How do I attach a photo to an email?

Click the paperclip icon (Gmail / Outlook web), the 📎 icon (Apple Mail), or the photo icon (mobile mail apps). Pick the photo from your library. Wait for it to upload before sending; most clients show a progress bar.

Can I drag and drop photos into an email?

Yes: every desktop email client supports drag-and-drop. Drag from your file manager directly into the compose window. Most also accept dropping straight into the body to embed inline.

What's the difference between attaching and inlining a photo?

An attachment shows up as a separate file recipients download. An inline photo appears in the email body. Most clients let you do either: drag into the body for inline, drag onto the toolbar / paperclip for attachment.

Why does my photo attachment fail?

Most often: total size is over the provider's limit. Compress the photo first, or use a cloud share link. Sometimes the issue is a corporate filter blocking HEIC, .heic, or executable file types.

How to attach photos to an email

Attaching photos has been a solved problem for twenty years, except nobody told the email providers. Here's the right path in each major client, then the workarounds for when "Attach" fails.

Gmail (web)

Compose: bottom-left of inbox.
Click the paperclip 📎 icon at the bottom of the compose window.
Select your photo. Wait for the green check.
Or: drag-and-drop directly from your file manager onto the compose window.

To embed a photo inline in the body, drag it into the message area itself. Gmail will resize it to fit the email width. This is the technique EmailPhotos.com's "Paste inline" feature uses.

Limit: 25 MB per message. Gmail offers Drive sharing automatically for anything larger.

Gmail (mobile)

Compose, tap the 📎 in the top toolbar.
Attach file for one-off files, or Insert from Drive for cloud-stored photos.
Pick from Files / Photos / Drive.

Apple Mail (macOS)

New message → click Attach in the toolbar (or ⌘⇧A).
Or drag the photo from Finder into the compose window.
To resize during sending: bottom-right of the message has an "Image Size: Actual Size / Large / Medium / Small" picker.

Limit: ~20 MB depending on outgoing server. iCloud Mail Drop kicks in automatically for larger payloads.

Apple Mail (iOS)

Tap compose (square with pencil).
Long-press in the body → Insert Photo or Video.
Pick from Photo Library; size picker appears in the keyboard accessory bar.

Or: open Photos → Select photos → Share → Mail. Mail handles the rest.

Outlook (web)

New message.
Click Insert > Attach files in the toolbar.
Choose Browse this computer or Browse cloud locations (OneDrive).

Limit: 20 MB per attachment for Outlook.com. Microsoft 365 enterprise can be configured higher (up to 150 MB).

Yahoo Mail

Compose → 📎 at the bottom toolbar.
Pick file or drag-and-drop.

Limit: 25 MB per message.

When attaching fails

Three common reasons:

Over the size limit. Compress before attaching. Drag the photos onto EmailPhotos.com for a one-shot browser-side compress + share.
HEIC blocked. Some corporate Outlook deployments strip HEIC. Convert to JPEG (EmailPhotos.com does this automatically) or change your iPhone capture format.
Antivirus quarantining. Rare for photos, but a small number of corporate setups quarantine all images. The photo arrives stripped; recipient sees a "removed by policy" notice.

Inline vs. attachment

Use inline if…	Use attachment if…
You want recipients to see the photo in the email body	You want a downloadable file
Sharing 1–4 photos as visual content (Slack-style)	Sharing originals for someone to keep
Sending to a non-technical user (faster: they just see the photo)	Sending to someone who'll archive or print

EmailPhotos.com supports both: the default Send button attaches; the Paste inline menu item walks you through pasting each photo into a Gmail draft as inline content.