Attaching photos from my mac makes gmail seize up

February 23, 2017 4:54 PM

When I try to attach files from my hard drive to a message in gmail, my browser locks up. How can I fix it?

I'm on a macbook air running OS X El Capitan 10.11.6. I'm using gmail in Chrome.

The situation: I am composing an email and would like to attach pictures. When I navigate to the iPhoto Library or Photo Library folder in my "Pictures" folder, I try to open it by double-clicking. Instead of opening the folder, the attachment window closes. Then the entire gmail browser locks up. I have to force-quit it and re-start.

What's going on? How can I fix it?

posted by thewestinggame to Computers & Internet (2 answers total)

Best answer: There is no Photo Library “folder”—that’s a huge database containing all your photos. When you double-click it in the attachment dialog box, you’re attempting to attach the entire database to your email.

If you want to add individual photos, use the “Photos” section under “Media” in the sidebar of the dialog box to navigate to the photo(s) you want. Or drag them out of the Photos app to the desktop & then into your email composition window.

There are probably also extensions that will let you treat Gmail in Chrome as your default mail application so you can send them right from the “Share” button in Photos but I don’t know of a good one off the top of my head.
posted by bcwinters at 7:05 PM on February 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Yeah, I usually use the "export" feature in iPhoto, save the file to the desktop or other quick location, then browse to the exported file from gmail.
posted by msbubbaclees at 5:45 AM on February 24, 2017