This is a conversation between a Google’s Gmail App user and an expert who tried to answer questions regarding resizing images for mails.
Gmail User: When I add an image to the gmail app it doesn’t ask about resizing like the Apple mail app does, where I can say to send as original or resize/compress them. I can’t find any solid info on the web about what gmail does. It just automatically puts the image(s) in-line in the email with no options. You can also read these posts below;
- Resize images before Sending Mail with iOS Gmail App?
- Gmail for iPhone – Google App on Apple’s iTune
- Dropbox Yahoo Mail Integration to Save Attachment in Cloud
Doesn’t anyone know how to fix this?
I recently caught gmail compressing and resizing an image I attached in a message. After that, I checked a message I sent with an image attached. Also, I downloaded the image from the SENT email and compared it to the original image. The image in the sent message was 1/3 the size of the original image.
Once again gmail gives no options about resizing, nor does it ask if you want to. The Apple mail app is way ahead in this way. It asks you and you can choose to send original. This is pretty unbelievable considering how many professionals use gmail.
Maybe if I use the mobile browser gmail and attach the image instead of it being inline it won’t get compressed? I don’t know but I’m trying to migrate to the Apple mail app now.
You get options when inserting inline images, not adding attachments. But Gmail shouldn’t make further changes after you make your choice.
The gmail app offers no options, no preferences in settings and does not ask before sending the email if you want it compressed/resized or to send original. There is no way to attach an image in the gmail app.
Gmail in Mobile Web
Gmail in mobile web browser only attaches images and doesn’t offer inline images. As far as I know. And there are still no preferences or options and it does not ask.
If it sent the original that would sort of be ok but I caught the gmail app resizing my image. And there are many times we don’t want to send a full size image to someone.
I spoke to one of the senior guys on the help community. But, are you sure you downloaded the image or did you just save a copy of the thumbnail?
I went back and looked again. The sent email had no way of downloading the image except to click on the inline image in the sent email and “add to photos” I looked for another way but could not find one. Another strike against gmail for me right now. So that file that I downloaded was way smaller than the original.
Images sent as inline from Gmail on iOS are full size when sent and received (confirmed in the web app). Images saved from Gmail on my iPhone are saved with a smaller size, probably matching the thumbnail or the screen size.
More Solutions
I will try to find a way to download the images full size from the app on an iPhone, but at least we can verify that Gmail is not compressing your images when you send them.
Except no one can download them full size. Honestly gmail has its own issues. Attaching emails is a huge pain you can’t view albums in the photos app, all you can see is a huge list of images. Google is busy pushing google drive and google photos in the gmail app that critical parts of sending a simple email have been left haphazard.
I have discovered that the iOS Gmail app will not let you download inline images, only attachments, so the Apple software takes over and saves the reduced copy. It is possible to save the full size image from the mobile web app. Re: “There is no way to attach an image in the gmail app. “If you want to send an image as an attachments in the Gmail app, touch the image after it is uploaded, then choose “Send as attachment”.
I don’t know the details about the size of pasted images, sorry. The thread where permissions were suggested also stated that the vetting process for App Store approval is much harder if your App asks for some permissions. I do not know if any of that is true, but it sounded plausible. (Apple are aware that many users just click “yes”, so they want to be sure that the app is trusted.)
Gmail and Apple Mail
Yes, Gmail and Apple Mail can be set up to send from your external address. I don’t know the details for Apple, but I think it involves adding the account separately. (If you send from Apple Mail through the Gmail SMTP servers, the mail will have your address in From, but will come from the Google servers. This can be a problem if your domain uses sender verification.
To avoid that, you need to set Apple Mail to use your provider’s SMTP server. With Gmail, you only need to set that up once and it will work with all Gmail apps, but you will need to set it up on each device if you use Apple Mail.)