Email Attachments

PROBLEM:


I noticed this problem most recently as I was trying to apply for internships and such.  So often I would email someone and tell them I had attached my resume, and once I finished the email I would immediately send the email.  The next day, embarrassingly, I'd get an email letting me know that there was nothing attached to the email I had sent.  I had simply forgotten to include the intended attachment after finishing typing the email.  It's natural to sign an email and send it without a second thought, but in the instance when you were planning on attaching something upon finishing the typed email, this natural thought process can generate unnecessary and embarrassing mistakes.

SOLUTION:

A simple solution to this problem would be for an email provider to include an algorithm that searched the email text for indicators that an attachment should be included, and upon noticing one of these indicators and realizing that nothing is attached, it could prompt the user to confirm that he/she intended to send the email without an attachment.  Such an indicator could be the word attachment or attached used in the text.  Even if the algorithm triggers this prompt more than is necessary, it is worth the slight inconvenience to save an eventual embarrassment.  I've heard that something like this is actually used, but I've never seen it. Hopefully something of the sort is on its way to mainstream email.