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Can I send a renamed attachment?

  • 4 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 3 views
  • Last reply by drhalter

drhalter
drhalter
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I often send an attachment to other people where I understand the name of the file, but for it to be useful for the person on the other end, it should have a more descriptive title. Often this is because the file resides in a folder which contains those descriptors. An example might be: Dave/Project A/Outline.doc --- If I send this file "Outline.doc" and the person saves it to the disk without organizing or changing the name, they may not later be able to correlate it with me or with project A. If I could, I would leave the file named as it is on my computer, but when attaching it, I would give it a different name, like "Dave's outline for Project A.doc" ... That way I'm not changing the file on my computer, but the person receiving it is getting a file which actually describes what is in the attachment. And they still have the opportunity to organize it into an appropriate folder or rename it as they wish. Is there an add-on which can do this? If not, is this a feasible add-on project? I do not have the programming chops to create such an add-on myself, but perhaps someone out there does.

I often send an attachment to other people where I understand the name of the file, but for it to be useful for the person on the other end, it should have a more descriptive title. Often this is because the file resides in a folder which contains those descriptors. An example might be: Dave/Project A/Outline.doc --- If I send this file "Outline.doc" and the person saves it to the disk without organizing or changing the name, they may not later be able to correlate it with me or with project A. If I could, I would leave the file named as it is on my computer, but when attaching it, I would give it a different name, like "Dave's outline for Project A.doc" ... That way I'm not changing the file on my computer, but the person receiving it is getting a file which actually describes what is in the attachment. And they still have the opportunity to organize it into an appropriate folder or rename it as they wish. Is there an add-on which can do this? If not, is this a feasible add-on project? I do not have the programming chops to create such an add-on myself, but perhaps someone out there does.

Chosen solution

If you right-click an attachment in the attachment pane of the composition window, you can select Rename from the menu.

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All Replies (4)

christ1
christ1
  • Top 25 Contributor
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You can create a copy of the file, rename it, and then attach the renamed copy.

drhalter
drhalter Question owner
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Thanks for the reply.

Not to sound ungrateful, but I really do know many ways to manipulate a file (copy it and rename it, then send; or rename and send then change it back; or start with a descriptive name and just put up with having filenames that go off the side of the screen all the time and give up on folders); The question wasn't how can I do this: it was, is there an add-on that would be able to automate that process in some way? So, if someone has an answer to that question, I would appreciate it! So, christ1: your answer could just as easily have been "no, I don't know how to do that."

You know, if I was on a Mac, I bet I could create an applescript that would trigger every time I sent an attachment. It would store the old name in memory, ask me to rename the file, attach it to an e-mail, then undo the renaming after the e-mail was sent. Of course, I'd be using Apple's Mail program then, and not Thunderbird, however. Anyways; any other ideas out there?

Modified by drhalter

sfhowes
sfhowes
  • Top 10 Contributor
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Chosen Solution

If you right-click an attachment in the attachment pane of the composition window, you can select Rename from the menu.

drhalter
drhalter Question owner
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Thanks sfhowes. Of course, now I feel like an idiot. Can't imagine why I didn't at least try to right click the attachment and see what happens. Your solution is right on! Thanks.