Send photos in WLM 2011 without using Skydrive

I don’t like using Skydrive for sending more than one photo at a time in WLM 2011. There are several tips in this forum for sending photos without using Skydrive. Each has pros and cons - my method included. No mater which method you use all W7 users will receive the photos as a slideshow. Users using XP or Vista will receive the photo in the message body at the same size that it was sent - W7 users will also receive the photos in the message body at the same size that it was sent.

Here’s how I send my photos in WLM.

In WLM and select “New” – “Email message”
Click on “Insert” select “Single Photo”
Open your folder and click on your first photo - press and holding the “Ctrl” key while holding the “Ctrl” key - click on additional photos that you want to send when done - click on “Open”

The photos will be resized automatically. My photos average 2.5 mb and I send with out resizing first.

Note: If you enter text in the message body before inserting photos hit the enter key at least twice after entering your text - that will place your photos below the text. To include text after inserting your photos - click on the right of last photo and hit the enter key.

R Fernandez said:

...The photos will be resized automatically. My photos average 2.5 mb and I send with out resizing first...

I'm confused about the resizing. If they are resized automatically, but you send w/o resizing first, does that mean that your 2.5 MB photo in Windows Explorer is received as a smaller file with loss of resolution? If so, how can one prevent auto resizing? Perhaps only as an attachment?

I think that besides the "file as attachment" and "insert image...Photo Email" there is an option called "insert image...inline". I fully expected the Photo Email option to reduce the size within the email since it is only a thumbnail link to skydrive which has the downloadable image. What surprised me is that when I tried the Photo Email option, the downloaded image was resized down to about 1/3 the original file size. What's the point of Photo Email if it still uncontrollably resizes the final image available to the recipient?

Phone Man said:

My understanding that Photo Email uploads the full image to a server (skydrive) and then sends a thumbnail to the recipient and when they click on it they are connected to the server to view the file...

Yes, that was my understanding too, until I tried it. Photo Email input size = 896 KB, slide-show download (from the server) = 348 KB. (Note, there is a download option in the "slide show" on the server.) There is also another link in the email called "save all photos" with a pop-up description "high resolution" but the downloaded file size for that method was 515 KB. So it looks like the only way to prserve the original resolution is to attach it as a file rather than identify it as an "image". (At least that was my experience with one test using WLM 2009. I'm not yet using 2011.)

My wife using WLM2012 Also uses Picasa to manage photos.
We find that if you try to email photos from within Picasa using default email client then photo email is used automatically and it goes directly to the One drive and you get the thumbnails. If you use the option of a Gmail address then the emails come through as attachments.
Not a very nice option as it involves using a different email address from usual which confuses normal recipient. It does allow use of Picasa for photo management.

This is my post from another thread on how I do pictures with WLM11. This works for me and is pretty easy to do.

Ok, I hate skydrive and wanted it the way it used to be before Microsoft fixed it. Not happening, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.

If you right click on the photo/photos you want to send and click copy, you can then open and email and in the message body right click and hit paste. You can resize like always and you are done!