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Videos won't play in Gmail attachments on my computer

Comments

7 comments

  • Daniel Jones

    I think you totally misunderstood the problem.  It is NOT that the computer won't play mp4 files it is that GMAIL requires you to dowload the file before it will play it AND will NOT play the file just by clicking the message. 

    I have the same problem while wife's computer with Windows 10 plays the gmail attachment by just clicking it and not having to download.  IF I forward the email to another account that uses another email program (email client or Thunderbird) mp4 will open fine by just clicking on the mp4 icon, no downloading necessary)

    WHY will ONLY gmail on MY computer not play the dang file by clicking?

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  • Angus

    Hey Daniel, I get it. I can imagine it would be a major inconvenience, and I would want a single click to play the video. When on gmail.com on a computer, the video attachments don't play unless downloaded. The reason I say "on a computer" is because using the native gmail app on mobile devices, the video attachments play easily. The best I could come up with on a computer was the workaround. Personally, I think this bug is worth putting up with for all the other conveniences, integration with Docs and security the gmail.com interface provides. I've updated the article to try to clarify this. 

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  • Will Meurer

    My father in law is having a similar issue with Gmail on his Windows 10 computer. It won’t use the previewer to simply open the videos. This happened on Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer. Then I had him log into gmail on my Mac. The same thing happened to HIM. But when I logged onto gmail I could preview videos without downloading. (They were mp4 and mov files in both gmail accounts). I could not find anything in his gmail settings that seemed to pertain to previewing video attachments.

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  • Angus

    Hey Will, thanks for the report. Good troubleshooting. Can you please clarify "log into gmail on my Mac' What browser/software did you sign into on the Mac that allowed you to preview the video attachments? I wonder what's different about your Google account compared to your father in law's.

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  • Ian Takats

    I am a big gmail fan but this is a really annoying bug. I tried a few work arounds and was surprised to find that using the web version of Outlook to collect Gmails fixes the problem. Outlook opens all attachments, even without opening the email itself. I ditched Outlook years ago but this has got me thinking of a return. I logged it as a bug with Google and hope it will be addressed. Hope this helps.

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  • Dave Hopkins

    I use Filefox to access Gmail and use an Gmail Mod addon which gives you a play button.

    addons://detail/{f670f216-9980-42b1-84a3-4c511c27dc3a}

     

    Its not the greatest video player but it works

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  • ahoier

    this is silly....especially from a chromebook standpoint lol....requires downloading the file, and then watching it,, and then deleting it.  wish there was a better way to "'stream" it straight from gmail.

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