Q. When I send Windows users a jpeg file from Apple Mail, they say they cannot open the attachment. I can send the same file to a Mac user without an issue. What is going on?
A. The problem is that you are becoming a victim of “Windows Friendly” mail messages. When you drag and drop an image into a mail message in Apple’s Mail application, it does not automatically select the “Send Windows Friendly” email option. The attachment then gets broken up while traversing the Internet.
The file does arrive at the PC, but the Windows mail application (or browser-based internet reader) doesn’t see the file correctly. The PC sees a file with the correct name but the wrong MIME type (application/appfile) as the jpeg, and also sees a piece with the correct MIME type (image/jpeg). When the Windows user tries to open the file, their PC opens the first part, which is not a jpeg and “has no preview.”
So, when you’re sending to a PC user, you should click the “attach” icon and browse to the file. Select the file and choose “Send Windows Friendly” attachment. The Mac will then send the attachment in “Base 64” and the receiving PC will not get confused about which piece to open.
Windows users can also open the incorrectly sent image by Right-Clicking the attachment and choosing Save As. They can then navigate to where they saved the file and open it. It can be annoying, though, as they’ve probably become used to opening the attachment in the email.
Q. Before upgrading to Leopard, I was able to see my photographs in the Finder. After the upgrade I can only see the “iPhoto Library,” so I cannot import images into QuarkXpress. Is there a way to import my iPhoto images into Xpress?
A. Apple has changed the way iPhoto stores images and has changed the “iPhoto Library” from a folder into a “bundle.” A bundle is a special folder that appears in the Finder as an object and, in fact, all applications on MacOS X are bundles. Bundles were created so that an application’s resources, such as icons and other support files, could be stored in the same place. When you click on an applications icon in the Finder, you are clicking on a bundle. So it would seem that you cannot access the images in the bundle.
You can see the contents of a bundle in the Finder by “right clicking” (or control clicking) the bundle, which opens a contextual menu. Choose “Show Package Contents” from the menu and the bundle will open like a folder. You can then navigate through the folders to view the resources inside. You can also use this method to find your images in the iPhoto Library. The original images are located in the “Originals” folder, sorted by year and date. Unfortunately, you cannot use QuarkXpress’s “Import Picture” function, so you will need the “Drag and Drop” Xtension.
Fortunately, the folks at Quark Labs (http://labs.quark.com) have made an Xtension that will allow images to be sent to a QuarkXpress layout. Download the “Image Drag and Drop” Xtension for QuarkXpress 7 and copy it into your Xtension folder. Once there, you can open iPhoto and drag an image onto the QuarkXpress layout. The Xtension is able to locate images inside the iPhoto Library bundle.