SWF in email? how-to 1212 Responses

Last post: 2 years, 1 month ago | Thread started: Dec 12, 09, 1:25 p.m.

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• SoulFly

  Hello all,

  It seems like if you try to email a .swf file greeting card or project proposal to someone, many people will say they can't open your .swf file, even after they download the latest flash player. Some people say they get a error message asking them to download AIR or Shockwave, or simply it won't play the .swf file.

  I know that really you should upload the file to a site. But I have many friends who do not have a webhost, and need to email the .swf. Is there a way? have you come across this issue?

  Thanks in advance

  Dec 12, 09, 1:25 p.m. – Permalink

• ItTango

  For obvious security reasons, it can't be done.
  Filter? This was recently discussed:
  http://www.qbn.com/topics/616637…

  • apparently all that article says it's that it works on a mac mail only. Figures...– SoulFly

  

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  Dog-earDec 12, 09, 1:30 p.m. – Permalink

• SoulFly

  I saw the above thread, but it seems to be talking about embedding the flash in the body of the email.
  What I was trying to find out, is why can't someone download the .swf file to their hard drive, like it would with a JPG, but then open the .swf file in flash player. The same way that you can open the .swf files after publishing them to a folder.

  • People don't feel safe opening any kind of app from an email. Especially Windows users.– CyBrain

  

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  Dog-earDec 12, 09, 1:34 p.m. – Permalink

• jerseyred

  why not just send them a link to the swf on a page instead of all this downloading and opening mumbo jumbo?

  • <– ItTango

  

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  Dog-earDec 12, 09, 1:36 p.m. – Permalink

• ItTango

  Email is not designed to interpret swfs the way it does with a jpg. You can't just double click and have it play. Perhaps if they saved the file to their desktop and opened it from there...
  but why?!

  

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  Dog-earDec 12, 09, 1:39 p.m. – Permalink

• SoulFly

  I already told you why. If someone designs a greeting card, or a site proposal of some type, and they want to send it to someone to view it.
  One of my friends designed a Christmas card in Flash, but they don't have a webhost. They email me the card and I was able to launch and view, and some other people got error messages, like described above.

  • MOST PEOPLE WILL GET ERROR MESSAGES. THE END.– ItTango

  

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  Dog-earDec 12, 09, 1:43 p.m. – Permalink

• sleepyfatso

  Some people will just never understand how to install Flash, upgrade to a new version, find the flash download they have just cosen to save, etc. I am sure that if you were on the computer you could do it for them, but, some people are just not computer savvy.

  • Right- agree. We sometimes forget that there are those people still out there! computer illiterate– SoulFly

  

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  Dog-earDec 12, 09, 1:49 p.m. – Permalink

• jerseyred

  SoulFly - read this http://www.campaignmonitor.com/b…

  • I now understand ur issue - and still don't understand why one doesn't just upload it to a page
    – jerseyred1/2

    that's a very informative article, and site in general. Thank you– SoulFly2/2

  

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  Dog-earDec 12, 09, 1:50 p.m. – Permalink

• acescence

  maybe if they dropped it in a browser it might play, but if you don't have the flash authoring app installed then swf file type has no association. the stand-alone player that opens swf files on my box is the player that installed with the app, i would guess most people don't have that.

  

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  Dog-earDec 12, 09, 1:51 p.m. – Permalink

• SoulFly

  acescence - Thank you!! That makes total sense. You get a message to update the Flash player if you are viewing through a browser where one would get a message to go to Adobe and download the player, but if one launches the .swf as a standalone, they don't necessarily know they need to have the Flash player. So the recipient has to be told and provided with this information, so they know where to download the player, etc...

  Thanks that is very helpful.

  • maybe you should send users a zip file containing an html file with the swf embedded and have them open the html– jerseyred1/2

    Yes- I just did think about that as well.– SoulFly2/2

  

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  Dog-earDec 12, 09, 2 p.m. – Permalink

• fyoucher1

  Only Mail.app on a Mac will play Flash files within the email. Outlook and most others on PC don't support it. If you have the standalone SWF player (which is different the the browser plugin), then they'd be able to see it. Otherwise safest best is to make them click through to a page hosted on the web somewhere.

  

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  Dog-earDec 12, 09, 2:24 p.m. – Permalink

• spraycan

  host it somewhere FFS

  

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  Dog-earDec 12, 09, 3:16 p.m. – Permalink

• SoulFly

  Thank you everyone, as always all your comments really helped me address the issue.

  

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  Dog-earDec 12, 09, 11:16 p.m. – Permalink