Globally Speaking

It's important to be aware that some email systems in other countries cannot accept attached files such as photos, resumes, or vCards. In addition, hardware and software limitations sometimes prevent our recipients from reading the files of our standard word-processors, spreadsheets, or other applications.

If you haven't sent an attachment to your recipient before, you should make sure she can receive it in a usable form. The only way to find out is to ask her. Send a short email in advance and indicate the following details about your software setup:

• Operating platform (Mac, Win95, Win2000, etc.)
• File format (.doc, .rtf, .txt, .html, .jpeg, .gif, .xls, and so forth)
• Encoding method (MIME, BinHex, UUencode, or other)
• Email application and version number (for example Eudora 3.0 or Outlook 4.0)

Ask her to send the same information back to you. For the second item, she should indicate the name and version of the application she will use to read the type of file that you are sending (word-processor, spreadsheet, hypertext, photo, and so on). Ideally, she will also tell you whether it can handle your file's format.

If she uses an application different from yours, you might need to convert your files before sending them. Similarly, if her email software cannot support your encoding method, you might have to change your email settings to ensure the receipt of your attached file.

When you actually send the attached file, don't forget to ask for confirmation: that she received it, that she was able to open it, and that it was readable and complete. To make sure your recipient can tell whether the file is complete, put some kind of marker within the attached document, at the very end — the author's name, for example, or simply the word END. If you don't want to use a marker, then quote the document's last line when you ask her for confirmation.