I think most people have made their points, hopefully they will find a way off adding what people want without alienating people.
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General Emailing a PDF...
- Thread starter SomeGuyDude
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Why jump to hyperbole? If you want to be able to attach files to an email on iOS, just download an email app that supports Dropbox or some similar service. Let's not pretend that the functionality is simply unavailable on iOS.
iBooks is not a third party app, and you could give its PDF files the same privileges. What's your point?
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Jump to hyperbole? Funny, coming from a guy who says university students would be so confused if there existed an option to add a PDF to an email reply that they would stop using iOS devices.
Please, do inform me which mail app allows me to add files from Dropbox to an email reply.
Edit: sorry, you weren't the guy who said that. But you get my point - I'm not the one using extreme exaggeration to make a point.
But that doesn't allow for attaching any more files than what the Mail app allows for.
iBooks is not a system app. It has the same restrictions as any other app that you download from the App Store.
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But that doesn't allow for attaching any more files than what the Mail app allows for.
What do you mean? I use Mailbox. I can attach any file from my Dropbox account.
Apple could make it a system app, or make it work like one when downloaded.
Can you attach files - or can you attach links?
I accept it may require reworking of the security etc., but nothing so substantial that it is out of the question. See the iTunes view in post 61. The apps are sandboxed, but they can obviously still present a library of public/shareable files that is distinct from their internal files the app may have (icons etc.). So some of the work is definitely already there, no? In iTunes I can download files from one app and then add them to another. A simpler interface for doing something like that is missing from iOS and I don't think it's so crazy to think they could smoothly implement file sharing between apps that builds on this basic infrastructure.
A file actually gets attached to an email? Or is there simply a link in the email that leads to a file if someone was to click on that link and then select to download that file?
If it's just a link, then it's certainly not the same thing. And while for some people the difference might not play much of a role, it does for plenty of others.
There are apps that can attach multiple files to a new email, that is not in question. One example is Phone Drive. But you cannot, within Mail (or any app), look for files from another app. One problematic result of this means you can't attach files to a reply in Mail.
edit: Ignore this, you're all talking about dropbox - sorry!
Actually, it's both possible and easy to transfer files between apps in iOS. But not into existing emails...
Yep, but you can only send from the app holding the files to another app right? What I want / think is feasible without too much work, is an OS API + simple interface, allowing you to look for other apps' files from within an app. This is not to break the sandboxing principle, it's just adding another system API allowing another form of interaction between apps. Just clarifying my point, I'm agreed with you.
Wait, wait! I wanted to read your explanation of how pilots would be confused by an attachment option!
Emailing a PDF...
Some of you guys make this WAY to complicated. Are people stumped using Android, Windows phone, Mac, PC, etc email clients?
No.
Ten years before the iPhone was released I was attaching files to emails. What happened that all of a sudden made it this huge confusing ordeal?
Nothing.
The issue is the way iOS operates and the way iOS sandboxes apps and the files they contain. It makes it impractical and overly difficult to implement such a basic feature. It's not confusing on the user end.
Even now the simplest way would be "insert from app" then a list off apps appear, you select Adobe Reader (for example) then select the PDF file you want to attach.
So the simplest way requires rewriting iOS, iOS email client, and every single app that can be accessed. Lol.
This is a system wide issue. If I want to look at the same PDF in two different apps for various reasons I need to have duplicates of that PDF. I don't see a good way Apple could solve this at this point.
Edit: btw I meant overly complicated from the user end not in how to implement.
Some of you guys make this WAY to complicated. Are people stumped using Android, Windows phone, Mac, PC, etc email clients?
No.
Ten years before the iPhone was released I was attaching files to emails. What happened that all of a sudden made it this huge confusing ordeal?
Nothing.
The issue is the way iOS operates and the way iOS sandboxes apps and the files they contain. It makes it impractical and overly difficult to implement such a basic feature. It's not confusing on the user end.
Even now the simplest way would be "insert from app" then a list off apps appear, you select Adobe Reader (for example) then select the PDF file you want to attach.
So the simplest way requires rewriting iOS, iOS email client, and every single app that can be accessed. Lol.
This is a system wide issue. If I want to look at the same PDF in two different apps for various reasons I need to have duplicates of that PDF. I don't see a good way Apple could solve this at this point.
Edit: btw I meant overly complicated from the user end not in how to implement.
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And that's such a massive, unthinkable task? Part of this is already in place, as iTunes reveals: apps have an accessible document store that the user can copy files to and from.
Yes, of course, a new 'Insert from App' feature within iOS would require additional development of iOS, just as all new features do.
Yes, of course, apps may require further development to support this new feature (perhaps in different or more extensive ways than the support found in some apps that already support the document store exposed in iTunes.)
But new APIs come in with every major release of iOS, and app developers adopt them at different rates, and some are tougher to adopt than others, and not all apps make use of all APIs. So what? If Apple introduced such a feature, I'm pretty sure they would do so it the same way they introduced the larger iPhone screen, for example, or the new keyboard in iOS 7, or Background App Refresh. Support's not mandatory, your app runs fine without supporting it. But if your app holds files, then you can bet your users will start requesting support for this new 'Insert from App' feature!
The simple solution just isn't as radically complex as being made out. Saying it requires 'rewriting ... every single app that can be accessed' is disingenuous as it gives the impression apps aren't being rewritten to support new features all the time.
Massive, unthinkable task? No, it's not unthinkable.
Even if you were to half ass it and only rewrite apps to share with the stock email app. That requires work on the OS, core email app and 3rd party app. That's more complex then adding a feature in a single app. Quite a large task and that's just half assing it IMO. A lot of work for one app to email stuff.
If you were to actually allow system wide file sharing, then yes that's quite a massive task.
"Insert from app" was just me thinking aloud. That's a silly idea in itself. Imagine hitting insert from app and a list of 50 apps pops up.
Adding this simple and basic feature would/is going to require a lot of careful thought. At least to have that Apple like touch to it. It's very difficult for a user to manage files without a user accessible file manager.
I guess my idea would be a user accessible download folder. Files you download still goto the app. However from that app you can export to this folder. Then apps can access this at the users discretion. "Email (or any app) would like to access 'downloads'". I don't know, there are probably some flaws in that I'm not thinking of right now.
I don't know. Your point is completely irrelevant to this debate.
No, I'm not. I'm saying that the great majority of iOS users do not want or need this functionality and any nontrivial additions to the UI would be a distraction at best for a lot of the target audience.
Because apps typically have a "Create new document' as well, for one thing. Just look at what you see when you open Pages. See that big 'Plus' icon with the words 'Create Document' below it? You want that to appear when selecting a document for linking in another app?
See above. Also, any app that can persist something that the user can create is fair game for being included in your grand scheme. (Please stop talking about PDFs, by the way. Your apparently favourite document format is one of but many.)
I hate to repeat myself, but images and photos are a very special case of document. As far as the average iOS user is concerned that is exactly what they are, not 'files' or anything else, but images that they can see.
That is a completely spurious argument. The Settings app is not designed to be used frequently, let's say while you're replying to an email.
If you take the time to think about the issues involved in detail, there are actually many problems inherent in your grand vision.
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It's in the detail, you see.
But we are. Apple expect apps to open documents in their own UI. Take Numbers, for example, which has a very specific way of presenting the documents that it knows about. Apple are not going to compromise that way of doing things just to accommodate enhanced Reply To Email functionality.
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More...
Then do what? Exactly what? That's where the problems start.
"More..." is an example to demonstrate the point, but even with that there are "More..." options present and used without complicating anything.
Plenty of people don't forward messages much or at all ever, yet the option is there, now behind this "More..." option in Messages. It can all be done, and done without much confusion, even for things that a lot of people don't use or even care for.
As mentioned before a number of times by numerous people, an elegant and straightforward way to do it all can be found. The whole thing of it being too complex or anything like that simply doesn't hold water.
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