What to Do If Attachments Appear In the Message Body?

  author
Written By Deepmala
Chirag Arora
Approved By Chirag Arora  
Published On October 6th, 2023
Reading Time 3 Minutes Reading

One of the most common things that happens with every Outlook user is that the attachments at times, instead of getting affixed in the Attached section, gets embedded in the body of the message. I have come across several queries, which describe the same issue. One of them was:

“At times when I want to attach an attachment with a mail in Outlook, the attachments appear in the message body. This does not happen with every message. Most of the times, it happens when I am replying to a message and affixing an attachment with the reply. Can anyone let me know the possible way to affix the attachment in the Attached section?”

Reason Due to Which Attachments Appear in the Message Body

This happens because the mails are in RTF format. The reason due to which this happens is that the when you attach a file to an Outlook message, the format of the message determines how the attachment will be affixed in it. There are three text formats, which are supported in MS Outlook. They are;

1.) Plain Text:- This format is supported by all the email clients. This format does not support any formatting i.e. no bold, italics, colored fonts, etc. will not be supported.

2.) Rich Text Format (RTF):- The RTF is only supported by MS Outlook and MS Exchange clients. When messages are sent from Outlook in RTF, they are converted to HTML format in order to maintain the formatting. When a file is attached in a mail in RTF format, it gets affixed as an icon in the message body, as shown in the image below: rich text format

3.) HTML Format:- The HTML format is the default message format of Outlook. The messages sent in this format are received in exactly the same formatting. The message is received in the same form in which it was sent. Whenever a file is affixed in the mail, it is shown in the Attached section and not in the message body, as shown in the figure below: HTML file format

How to Affix Attachments in the Attached Tab?

In case, you want to see the affixed attachments in the Attached section, you can do so by changing the formatting of the emails.

1.) For All the Messages:- If you want to affix the files in the Attached section for all the mails you send, follow th below-mentioned steps to do so:

  • Click on File option. Click on File
  • From the drop-down menu, select Options. select-options-from-drop-down
  • Select the Mail option. Select Mail Option
  • In the Compose messages in this format section, select the format as HTML and click on OK. Change message settings

2.) For Selective Messages:- If you just want to attach the files in the attachment section of only a few mails, you can individually change the format of the mail that you are sending. Follow the below mentioned steps to do this:

  • Open a New Mail, you will see the Rich Text format at the top of your mail. rich text format
  • Click on the Format Text tab.Click on format text
  • From the three formats, select HTML format. Select HTML
  • Once you change the format of the mail to HTML, all the files will get embedded in the Attachments section.

Conclusion

We believe that with the help of above-mentioned scenarios and there workarounds, you will be able to troubleshoot the issue of why email attachment appears in message body of MS Outlook.