Good idea! The method of checking for the word attachment, would result in false calls when replying to messages with inline of past transactions. So if you reply to a e-mail where the sender has an attachment and the message is inline of your reply, the program will ask you for attachments.

Simpler solution would be to make two options for compose message. One would be for Compose/Reply, the other Compose/Reply with Attachment. The second option will ask for check for the attachement before sending the e-mail.

like it (+)

This is a great solution to an embarassing problem. As is "Compose with Attachment".

I think this is a good idea and could easily be implemented. An occasional false positive would be a small annoyance compared to having to resend an email because you forgot the attachment. The feature could be completely disabled, too.

Now if there were some way to guard against “Reply To All” when you really just wanted to “Reply”.

Reply to all is not just a problem in email. My firm installed LotusSametime (Intranet based instant message). A collegue sent a Sametime "announcement" message, but forgot to select any recipients. As a result, everyone in the building (perhaps more) received it.

when you forget to attach a file to an email, doesn't the embarrassment teach you a lesson to pay attention next time?

A colleague of my wife wrote a macro for MS Outlook that did just this.. it ran when the "send" button was clicked, looked for the word "enclosed" and "attached" in an email - and then flagged up a message if no attachment was found.

Or you could attach your file first.

Perhaps an addition to this logic could be to scan for your bosses name or the entire company distribution and confirm that you want to send the mail. How many of you have received an email from someone who meant to send it to one person but blurted it out to the whole company (including the president?)

Whoops.

Great idea but I think it could be quite annoying in practice. For example if someone send you an email with an attachment file and you reply it (of course without sending the file again) you have to click to close there "Attachment missing" promts. If the chain is going to be long you have to delete all the attachment words in the text and so on. Or go to options to turn that function off.

Perhaps a better way is to have a choice of creating a new e-mail either plain or with an attachment. Either "New e-mail" or "New e-mail w/attachment." Only with the latter choice would a prompt be surfaced.

The time I hate when this happens the worst is when I am sending a company a resume in application for a job. That second mail with the attachment is a painful one! <:

Ouch!

The <a href="http://www.kde.org>KDE mailer KMail (part of the Kontact Suite) has this feature for years now. ;)

You can even configure it very flexibly. (screenshot)

This could easily be added to Mozilla Thunderbird with an extension.

Very good idea. I don't think adding another category of "Reply" or "Compose" will make anything better: you could decide to attach something in mid-writing and then forget. I think the best solution is to have you software react immediately after you type the word "attach", and ask you to "Attach now", "Attach Later" or "Ignore".

Here it is for those of you who have Outlook. http://www.emailaddressmanager.com/outlook/alerts.html

So if you reply to a e-mail where the sender has an attachment and the message is inline of your reply, the program will ask you for attachments.

No, that wouldn't be an issue. It's trivial for the mail program to understand which regions of the message are quoting, and which are what you just wrote. Programs today already can be configured to ignore the quoted portion when checking spelling (what's the point correcting someone else's spelling). It could just exclude those areas for this too.

How much idiot-proofing does a program need? :P I'll admit that I'd done it myself, but I'd never think (or want to expect) the program to pick up on it for me.

Idiot proofing is a warning label on your microwave telling you not to use it to dry your cat. This is just a functional aid for a common problem, such as asking if you want to save a document before your close it or spell check before you send an email. Otherwise we are all idiots--including the previous commenter, who admitted to this mistake.

Don't think this is practical. E.g.:
"Why are you so attached to this idea?"
"Bitte findest Du als Anhang dieses E-mail ...."

This belongs in the same category as the above-mentioned warning on microwaving cats, and
"objects in this mirror may be closer than they look"
WRONG, they are exactly as close as they look, but maybe closer than you mis-interpret them to be. Such protected against human mistakes just annoy people more often then they help.

I successfully use this "idea" sice several months! It works fine! If you try sending an email which talks about attachments but does not contain any attachment, you will be warned by a message which sounds like "This email talks about attachments but has NO attachments: send it anyway? YES/NO".Just a click, and you'll avoid any embarassing situation!

Some companies sell this product... but some internet users give it out for free!http://www.danevans.co.uk/vba/

Just look for "outlook attachment thisoutlooksession" in Google ;-)

You are talking about having an AI program to understand your text before sending out. The program cannot just stupidly search for the word "Attach" and prompt the user. Otherwise the program will be too annoying to the user, and soon the user will come back here to suggest, "why not remove it"

@Jimmy:Are you sure? How many times you write "attachment" in your email, without referring to an attachment you are sending? ;-)Try, and you'll see.

Email attachment prediction

Just have another checkbox in the compose window : Remind me to include attachment if its not attached already before sending this email.

Just have another checkbox in the compose window : Remind me to include attachment if its not attached already before sending this email.

More help from the boggus paper clip ... no thanks!

I like it. Of course, you can always ignore or override the warning, but it would be nice to have that option.

I always add the attachment before I type the message or enter an address. Works for me.

There should be an add-on option for this. It could even begin by just being offered for premium/paid email accounts (which at least some e-mail services offer).

It's a great idea and I know it will be an easy program to create, distribute and download for any email/internet provider. But, do you want it in your office? What other words could the IT person at your place of business have flagged.Then the email can be read by your employer for whatever justification he, she or they deem pertinent, vital, secure etc.. The internet at your place of employment isn't yours. I suggest useing the good old fashioned post-it note.

There is a macro that you can copy and paste that would solve this for Outlook. It can be found at http://searchexchange.techtarget.com/tip/1,289483,sid43_gci1126071,00.htmlNo guarantees on its effectiveness but does provide an interim solution

Do you need a reminder to wipe before you stand up too?

hi all ... gmail are already trialing this as a labs feature.

cheers

http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/new-in-labs-handy-intern-tweaks.html

I actually wrote an Outlook add-in at my last job that does pretty much exactly what's described here at my last job:

http://www.attach-it.net/

You can customize the keywords and such too.

How about attachments that are already 'open'? (You can read them without clicking...

it exists for gmail labs =D

I believe there is a patent for this idea

http://www.google.com/patents?id=9bAVAAAAEBAJ&printsec=abstract&zoom=4&dq=email+attachments&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0_0#PPA6,M1

+ great idea

though, the proposal how to implement the idea doesn't seem appropriate.

It is there in gmail in labs feature.