You are here:
Email Attachments
Use Email Studio to send email attachments that aren’t included in the main body of an email. The recipient can open and save the attachment independently of the email message.
You can send a file as an attachment to your email jobs, but keep in mind that attaching certain file types or extremely large files can cause deliverability problems and reduce the effectiveness of your message. Email Studio can include images in email content. Therefore, you don’t need to attach an image to an email to have it appear. Use email attachments for files intended for use outside of the email, such as documents that you want the subscriber to review or download.
Prerequisites
Contact your account executive to enable this feature for your account. You must be familiar with AMPscript to send emails with attachments.
Where to Store Your Email Attachments
You can attach files to your emails from three different locations.
- Content Builder
- Your Marketing Cloud Engagement FTP location
- A separate website
To attach a file from a separate website, include the full URL of the site in the AttachFile AMPscript function. For a Marketing Cloud FTP attachment, enter the name of the file located in the Import section of your FTP site. If the files aren’t available at send time, you receive an error.
Deciding Which File Types to Send
Although you can attach ZIP and RAR files, many email systems either strip these files from the message or block the message for security purposes. Compressed files have been used to send viruses, worms, and other malware.
To ensure that a compressed file reaches your subscribers, place the file on a separate web server and include a link to the file in your email.
Mailbox Size Limits
Many email systems apply quotas on email account storage space. Files greater than 1 MB can strain limits and prevent messages from reaching a subscriber. To avoid problems with mailbox size limits, security issues, and send speeds, attach the smallest possible file.
Attaching several small files affects emails the same way as a single large file. As the total size of an email increases, it takes more time to send. Email systems evaluate the message as a whole, so keep the number of attachments to a minimum to ensure better deliverability.
Security Issues
Files attached from your FTP site or an external URL aren’t scanned for viruses, so make sure that the file is free of security issues.
Tracking Email Attachments
Marketing Cloud tracks email with attachments the same as regular email messages for opens, clicks, bounces, and similar information. However, Marketing Cloud can’t track whether the subscriber opened the attachment or clicked links inside the document. Tracking information pertains to the actual email message and not the attachment.
