User profile for user: Knorke
Knorke Author
User level: Level 1
13 points

Apple Mail drag & drop a PDF as text clip

Hi there, ever since I've upgraded to Monterey, I have the problem, that dragging and dropping of a PDF file from Mail to Desktop or to a program often fails. That only happens when Mail shows a preview of the PDF (which is what I'm trying to drag). Then I do not drag the file but a text clip - which I do not want. Even if I try to drag the file clicking in a blank area of the file (so that I can not inadvertently select any text). Maybe that is connected to my magic trackpad, which I'm using?

Is there any way to suppress dragging text clips from a PDF while trying to drag the whole file? Or can I deactivate the inline preview of PDF files in Mail?

Thx for your support!

Rado

iMac 27″, macOS 12.5

Posted on Sep 13, 2022 1:18 AM

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User profile for user: Knorke
Knorke Author
User level: Level 1
13 points

Posted on Sep 13, 2022 5:57 AM

If I do it the way Barney-15E suggests, I will get an inetloc-file. Looking like this: 

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
	<key>URL</key>
	<string>cid:BA062C55-820D-4D37-8885-AED112C5FAFA</string>
</dict>
</plist>


If I select the file first and then drag it (to the left), I will get a file looking like a text-clipping (4 times the size of the original file).

But if I select the file, then click on it and drag it a bit to the right (which I usually never do, because I always drag from the right mail window to the left program window), then I will get the PDf file. Finally something that seems to always work.

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User profile for user: Knorke
Knorke Author
User level: Level 1
13 points

Sep 13, 2022 5:57 AM in response to Barney-15E

If I do it the way Barney-15E suggests, I will get an inetloc-file. Looking like this: 

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
	<key>URL</key>
	<string>cid:BA062C55-820D-4D37-8885-AED112C5FAFA</string>
</dict>
</plist>


If I select the file first and then drag it (to the left), I will get a file looking like a text-clipping (4 times the size of the original file).

But if I select the file, then click on it and drag it a bit to the right (which I usually never do, because I always drag from the right mail window to the left program window), then I will get the PDf file. Finally something that seems to always work.

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User profile for user: Owl-53
Owl-53
User level: Level 10
95,411 points

Sep 13, 2022 2:36 AM in response to Knorke

On two Apple Silicon computer I am running - when a preview of a PDF appears in the Body of the e-mail - I Right Click the preview of the PDF and a Sub Menu Appears with Choices including Save PDF


Below is bad example as the PDF was sent from me to me and only an icon of the PDF is reprinted but the idea is basically the same


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User profile for user: Knorke
Knorke Author
User level: Level 1
13 points

Sep 13, 2022 2:41 AM in response to Owl-53

Thanks, I'm aware of being able to save the PDF as an attachment. But that's not the idea of drag & drop...

It's just cumbersome. It's blocking my workflow. Thats why someone invented drag & drop in the first place, I guess...

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User profile for user: VikingOSX
VikingOSX
User level: Level 10
119,957 points

Sep 13, 2022 4:32 AM in response to Knorke

The only way to avoid the text-clipping issue with a received Mail attachment shown as a single-page PDF is to use the secondary menu to open the PDF in Preview, enable thumbnails, and then drag and drop the PDF thumbnail to the Desktop or an application that can manage a PDF drop scenario (e.g. Pages v12.1). Otherwise, it is totally random whether you will get a text-clipping, or a PDF document icon in a drag operation directly from that one-page PDF attachment.


The preceding works for me on macOS 12.6, and though opening the attachment in Preview is a disjoint step, it is 100% reliable to get that PDF attachment without any text clipping issues.

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Apple Mail drag & drop a PDF as text clip

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