,

@aracer – in fairness I’m not sure you can create an email with more than one attachment, when I’ve done something similar I’ve sent multiple messages. On the iPad you start with the file and then send it rather than starting with an email and adding multiple attachments. The word doc you can save in iBooks from the message, not sure about png files.

You can – just forward with attachments.

Forward the email & delete the text you don’t want?

Nice idea – a bit more hassle than the conventional approach, but it works for attachments from one email. Shame I have attachments from 2 different emails I want to put together.

If you open the attachment and then press the little arrow in a box icon in the top corner you get the option to forward or copy,

Nope – just an option to print (which won’t work anyway, as I’ve still not found a decent free way to print from the ipad to my windows shared printer).

I’m not sure you can create an email with more than one attachment

Well how rubbish is that? Sending a message with multiple attachments is a facility I’ve had in every other mail programme I’ve ever used – I mean even Outlook and Outlook Express could manage that.

On the iPad you start with the file and then send it rather than starting with an email and adding multiple attachments.

How backwards is that?

The word doc you can save in iBooks from the message

Nope – no option to save that I can find, I’ve tried tapping, pressing and holding, dragging, even a futile attempt to get it to submit using multiple touch gestures.

I can’t say I’ve ever been that big a fan of this iPad, but I have been trying to learn to love it. However when I come across serious pains in the backside like this, I do start to wonder why all the fanbois are raving about them so much. Is it that they never actually try to do anything serious with their play devices? Though to be fair I was giving Mr Gates a bit too much credit, as the software I have which does this without any trouble at all is from Google and Yahoo.

This is annoying that multiple attachments can’t be done through the normal iPad email thing. What you need is an app called ‘Group email! With attachments’. Rubbish name and looks rubbish, but once you put the names of the people to send to and added your attachments it takes you to the proper iPad email system. Apparently ios 6 let’s you do a single attachment.

@aracer – I’ve been using my iPad for 3 years and I’ve never found the email/ multiple attachment thing to be a problem. The iPad is my main email device for personal stuff and for business use when out if the office.

jmbalya does that mean that either you a) never send email with multiple attachments, b) work around it unsatisfactorily by forwarding two emails or c) have a solution to aracers problem?

For business, there’s no way I could live with a one attachment limit, that’s just unrealistic. iPads are a nice toy though.

Okay, a solution is to get Documents Pro:

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/documents-pro/id374142847?mt=8

The normal iPad email app can add multiple images from Photos, but not any file type, and the problem with combining attachments from several emails is where you put those files while you’re combining them. So open each email, send the attachment to Documents Pro, then in DP you can combine them all into one new email.

I use DP for all my document management on the iPad anyway – it’s good to have a central place that all files are stored, instead of having to remember which email had which file.

Okay, a solution is to get Documents Pro:

You mean I have to pay for something which Yahoo and Google provide for free in order to make the iPad just work?

Right, so I found a way to do what we were originally trying to do. Forward the e-mail with the Word doc attached, then delete all the other forwarding stuff in order to leave myself with a new e-mail with that attachment. Go to the e-mail with the PNG image in, select that and copy it. Go to the new email, paste PNG image. So wonderfully straightforward. It also wouldn’t work if I wanted to attach two Word docs from two different incoming emails.

Of course by that stage mrs aracer (who’s iPad it is, and who normally does all her email on that now) had resorted to borrowing my laptop and logging into her email account on that. Even if you include logging her out and me back in, that was still quicker than doing it on the iPad would have been even if you knew how to do it.

jmbalya does that mean that either you a) never send email with multiple attachments, b) work around it unsatisfactorily by forwarding two emails or c) have a solution to aracers problem?

I presume from his previous reply that the answer is b, so he’s allowing the technology to dictate the way he works.

Sounds like the iPad just went back to the 1980s. Very bad form.

You can easily send emails with multiple photos and videos. Either by starting at the Photos app or by using the “Insert Photo or Video” option while composing a mail.

Other attachment types depend on the apps that support them (i.e. emailing a DOC requires support from an app that handles docs, emailing a PDF requires support from a PDF app like iBooks etc).

Basically it’s due to the way each app only gets access to its own files. There is no central bucket of files like you get on a PC.

Great for security – but a bit of a pain in the harris for doing stuff.

Yeah, the iPad really isn’t designed for intensive email stuff – or intensive anything, really, though it runs my business accounts very well.

Pretty sure GoodReader does multiple attachments including docs, pdfs and images, but I don’t have my iPad handy to check.

aracer
You mean I have to pay for something which Yahoo and Google provide for free in order to make the iPad just work?

The iPad certainly has a lot more software for standard than any Windows device ever did. Plus the stuff yo have to pay for is pretty cheap or indeed even free

Stoner – Member
jmbalya does that mean that either you a) never send email with multiple attachments, b) work around it unsatisfactorily by forwarding two emails or c) have a solution to aracers problem?

From the iPad no I don’t send a single email with multiple attachments (other than forwarding stuff) – I just send two emails with subject matter making it clear it’s “1 of 2”

If I really need to send multiple attachments I do it from a computer.

IMO the benefits of the iPad far outweigh this restriction. I don’t see my iPad as a replacement for my computer, I used to have laptop and desktop, now I have iPad and desktop.

The iPad certainly has a lot more software for standard than any Windows device ever did.

Like what exactly?

Plenty of open source and freeware stuff for Windows which covers most stuff you ever want to do, all without lots of stupid ads (which is what you seem to get on iPad free apps), and which doesn’t in general force me to do things in awkward ways.