The practice of sending information as an attachment to an email, distinct from the primary message body, is a common method of communication. This involves including documents, images, or other files within an email but delivering them separately from the main text. For example, a contract might be sent as a PDF attachment to an email that briefly introduces the document and requests a signature.
This approach provides several advantages. It allows for the transmission of formatted documents that retain their original appearance and structure. It also enables the efficient delivery of large files that would be cumbersome to include directly in the email body. Historically, this method became widespread with the development of email technologies that supported file attachments, providing a standardized way to share diverse forms of data.